Abstract
This chapter analyses the role that European spiritism plays in the religious history of Brazil, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, and compares it to the influence of American spiritualism on the religious landscape of New Orleans. The picture is very similar in Brazil and Cuba, with spiritist groups and churches on the one hand and spiritist elements in African-derived religions on the other. The former covering a range from “white” organisations—who, as a rule, see themselves as “philosophies” rather than “religions”—to “white-washed” African-derived religions (like Brazilian Umbanda). As to Puerto Rico, purely African derived religions are rather imported than autochthonous. In all those places, the religions in question focus strongly on healing. Black spiritual churches in New Orleans are—as a rule—a later development, and their origins as well as the degree of “African” elements they include are still discussed among scholars.
Le spiritisme est la seule des doctrines spiritualistes du XIX e siècle qui ait réussi à survivre à la mort de son fondateur et à se transformer en “religion” au sens sociologique du terme
—Cuchet (2007: 74)
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Notes
- 1.
I use “spiritualism” for the US-American form of mediumism, centred on the “believe in the ability of the living to communicate with the dead,” including practices like “table-rappings, levitation and trances” (Fernández Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert 2011: 203–204) that can be traced back to the Fox Sisters in Hydeville 1848 and Andrew Jackson Davis’ (1826–1910) The Principles of Nature (see Ahlstrom 2004: 488–490; Jacobs and Kaslow 2001: 73–74; Baier 2009: 244). “Spiritism,” on the other hand, refers to the Kardecian system and its offshoots in the Americas (see also Schmidt 1995: 164). According to Cuchet (2007: 76), the translation of “spiritualism” as “spiritisme” might have been introduced by Kardec to avoid a lexical ambiguity, as “spiritualisme” in French denoted those who, in opposition to materialist philosophy, stuck to the notion of an “immortal soul”: “On a pris l’habitude en France de désigner par ‘spiritisme’ l’ensemble des pratiques nées aux États-Unis en 1848 et importées en Europe autour de 1852 […]. Le mot n’a été inventé par Allan Kardec qu’en 1857. Jusque-là, on parlait de ‘spiritualisme américain’, de ‘spiritualisme moderne’, de ‘phénomènes magnétiques’ ou de ‘phénomènes des tables’” (Cuchet 2007: 75; see also Aureliano and Zikán Cardoso 2015: 275). Kardec (1860: 1) explains that “[l]es mots spirituel, spiritualiste, spiritualisme” already have a defined meaning, so that adding one more meaning would mean “multiplier les causes déjà si nombreuses d’amphibologie,” and therefore “nous employons pour désigner” the belief in spirits and their communication with the visible world “ceux [mots] de spirite et de spiritisme.”
- 2.
I use “African-American” for US citizens of African descent and “Afro-American” for inhabitants of South America and the Caribbean stemming from sub-Saharan Africa.
- 3.
For example, occult traditions in Trinidad or the cult of Maria Lionza in Venezuela have not been taken into account in my overview.
- 4.
- 5.
Especially his notion of the “périsprit” is influenced by Mesmer’s concept of the “fluid.” See below on Kardec’s theory of reincarnation. On Kardec and Mesmer, see Noguera Negrão 2005: 5089, Cuchet 2007: 81; on Mesmer, mesmerism, and its vast influence on alternative spirituality, esotericism, occultism, and the religious history of the USA, see Baier 2009: 179–290.
- 6.
My sketch of the main outlines of Kardecism is drawn from Kardec 1860, his “fundamental work,” “usually called […] the bible of Spiritism” (Warren 1968: 395). Although most of my description is taken from the answers of spirits to specific questions, as a rule, I quote these citations as “Kardec.” I also refer to Kardec 1869.
- 7.
Kardec 1860: 36–37.
- 8.
“Dieu est éternel, immuable, immatériel, unique, tout-puissant, souverainement juste et bon” (Kardec 1860: 9; see also 34–35). Nevertheless, humans cannot know God’s inner attributes, as the spirit answers to Kardec’s question: “L’homme peut-il comprendre la nature intime de Dieu?”: “Non; c’est un sens qui lui manqué.”
- 9.
“Les êtres matériels constituent le monde visible ou corporel, et les êtres immatériels le monde invisible ou spirite, c’est-à-dire des Esprits” (Kardec 1860: 9).
- 10.
“L’incarnation des Esprits a toujours lieu dans l’espèce humaine; ce serait une erreur de croire que l’âme ou Esprit peut s’incarner dans le corps d’un animal” (Kardec 1860: 10).
