I was in attendance when Doctor Paul Johnson of University of Michigan Anne Arbor’s Department of African Studies gave a lecture on the twenty-eighth of November at UVM.  At his lecture, Dr. Johnson spoke of the African Diaspora and Candomble and Spiritism in particular.  Candomble is popular in Brazil, as it is a center for African diasporic religions.  As Portuguese Catholic traditions mixed with African traditions, new, hybrid religions were created.

One of the most obvious examples of the mixture of Catholicism and African religions is the qualities of Candomble spirits are shared between Catholic saints and African Orishas.  Many of the religious figures of Candomble are closely tied with a Catholic counterpart.  While practice of Candomble was banned in Brazil for many years, the religion had a following which steadily increased.  Catholicism was the dominant religion, and often Candomble practitioners would use the guise of Catholicism to disguise their non-Catholic traditions.

Spiritism shares some of the physical territory as Candomble, but is different from it in many ways.  The interpretations of various Orisha is very different between Spiritism and Candomble.  For example, in Candomble, Esu is often tied to the Catholic devil because of his ability to do harm.  This darker interpretation of orisha often makes the difference between Spiritism and Candomble quite clear.

Dr. Johnson was an excellent speaker, and his prose and style made the lecture interesting and worthwhile.  Dr. Johnson seems to be authoritative on the subject, and would be a good source of information on Candomble, Spiritism, or any other Diasporic religion.