Macumba (Portuguese pronunciation:[maˈkũᵐbɐ]) is a generic term for variousAfro-Brazilian religions, the practitioners of which are then calledmacumbeiros. These terms are generally regarded as having negative connotations, comparable to an English term like "black magic". In a broader sense, the termMacumba is used for most Afro-Brazilian religious traditions, includingCandomblé andUmbanda. In a more limited sense,macumba is used only to characterize traditions likeQuimbanda that revolve around the lesserexu spirits, especially as they are practiced inRio de Janeiro. Some practitioners of Afro-Brazilian traditions call themselvesmacumbeiros, although in some instances this is done predominantly in jest.
There are debates regarding the etymological origins of the termMacumba and the matter remains unsettled.[1] Some scholars have argued thatMacumba derives from aBantu language term for a type ofpercussion instrument. If so, the use of such instruments in the rituals of Bantu speakers brought to Brazil might have resulted in the word becoming associated with Afro-Brazilian religious traditions.[1] An alternative argument, put forward by Marcos Aurélio Luz and Georges Lapassade, argued thatmacumba derived fromthe termmocamba, which designated a house of runaway slaves.[1]
There are conflicting views as to what the termMacumba describes.[1] The term is sometimes used as a colloquial term for all Afro-Brazilian religions.[2] The scholar Stefania Capone noted that, when applied to Afro-Brazilian religions,Macumba can "indicate anything to do with spirits".[3]In this,macumba is used in much the same way as the termcalundu, which had been used in the 18th century to describe Afro-Brazilian traditions.[4]
In this sense, the termmacumbeiros has sometimes been used for practitioners ofCandomblé andUmbanda, two Afro-Brazilian religions that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries respectively.[5] Writing in the 1990s, the anthropologist Robert A. Voeks noted that those who took an extremely negative view of Candomblé still viewed it as being "impregnated with devil worship and macumba."[6] The termmacumba has also been historically used for Umbanda,[7] and some Umbandists have referred to themselves asmacumbeiros, often in jest due to the negative connotations of this term.[8] At the same time, there are those taking a positive view of Candomblé and Umbanda who seek to distinguish these traditions from what they callmacumba.[9]
Other definitions suggest a more restrictive use of the term. The scholar Kelly Hayes noted that whileMacumba was "a term used to denominate Afro-Brazilian religious cults, practices, and ritual objects" as a whole, it was used "most especially" for "those thought to involvefeitiçaria, sorcery or black magic."[10] The scholar Steven Engler noted thatMacumba "refers not to a specific religion but to a range of popular Afro-Brazilian rituals (often labeled 'black magic') that aim at healing and worldly benefits."[11]
In particular the term has been used for those practitioners who cultivate relations with spirits referred to asexus;[12] in Brazil, these are sometimes also called "devils,"[13] while devotees call thempovo da rua, people of the streets."[10] In this sense,macumba is most associated with the area aroundRio de Janeiro.[14] Much of the specialist literature on the topic has identified that city as the home of Macumba,[15] with some practitioners of Afro-Brazilian traditions in Rio referring to their practices as Macumba.[11]
Hayes argued that the term effectively operated as a "boundary marker within larger classificatory projects", one commonly used "to determine legitimate forms of religious expression, establishing the boundaries ofreligious authenticity, propriety, and morality."[16] They noted that much literature sought to portray Candomblé as a legitimate religion of pure African derivation while simultaneously denigrating Macumba as "especially syncretistic, impure, or degraded".[17] This division is evident in the work of the sociologistRoger Bastide, who presented the Nago tradition of Candomblé, of which he was an initiate, as a legitimate religion, while dismissing the Bantu tradition of Candomblé as a form ofMacumba that could only be labelledmagic.[18]
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