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Publication Date
3-2-2009
Description
A Black woman praying. Members of the Catholic Church come from all segments of Brazilian society and racial backgrounds. Some three and a half million slaves were brought from Africa during the colonial period and four to seven million Indians once inhabited Brazil. Brazilian Catholicism was less rigidly orthodox than elsewhere in Latin America and the Portuguese had a more open attitude toward miscegenation than other Europeans. This helped Catholicism to spread and permeate in colonial society, but in a way that favored religious syncretism.Uma mulher de cor rezando. Os membros da Igreja Católica vêm de todas as facções e procedências raciais da sociedade brasileira. Aproximadamente três milhões e meio de escravos foram trazidos da África durante o período colonial enquanto que quatro a sete milhões de índios originalmente habitaram o Brasil. O catolicismo brasileiro foi também de ortodoxia menos rígida do que em outros países da América Latina e os portugueses tiveram uma atitude mais aberta em relação à miscigenação do que outros colonizadores europeus. Estes fatores permitiram que o catolicismo se espalhasse e permeasse na sociedade colonial de forma a favorecer o sincretismo religioso.
Publisher
Latin American and Iberian Institute / University of New Mexico
Rights
Brazil Slide Series Collection: This article is copyrighted by the Latin American & Iberian Institute (LAII) of the University of New Mexico. Rights permission is for standard academic, non-commercial, use of these materials. Proper citation of this material should include title, author, publisher, date, and URL. Copyright Latin American and Iberian Institute University of New Mexico 1994
Keywords
Brazil: Candomble