Gender Performance, Brazil, and Spirit Possession

Christian Larsen 10 December 2013

Ecologically, politcally, and demographically Brazil is a diverse country. It is home to the most bio-diverse region in the world, the Amazon rainforest, it is genuinely multi-partisan with dozens of ideologically committed parties vying for election. and color lines are blurred through historic miscegenation and attempts to achieve a racial democracy. But Brazil has an equally diverse religious arena as well, and within the last century, while still marginal in the public eye, the Afro-Brazilian tradition of Candombl has garnered attention as a symbol of this diversity. While Candombl is an easily recognizable symbol of religious diversity for AfroBrazilians, within this tradition another marginal group has also found a place for participation and performance: LGBT Brazilians. I propose that Candombls status as a legitimate, but marginal, religious tradition and its discourse on gender performance made malleable through spirit possession trance make Candombl and related Afro-Brazilian traditions attractive arenas of participation for LGBT Brazilians. Candombl is an Afro-Brazilian religion whose practice has grown out of the northeastern city of Salvador da Bahia, which also serves as a locus for Afro-Brazilian identity, culture, and political movement in Brazil. This strong African influence in Salvador is due to

Brazils importation of African slaves between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries, a large percentage of which were brought to this northeastern region to cultivate sugarcane on large plantations and in harsh conditions. Candombl itself has roots that reach deep into West African practices brought to the Americas by these imported slaves. In Sub-Saharan Africa, loyalties were given to various city-states and their royal lineages These city-states participated in the slave trade by warring with one another and selling captives to Europeans who would then transport them to American plantations. This process, as well as various centers of trade in Africa established by Europeans, ensured that many different African ethnic and linguistic groups participated in the slaving process and further, upon arrival in the Americas, ethnic, linguistic, and kinship groups were mixed and separated to subdue potential resistance and ensure the enslaved would learn the Portuguese language to communicate among themselves and with the planters. Brazilian planters and priests would also often insist that slaves convert to Christianity and practice Catholicism as another mechanism of authority (Sweet 2003). However, not all African slaves converted to Christianity in exactly the way plantation owners had intended. West African religion was imbued with beliefs in magic, a pantheon of gods (known today in Brazil by the Lusofied term Orixs) with powers and identities unique to each, and a supernatural spirit world that could interact with the living (Sweet 2003; Johnson 2002). Ceremonial practice involved much ritual dancing, African rhythms and drumming, and communion with the Orixs through possession trance. Many African slaves viewed Christianity as simply another face of their religious die. To these African slaves Catholic sacraments were a different strain of magic, demonic possession was possession by a mischievous Orix, and Jesus, Mary, and the Catholic saints were equated with the Orixs themselves (Johnson 2002; Matory

2005). These African religious traditions served as a unifying agent for so many slaves stripped of kinship and ethnic ties and African slaves often added the practices of Catholicism to their existing traditions, as more magic was generally better than less. Those who did not accept Catholicism continued to practice their African traditions clandestinely for fear of reprisal from planters, priests, or government officials (Johnson 2002; Sweet 2003). In either case veneration of the Orixs was hidden by the mask of their corresponding saint, a practice which began to further incorporate Catholic elements into African religious practice forming modern Candombl and related traditions. Slavery survived longer in Brazil than in any other nation in the Americas, a fact which aided in the perpetuation of traditional African religious practices. Candombl is not institutionally organized, but practices and teachings vary somewhat among the different cult houses or terreiros and vary widely between related traditions (Matory 2005). However, following full emancipation in 1888, many Afro-Brazilians migrated to the large coastal cities, bringing their traditions with them and influential pais-de-santo and mes-de-santo (priests and priestesses of Candombl) such as Me Aninha and Joo Abal, began to establish terreiros whose practices and teachings would established a quasi-orthodoxy within the Candombl tradition as a whole as other terreiros would measure their practices and weigh any changes against those of these influences houses of worship. This quasi-orthodoxy was further solidified in the first half of the twentieth century when, under the populist policies of Getlio Vargas and amidst the cultural literature of Gilberto Freyre, Afro-Brazilian elements, including Candombl, began to be heralded and held up as national symbols of Brasilidade (Fry 1986). This allowed for historians and ethnographers such as Nina Rodrigues and Ruth Landes to examine and