- 11.
“[…] l’âme serait ainsi d’une nature matérielle plus ou moins essentielle selon le degré de son épuration” (Kardec 1869: 48).
- 12.
See the chapter “Incarnation dans les différents mondes” in Kardec 1860: 92–96. As Warren (1968: 396) notes: “More than anything else, the idea of multiple existence of the spirit sets Kardecism apart from Anglo-Saxon Spiritualism […] Spiritism may be called evolutionist, because it dwells on the immortality of the soul and […] Spiritualism static, because it emphasizes resurrection.”
- 13.
In classic Hindu thought, an indestructible (in fact, essential) part of the being is transferred from one existence to another, a process called “metempsychosis” by Kardec (e.g., Kardec 1860: 108: “Pythagore, […] n’est pas l’auteur du système de la métempsycose; il l’a puisée chez les philosophes indiens et chez les Egyptiens, où elle existait de temps immemorial”). “Reincarnation” can also be thought of as a kind of impulse stemming from the former existence determining the latter, with no “essence” transferred, which is, roughly spoken, the Buddhist version. With respect to the relationship of Afro-American religions based on the Yorùbá worldview to Kardecism, it has to be stated that the idea of “reincarnation” in Yorùbá anthropology is neither the same as in Indian thought nor is it in line with Kardecism. A reincarnated spirit is principally a member of the family or a clan, in most cases the grandfather or grandmother, and reincarnation is desired both by the ancestor and the family (in case the ancestor was a good one), as life on earth among one’s family or clan is good per se (Bascom 1969: 71–76; Awolalu 1979: 59–60). The contribution to the shaping of an individual by an ancestor can be conceived as a stimulus rather than a transferring of its “essence,” because the ancestor is thought of as existing for himself in Orun (heaven); see Awolalu 1979: 60. Beier (1954: 329) reports the case of a grandfather reborn while he was still alive.
- 14.
Kardec 1860: 53: “[…] c’est ce que vous appelez fluide magnétique ou fluide électrique animalisé. Il est l’intermédiaire, le lien entre l’esprit et la matière.” See also Kardec 1860: 45, with the answer to the question “Où étaient les éléments organiques avant la formation de la terre?” given by the spirit asked: “Ils se trouvaient, pour ainsi dire, à l’état de fluide dans l’espace, au milieu des Esprits, ou dans d’autres planètes, attendant la création de la terre pour commencer une nouvelle existence sur un globe nouveau.”
- 15.
Kardec 1860: 61: “Comme le germe d’un fruit est entouré du périsperme, de même l’Esprit proprement dit est environné d’une enveloppe que, par comparaison, on peut appeler périsprit.”
- 16.
See Kardec 1860: 83: the question “Comment l’âme constate-t-elle son individualité, puisqu’elle n’a plus son corps matériel?” is answered by the spirit: “Elle a encore un fluide qui lui est propre, qu’elle puise dans l’atmosphère de sa planète et qui représente l’apparence de sa dernière incarnation: son périsprit.”
- 17.
He calls magnetism and spiritism two sciences, which are basically one and the same and are apt to prevent superstitious beliefs: “Le spiritisme et le magnétisme nous donnent la clef d’une foule de phénomènes sur lesquels l’ignorance a brodé une infinité de fables où les faits sont exagérés par l’imagination. La connaissance éclairée de ces deux sciences, qui n’en font qu’une pour ainsi dire […] est le meilleur préservatif contre les idées superstitieuses” (Kardec 1860: 219; see also ibid. 165, where the spirit asked calls magnetism “le pilote de cette science que vous comprendrez mieux plus tard”).
- 18.
The scientific approach of Kardec has, for example, been noted by David Hess (1987: 16): “Kardec viewed his doctrine as a kind of empirical science of the spirit world […].”
- 19.
- 20.
Kardec 1860: 91: “La doctrine de la réincarnation, c’est-à-dire celle qui consiste à admettre pour l’homme plusieurs existences successives, est la seule qui réponde à l’idée que nous nous faisons de la justice de Dieu à l’égard des hommes placés dans une condition morale inférieure, la seule qui puisse nous expliquer l’avenir et asseoir nos espérances, puisqu’elle nous offre le moyen de racheter nos erreurs par de nouvelles épreuves.”
- 21.
For example, some Umbandists trace the name of Umbanda to “Om-Bandha,” maintaining that this was a Sanskrit word (Bastide 1978: 321).
- 22.
