The Afro-Brazilian religions and their followers

Abstract

The last decade in Brazil has also witnessed several changes on the religious scenario. The 2000 census showed that Brazil has become less Catholic, more Evangelical and less Afro-Brazilian. Old trends were thus confirmed and new directions set. Recently-created religions confront the ancient religions, as the latter assume new forms and carry renewed contents in order to face an ever-growing competition in the religious market. I deal here with a demographically small religious branch, albeit significant from the standpoint of its meaning for Brazilian culture and its visibility, which goes beyond the universe of its followers, to wit, the Afro-Brazilian religions. What is at stake here is an account of the numerical changes found in the censuses in their attempt to characterize the followers of Afro-Brazilian religions, as well as to examine some of their features, such as color and schooling, taking into account the constitutive and organizational peculiarities of rituals and terreiros, before proceeding to explain the changes those religions are going through nowadays. Keywords: Afro-Brazilian religions; Candomblé; Umbanda; religious market; Afro-brazilian religions in the census