publish the practices of these influential terreiros, other smaller terreiros, and various individual pais-de-santo and mes-de-santo, codifying and establishing a discourse on what heretofore had been extremely secretive practices (Johnson 2002). Today Candombl is well established throughout Brazil and continues to be identified as uniquely Brazilian. Its practice remains decentralized with larger and more successful terreiros exerting influence over smaller ones. While state and municipal governments advertise its practice to draw tourists, many Brazilians regard Candombl in negative terms, while all but the most militant Brazilians maintain its adherents have the right to religious liberty. This dichotomous status as an advertising tool, symbol of Brasilidade and a legitimate, but publicly displeasing religion gives Candombl and related traditions a marginal status in Brazilian society (Fry 1986). One practice which contributes heavily to this negative perception is that of possession trance. This activity is a central component of Candombl practice, is marked as a feminine activity, and is largely the perview of female adherents. This delegation of performance has alternatively been explained as being derived from African matriarchal patterns (Landes 1947) or from the influence of modern feminist ethnographers (Matory 2005). However, there is a high occurrence of male homosexual participation in spirit possession (Landes 1947; Fry 1986). I maintain that the nature of possession as conceived in Candombl and the phraseology surrounding it only permits participation by feminine or effeminate individuals, and consequently allows for participation by LGBT Brazilians who are viewed in varying degrees of effeminacy (Parker 1999). In Candombl filhos and filhas-de-santo (as initiated and participating adherents are called), under the direction of the pai-de-santo or me-de-santo, wear ceremonial costumes, often

representing the Orix which controls their head or shall possess them, and, dancing to rhythmic African drums in elaborate festas are mounted by the Orix and finally possessed (Fry 1986). Observers are frequently allowed and in all but the most traditional Candombl terreiros can even approach the possessed filhos and filhas-de-santo upon possession and importune them for help and advice in all aspects of life. The practice of possession trance as a method for interacting with the spirit world creates a malleable sense of identity which separates this tradition from mainstream Brazilian practices, but opens up an alternative arena for other non-normative individuals, especially male homosexuals. LGBT Brazilians, and gay men in particular, have long been associated with Candombl and other Afro-Brazilian traditions, most especially those who embrace possession trance. This association stems from the actual participation of large numbers of LGBT Brazilians in possession ceremonies and from very nature of possession itself (Fry 1986; Landes 1947; Johnson 2002). These are individuals whose self conception of identity is different from that assigned to them by society- in sexual orientation and gender identity in particular. Likewise, possessed believers maintain that in possession trance they become someone other than who they are considered to be by Brazilian society. That Candombl provides a venue for LGBT Brazilians to perform an identity other that that assigned to them by society, and perhaps one for which they have greater affinity, is a strong and important link accounting for the high occurrence of LGBT participation in Candombl ceremonies. Furthermore, while both groups Candombl practicioners and LGBT Brazilians - are marginalized by mainstream Brazilian society, the brasilidade Candombl has acquired legitimizes its practice and allows LGBT Brazilians to participate in non-normative identity performance in a sanctioned atmosphere.

Aside from the transformative nature of possession trance, certain aspects of Candombl ritual lend themselves to LGBT, especially male homosexual participation. The identities and legends surrounding certain Orixs are particularly appealing to these Brazilians who participate in possession trance. These include Ex a male phallic divinity, Yamanja and Ians, female deities, a mother and a temptress respectively, Osain, a forest Orix who can appear in male or female form, and especially Oxumar, a male rainbow deity (Johnson 2002; Hayes 2008). Also, possession trance, in which the possessed is mounted by the Orix, generally occurs during ecstatic dancing in which the filhos and filhas-de-santo are often dressed in either all white or in the adornments of their particular Orix. While women dance and are possessed, men induce the possession trance through gradually increasing the tempo of drum rhythms (Matory 2005; Landes 1947). This sets up gender segregated roles with men as the active, inducive agents and women as being (literally) mounted and subdued by the Orix which possesses them. Because to be possessed is to be mounted, it violates prevalent notions of manliness and homens de verdade or real men do not participate. This, however, is not an issue for a male homosexual who is automatically perceived as effeminate in Brazilian culture as a man is generally only considered homosexual if he is the receptive partner in sexual intercourse, hence to be mounted is his preferred position and many homosexual men do participate in possession trance ceremonies as dancers while heterosexual men do not (Matory 2005). These factors all combine to create a perfect storm for LGBT, especially male homosexual Brazilians. The malleability of identity created by the practice of possession trance, the subordinate role of the possessed in being mounted and subdued by the Orix, and attractive identities and lore surrounding various possessing Orixs allow for LGBT participation in a

world (religion) where permitted LGBT participation is limited. These two groups currently remain marginal to most Brazilians, and this shared marginality bolsters their union while Candombls brasilidade offers some semblance of legitimacy to its participants. These factors all combine to explain the presence of LGBT Brazilians in nearly every terreiro throughout Brazil, the appeal of Candombl to male homosexuals in particular, and why Candombl has become a stereotypical arena for LGBT participation. However, whether LGBT Candombl participants consciously acknowledge the overlap of these two worlds and whether queer Brazilians conciously participate because of this overlap, or merely unconsciously process it remains to be discovered.

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