![\"Yansa](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Yansa-de-Fogo-p.jpg\")
<\/a>We offer our deep gratitude to Bita Barao, the spiritual leader (pai de santo) of the group that appears here, and to his daughter, Janaina (mai pequena of the group) who is shown as Iemanja in the photos below.<\/em><\/p>\n Their spiritual house (terreiro) in Codo, Maranhao is a huge complex with a courtyard, statues, and residence for the leaders and at least some of the devotees during the celebration.\u00a0 We are deeply grateful for their giving us access to this complex and allowing us to observe and photograph\/video their celebrations.\u00a0 They were even so kind as to invite us from the sidelines (outside an observation wall) to a place inside the ceremonial area that is reserved for devotees and celebrants.\u00a0 More than that, some of the devotees would occasionally motion to me to take up a particular position in the space to better see some of the more dramatic moments (they knew when Iansa do Fogo\u00a0 \u2014 photos above and below \u2014 would appear and wanted me not to miss anything).\u00a0 Also, the devotees are accustomed to assisting any members who succumb to the experience.\u00a0 They extended that generosity to us as well and at various times helped me navigate the dusty river bank in the dark, probably avoiding an accidental baptism of my own with all my camera gear. \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The second night of celebration was to Iemanja (Yemanja)<\/em>, the goddess or orixa of water.\u00a0 She is often associated with some attribute of the Virgin Mary, particularly as Our Lady of Conception (Iemanja is mother of all the orixas<\/em>), and the patron of sailors and fishermen (often called Nossa Senhora dos Navigantes)<\/em>.<\/p>\n These related identities are not fixed in Afro-Brazilian practice, but vary with the customs and understandings of each individual group (perhaps a bit like the way small towns and churches in Brazil have different patron saints).\u00a0 This particular group has is a practice known as Umbanda which combines a wide variety of entities from Christianity, African practice, indigenous figures, and a pantheon of others that are distinct to Brazil.\u00a0 Their statues and altar figures include the Virgin Mary, Iansa, Saint Sebastian, Jesus Christ, Iemanja, and many other figures that are part of their pantheon of spiritual entities.\u00a0 This includes various lineages of caboclos\u00a0 <\/em>who are often identified with indigenous figures.<\/p>\n The photo below shows other common entities in Afro-Brazilian practice \u2014 Preto Velhos, or Old Blacks, who represent the spirits of blacks who died in slavery.\u00a0 They are ubiquitous in Afro-Brazilian practice in many different traditions.\u00a0 In some traditions the male Preto Velho may have some identification with Saint Benedict, the black saint.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Second Night of Celebration, dedicated to Iemanja (Yemanja)<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The celebration lasted for what was probably around two hours.\u00a0 There were many offerings to the orixa, and many dedications of devotees in the water (resembling baptism).\u00a0 This is a well-organized group and they provided for security, had a sound truck for singers who led the chanting and singing, chairs for some of the older devotees, and even a clean-up crew.\u00a0 Shortly after this long and deeply emotional ceremony there was no sign that that we had been there other than footprints and candle wax in the dusty river bank.<\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two Nights of Celebration at the House of Iemanja in Codo, Maranhao We offer our deep gratitude to Bita Barao, the spiritual leader (pai de santo) of the group that appears here, and to his daughter, Janaina (mai pequena of the group) who is shown as Iemanja in the photos below. Their spiritual house (terreiro) … Continue reading A spiritual celebration dedicated to two female entities: an Umbanda terreiro in Codo, Maranhao (December 2016)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folk-culture-and-spiritual-practice-in-maranhao-brazil"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1512"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1552,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1512\/revisions\/1552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/em><\/p>\n<\/a>The context:\u00a0<\/em> We attended two nights of celebration \u2014 the first dedicated to Saint Barbara and Iansa (Yansa)<\/em>, the entity in Afro-Brazilian practice associated (syncretized) with Santa Barbara.\u00a0 The terreiro<\/em> itself bears the name and image of Iemanja (photo left).\u00a0 Its full name is Tenda Espirita de Umbanda Rainha Iemanja, which translates roughly to Spiritual House of Umbanda Queen Iemanja.\u00a0 The word \u201ctenda\u201d literally means tent, but has come to mean a place of spiritual worship.\u00a0 Umbanda is the form or tradition of worship and has many diverse forms throughout Brazil. Iemanja is their chosen entity of identification and worship.\u00a0 Her figure, in blue in the photo to the left, is repeated in various photos below. The second night of the celebration was devoted to her.\u00a0 The first night was dedicated to the Catholic Saint (Santa) Barbara, who is also identified with the orixa Iansa.\u00a0 In this celebration Iansa\u2019s attribute is that of Iansa de Fogo, Yansa of Fire.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>Percussion and dancing are an essential part of the celebration.\u00a0 The devotees walk\/dance in a counterclockwise circle at the beginning.\u00a0 Gradually some of the devotees dance more vividly and move to the center of the space.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a>