Kardec’s L’évangile selon le spirtisme, originally published in 1864, in Brazilian Portuguese. There are also many printings in Spanish that are central to some Caribbean versions of Kardecismo.
- 23.
A pejorative term coined by whites (Bastide 1978: 315).
- 24.
Giobellina Brumana and Gonzalez Martinez (1989: 32) only distinguish between “Kardecism” and “low Spiritism,” under which they subsume—in contradistinction to Bastide—Umbanda and (to a lesser extent) Candomblé.
- 25.
Bastide (1978: 480) defines “Umbanda” as “African form of Spiritism.”
- 26.
Candomblé is the name of an Afro-Brazilian religious tradition stemming from Salvador de Bahia. According to Graden (2006: 103), the word comes from a Bantu verbal form “ku-bonda or ku-lomba,” meaning “to praise, pray, worship and invoke.” Graden gives an overview of the history of the relationship of Brazilian state authorities and the Catholic Church to Candomblé (ibid.: 103–131). When he writes that Africans practiced Candomblé in West and South Central Africa, this is a historical mistake (ibid.: 103)—in fact they did not, but practiced religious cults that had an influence on shaping Brazilian Candomblé. On the different traditions that shaped Bahian Candomblé, see Harding 2003: 38–40. There are at least three different Yorùbá traditions, Bantu (Angola) traditions, and Aja-Fon (mostly from the historical kingdom of Dahomey) traditions that formed different “nations” of Candomblé practice. As Harding (2003: 40) aptly points out, in Brazil these are not to be understood as ethnic divisions; rather, they are to be looked at as differences in ritual practices and spirits worshipped. She also takes a stance against the—“racist”—idea that the predominance of Yorùbá traditions in shaping Candomblé was caused by a superiority of Yorùbá culture over other African traditions (rather than historical circumstances).
- 27.
Bastide (1978: 476) defines “Macumba” as “African sect in Rio. By extension, Black Magic.” He treats Macumba, described by him (and others) as a forerunner of Umbanda, in chapter 13 as a kind of urban disintegration of Afro-Brazilians from their African heritage. Nevertheless it is not really clear whether the term is used here for early forms of Umbanda or for a religious movement of its own (Brown 1994: 26). “Macumba” also seems to be used (“by extension”) as an umbrella term for activities and rituals among Afro-Brazilians considered to represent “(black) magic.” Smith Omari-Tunkara (2005: 1) sees the difference between the two currents in the role of blood sacrifice in Macumba. Further discussion of the terminology and of Bastide’s definitions in his classic treatment of Afro-Brazilian religions are beyond the scope of this chapter.
- 28.
On the impact of urbanisation on the emergence of that religion, which blends elements of Kardecism with those from traditions of the black slaves and the urban black poor, see Bastide 1978: 304–342.
- 29.
Brown (1994: 25) argues that “[…] less educated and cultured spirits who clearly symbolize the lower sectors of the population are rejected rather than incorporated into [Kardecist] rituals.”
- 30.
Clearly, in the more “Africanised” versions of Umbanda, they play a more significant role.
- 31.
- 32.
- 33.
This list follows Giobellina Brumana and Gonzalez Martinez 1989: 161–163.
- 34.
Giobellina Brumana and Gonzalez Martinez 1989: 22, with respect to Umbanda.
- 35.
My term, not taken from the sources discussed.
- 36.
As Giobellina Brumana and Gonzalez-Martinez (1989: 29) point out, there is a “blind spot of Catholicism” with respect to religious healing as it is looked at as illegitimate—in contradistinction to official medical care. Whereas in rural areas there is no need to leave the field of Catholicism for alternative cures, in urban ones there exist the four aforementioned ways of getting “spiritual” cures for illnesses.
- 37.
It is worth noting that the author claims that “[c]ette oeuvre n’émane point de moi” (Roustaing 1866: i), but is a revelation on the revelation of the evangelists, assisted by the apostles. The preface (Roustaing 1866: i–xxxiii) consists not only of remarks by Roustaing, but also of messages by the four evangelists and Moses.
- 38.
On Roustaing and the relationship of Kardec and Roustaing see Monroe 2015: 265–270.
- 39.
Kardec discerns between those and “healing mediums”: “Médiums médicaux; leur qualité est de servir plus facilement d’interprètes aux Esprits pour les prescriptions médicales. Il ne faut pas les confondre avec les médiums guérisseurs, car ils ne font absolument que transmettre la pensée de l’Esprit, et n’ont par eux-mêmes aucune influence” (Kardec 1869: 188).
- 40.
