20/ Condomblé

Saturday I went to my 2nd condomblé ceremony.

I have not really talked about my 1st one.
This is a bit of a private discovery for me, but I think it's a good thing if people know about it.

Some of you might know that one of the reason why I'm here is because I want to develop my spiritual side, as I believe it is as part of life as the Mental and the Physical side...

To cut a very long and interesting story short, Condomblé is the African "religion" which has its roots in BENIN -where my dad is from- and Nigeria where its name is "Vaudun", and has been brought to Brasil (Condomble), Cuba (Santeria), Haiti (Voodoo) during the days of slavery.

It enables people to communicate with the forces of nature and of the universe, the "orixas" (pronounce = orishas), by using rythms and dance to put people chosen by the orishas into a trance and be "ridden" by the orishas.

So at a ceremony, you will see the people who have been initiated, singing, dancing around a pole to the rythm of the drums.
Each orisha has a specific song, rythm, and dance to call him/her.

Photos by Pierre Fatumbi Verger, le plus bresiliens des français.




Saturday, I believe all the orixas came down. Needless to say, it was a very powerful experience.