Umbanda and Candomblé Temples (Houses) in Foz do Iguaçu: address list

  Mission accomplished. Members of the  
Mãe Edna de Baru's (Mother Edna of Baru) house.

An Afro-Brazilian Religious Space may be called "temple", "center" (centro) as in Centro de Umbanda (Umbanda Center), "terreiro" - a word derived from "terra (Earth) and simply "house".  A "terreiro" can be an area in the bush that is separated for the service, the undergrowth is cleared, the soil swept so that feet can tap and stump on the ground without the danger of snakes, insects that could somehow cause harm to the people in ceremony. "We do not need a cathedral. Men make cathedral. The little corner in the capoeira (second growth forest around the house) is god-made and all we need".

Foz do Iguaçu is said to have 42 "houses". Each "house" is independent. There is no hierarchy. Houses do cooperate among them. Each house is presided over by a babalorisha (Babalorixá) or Yalorisha (Ialorixá). Babá means father and Ya (iá) is mother. Thus Babalorisha and Yalorisha means father and mother of Orisha. Commonly both are called pai (father) or mãe (mother) de santo (saint, orixa) in the sense that they take care and cater to the saints or Orishas.        

An adaptation from the Jackson Lima / Blog de Foz list of
Umbanda and Candomblé Temples in Foz do Iguaçu (Iguassu Falls Area)

How did this list begin? See also Afrobrazilian Religious Dates and Holidays
 and This is Cabocla Jurema for a glimpse of how this list began

Candomblé and Umbanda Festivities and holidays

Photo of artistical rendering of a Preto Velho - Old Negro Slave - taken from the Raiz Cultural (Cultural Roots) Blog

The dates first:

 
January 20 - Oxóssi
February 2 - Iemanjá Day Bahia / Iguaçu
April 23 - Ogum
May 13 - Pretos Velhos (Old Negroes)
June 13 - Xangô
July 26 - Oxum
September 27 - Saints Cosmas and Damian
October 12 - Erê Children's Fest
November 02 - Omulú
November 15 – Umbanda’s Foundation / Flag Day
December 04 - Iansã (Yansan)
December 12 - Iemanjá (Yemanja)
25/12 - Oxalá

Now some words on the dates:

These are not holydays in the sense that shops close, children do not go to school and offices normally do not have to open. These are more internal celebrations or festivities held in Umbanda and Candomblé ‘terreiros’ or centers. These special days are dedicated to one Orisha (Orixá). But two main dates above mark important events inside and outside umbanda. May 13 is the day when Brazilians celebrate Slavery Abolition Day. It is the day when Princess Isabel signed the law setting all slaves free.

The Umbanda tradition celebrates the Preto Velho Day, the Old Negro Slave Day. The second important date for all Brazilians is November 15, the Day the country celebrates the Republic Proclamation Day also known as Dia da Bandeira or Flag Day. The Black Brazilian Umbanda Nation celebrates the Umbanda’s Foundation Day. Last but not least there is a third interesting date. November the second when Christianity with a few exceptions celebrate the Dia dos Finados or Dia de los Muertos or All Souls' Day.

The Afro-Brazilian religion as a religion of the oppressed used these days to protest, tough silently and cunningly, the injustices committed and the nearsighted, single-minded solutions offered like the mainstream society idea that freedom was given by the princess and not fought over bravely and very costly in lives and suffering by the negroes for over 100 years. Nearsighted because the end of slavery was the beginning of a free life of suffering where the only choice available was the choice of on which miserable place he or she or the family choose to die? Millions of free negroes took to the streets of a poor country, of city and urban misery. Something similar to the land enclosure measures in England prior and through the industrial revolution.

