text: MACUMBA - VOODO Etcetera PREFACE The term “Macumba” is also used to describe various popular Afro-Brazilian rituals that aim at healing and worldly benefits. The religion involves syncretistic elements and is practiced mainly by Black Brazilians in urban areas. I lived and worked in Brazil; from 1956-1958 and again in 1980-1983. My first exposure to Macumba was very limited; lasting a little more than an hour in 1956, viewing groups--ranging from twenty to a hundred or more--chanting/praying on the beach; calling for the spirits to rise from the dead . Circa twenty-years later, in 1980 I was hired by ITU - International Telecommunications Union - Geneva, Switzerland--to go to Brazil with the goal of Helping the Brazilian Government to consolidate nearly 500 different telephone corporations into ONE. The problem had been going on since the first telephone companies were incorporated in Brazil in 1879. My task was to train a counterpart in the skills of: 1. IDENTIFYING THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE : (Previously cited in Bold type) International Committee of the Red Cross United Nations Office at Geneva World Intellectual Property Organization World Health Organization World Meteorological Organization World Trade Organization International Labour Organization International Telecommunication Union International Organization for Migration International Organization for Standardization International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies International Electrotechnical Commission International Bureau of Education Initially, I operated alone, traveling to many of the principal corporations, one being located in Bahia. (Originally the: Captaincy of Bahia de Todos os Santos. ..i.e. Salvador. Named for The Bay of All Saints ( Baía de Todos os Santos in modern Portuguese). A major feature of its coastline. The bay itself was named by the explorer Amerigo Vespucci. For nearly two hundred years, Central and Western Africans were captured; placed on the largest ships available and hauled off--like cattle. (Worse than cattle; cattle would have been fed and given water, not so with the African slaves.) The largest number--close to 800,000--were sent to Bahia--on the Eastern most, to be sold to owners of large plantations--some as far away as Haiti and other small islands to the East Cuba. And finally: What I learned while in Bahia for nearly one month. Candomblé is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It involves the veneration of spirits known as orixás, which are equated with Roman Catholic saints . Each individual is believed to have a tutelary orixá who has been connected to them since before birth and who informs their personality. A central ritual involves practitioners drumming, singing, and dancing to encourage an orixá to possess one of their members. They believe that through this possessed individual, they can communicate directly with a deity. Offerings to the orixás include fruit and sacrificed animals. Offerings are also given to a range of other spirits, including boiadero, preto velho, caboclos, and the spirits of the dead, the egun . While some Candomblé groups prohibit possession by the dead-- considering it to be spiritually polluting-- for the limited time I was in Bahia and what I learned from my friend--Clarence--who lived and worked in Bahia-- there were ceremonies on the beaches where prayers and incantations were offered regularly. Clarence and his girlfriend told me that they had their reasons for not wanting to get too close to what was going on. All of which centered around not wanting to be “SNATCHED AWAY IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, BY SOME EVIL SPIRIT!” The next time I traveled to Bahia--two or three months later, on my way back to Brasilia--I went with them to the beach. “They don’t seem to have any set rule on who will lead the ‘incantations,” Clarence informed me. We sat on some large rocks, approximately fifty meters from the ceremony. The prayers were a mixture of musical incantations and low mutterings from the leader. Most of the twenty or thirty members were carrying small candles...that were poorly made or were purposefully designed to give off a lot of foul-smelling smoke. The closer the group got to us, the more the smoke blurred our vision. As the group came closer and closer, they encircled us...muttering once in a name of a Catholic Saint or one of Jesus disciples...as if calling up a dead-spirit. Whatever their intentions, it was enough to give me some spine-chilling moments in Bahia. After living in Brazil for a year, I took my first ‘paid leave’ and returned to the U.S. via...Three guesses? If you guessed Haiti, you’d win the prize. When Clarence first noticed my interest in ‘different religions’ other than a variety of Christian Faiths: “You really should check out Haiti. Rather than my take on things that might scare the Bejebbers out of most Americans--not all, mind you...since there are some American religions that would require you to drink purple COOL AID laced with arsenic...or reach into a box of poisonous snakes Voodoo Voodoo is still a prominent religion in Haiti. It is considered the national religion and is practiced by a majority of the population . Vodou is a syncretic religion that originated in Haiti between the 16th and 19th centuries . It is a blend of traditional West and Central African religions and Roman Catholicism.) Now that I have focused on ‘strange religious practices' Perhaps in all fairness I should include the following: THERE IS A passage you mentioned is from the book of Isaiah in the Bible. It describes a vision of a peaceful world where all creatures coexist without harm. The verse you referred to is Isaiah 11:8, which reads: “The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.” 1 This verse is often interpreted as a metaphor for the peaceful coexistence of all creatures in the world, as you mentioned. It is also seen as a prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ, who would bring peace to the world . Now that is realllly scary! (My hope is...that the last paragraph won’t disqualify me from the contest.) END 2]