That mass of homeless migrating people marked the beginning of Brazilian-style ‘favelas’ with dispossessed former slaves climbing the ‘morros’, hill and mountains to hide in their makeshift shacks. In this sense it is interesting to highlight that Brazilian Negro Movements do not accept or celebrate Slavery Abolition Day neither on May 13 or under that name. They celebrate the end of slavery of sorts on November 20, which marks the date of Zumbi's death. Zumbi is the Afro-Brazilian anti-slavery hero who fought Portuguese, French and Dutch for nearly 100 years.

Zumbi was the leader of Quilombo dos Palmares Brazil’s largest and most successful quilombo in what is today the State of Alagoas. It was a community-republic of slaves who fled their owners and got ready to fight back and liberate fellow slaves. The Quilombo was finally subdued by Domingos Jorge Velho a “badeirante” Indian slave raider and gold prospector from São Paulo. The Bandeirantes were also responsible for the destruction of the Jesuit Missions in this region of Southern Brazil, Northeastern Argentina and Southern Paraguay. What a link!

The last date is a good example of religious adaptation when Brazilian slaves took advantage of the holiday not to celebrate the dead according to the Catholic Church but to honor Omulu the orisha responsible for protecting cemiteries and holy fields.

Soon to come:
Plan a visit!
What is an Orisha?

This is the Cabocla Jurema

A few days ago I was walking my way to work when I found by the roadside this very old-style painting of Cabocla Jurema - a spirit guide belonging to the Mixed-Indian-non-Indian breed of Brazil in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition of Umbanda and Candomble. I saw the picture and imediately I decided to take it home. But there were two problems. First, the picture was soaked wet. There been a downpour minutes before, Second, it was 3 p.m. and there were people "looking" on. Anyway I stopped by and took tthe picture above. The I decided that I could not take the picture since I was going to work. Maybe on the way back.
Ai 8 p.m it was time to go back home. I was at the bus stop when I remembered the picture. I imagined it lying there waiting to be soaked again by the next downpour. Then, all of a sudden I said to myself: Walk, I will walk. And I did start walking the nearly five kilometers that separated me from the picture. Finally I was there. I saw people near the picture. I thought that it might be one of the thousands of Iguassuans who take to the streets at night to hunt fot beer cans, copper, iron, alluminum, plastic and whatever they can get their hands on to sell the next day. Thousands of people eke out a living from that. I thought that the picture was going that way.

Then I noticed that the people left the area. I dedided to go there and give it a try. I got there and the picture was at the same place I left. Let's go home - I said. And so we did. The next day I was again strolling around and saw a Umbanda temple - just a house that "housed" a umbanda temple. I talked to the "priestess" called Mãe Jô (Mother Jô). I told her about the story of the picture of Cabocla Jurema. She said it was a sign. I told her that for the last few days I was contacting all kinds of religious communities in the Iguassu Falls area in order to create a pan-religious community something like a branch of URI (United Religions Initiative).

I will come back with more. But right now I will start a list of Umbanda and Candomblé Terreiros (temples) in Foz do Iguaçu since the city may the only Brazil many travellers will see. I will start with Mother JÔ´s temple. Soon I will offer links to more on the spiritual guides in the Indian and African lines of both faiths.

1) Mother Jô's Oxum's Temple - Templo de Oxum da Mãe Jô
Rua Guarani, 760, Jardim Panorama, Foz do Iguaçu, Phone (45) 3525 6489

2) Templo Caboclo Boiadeiro Sete Laços - Seven Lassoes Caboclo Boiadeiro
Priestess (mãe-de-santo) Ialorisá Tunirê Marina, Rua Batatais 412, Morumbi II, Near the CAIC - Centro Convivência Escoa Bairro, Foz do Iguaçu, (45) 525 1751

Open house events at this temple:

Ogun's feijoada or next Saturday from date. When? June 6.
Erê's Fest honoring children. When? October 12.
Caboclos Boaidaeiro Feast: November 15 (More on this temple soon)

3) Templo de Iansã (45) 3574 5850

Other centers waiting for info:
4) Carmem
5) João Carlos
6) Amanda's
7) Edna
8) Juracema
9) Cabocla Jurema