- 41.
Whereas Umbandists show a certain respect to Kardecism (despite its perceived lacking of real rituals), the reverse is not the case. Umbanda is considered “low-brow” by Kardecists (Giobellina Brumana and Gonzalez Martinez 1989: 288–290).
- 42.
“[…] around the same time (mid-19th century) that Yoruba traditions became dominant in Cuba” (Viarnés 2007: 140).
- 43.
See Fernández Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert 2011: 211.
- 44.
Some authors also mention an espiritismo de caridad, which, according to Pescoso Molina (2008: 4), it is mainly focused on healing and closely resembles espiritismo de mesa: “Esta variante tiene características muy similares al espiritismo científico con respecto a las creencias que se adoptan como fundamento. La diferencia radica en el uso durante sus prácticas de un ritual llamado despojo o santiguación.”
- 45.
As Viarnés (2007: 139) expounds, “Congo” is a fluid “ethnic” marker in the history of slavery in Cuba, having been used for groups with a variety of different African “homelands.” Nevertheless, “Africans from the Congo region and their descendants were quite possibly the dominant population of color in Cuba prior to the arrival of the Yoruba.”
- 46.
José Millet, quoted by Viarnés (2007: 157), defines it as a “type of spiritism in which […] components of popular catholicism and […] of religious cults of African origin are mixed, with particular emphasis on […] cults of bantú origin. Also present are elements of santería, spiritism, and Espiritismo del cordón.”
- 47.
“La misa espiritual de difuntos […] a realizar por la familia del fallecido es, generalmente, efectuada por espiritista [sic] cruzados, aunque los científicos y cordoneros, también la incorporan en su práctica, pero con un matiz diferente.” Castañeda Mache gives a detailed description of the ritual.
- 48.
It has to be noted that “Congo” is a rather unspecific “ethnic” category, as “[d]uring the course of the slave trade, ‘Congo’ lost its specificity and was eventually used to describe people from a variety of ethnic groups residing in West-Central Africa” (Viarnés 2007: 139).
- 49.
The latter has been more extensively studied and it has also been much more effectively exported to other countries. Most studies dealing with Santería restrain themselves more or less to Regla Ocha. On Reglas Palo see, for example, Cabrera 1986 as well as Fernández Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert 2011: 88–99.
- 50.
On spiritism as psychotherapy/healing in the Puerto Rican context, see Schmidt 1995: 211–233, Schmidt 2008: 186–189. Having studied public spiritist healing rituals in Puerto Rico and among Puerto Rican migrants in the USA, Koss names three causes for illness (be it mental or physical) that Puerto Ricans acknowledge: “personal problems, physical states, and spirit influences”; as she writes, Puerto Ricans seek the help of a spiritist healer when first-hand remedies (as home remedies or medicine) do not cure the illness (Koss 1977: 458–459).
- 51.
She compares the concept to the Catholic idea of a guardian angel and the protective spirits shamans acquire. The former seems much more plausible to me when it comes to possible historical influences.
- 52.
Pérez y Mena (1998: 18) calls “Santerismo” forms of Cuban spiritualism that have “incorporated Yorubaland beliefs, and Catholicism, as well as French Kardecian Spiritism in Cuba” and are “similar to Puerto Rican Spiritualism.”
- 53.
“After the late ‘50s (probably due to the input of Cuban immigrants after Castro’s revolution), Spiritism has also incorporated more visible ritual elements from related African spirit possession religions like Cuban Santería […], giving rise to what today is called Santerismo” (Romberg 1998: 80).
- 54.
Brandon differentiates different “phases” of development of Santería, with “Santerismo” belonging to Phase IV (Brandon 1997: 107).
- 55.
This is at least how Fernández Olmos and Paravisini-Gebert have it. In my reading, Brandon sees “Santerismo” more as a form of Santería than of spiritism, albeit one rather incorporating Santería traits into spiritism than the other way around.
- 56.
Nevertheless, she marks the differences between these Santería-influenced forms of Espiritismo and more “traditional” spiritist centres on the one hand and Santería proper on the other.
- 57.
The term she uses.
- 58.
And it is possible that this only started among migrants in the USA. A closer consideration of the situation among Cuban and Puerto Rican migrants in the USA is beyond the scope of this chapter.
- 59.
Moreno Vega’s argument being more a kind of a historical reconstruction than a description of clearly defined religions like Brazilian Candomblé and Cuban Santería.
- 60.
Romberg (1998: 80) notes that “Candomblé had merged with Spiritism creating Umbanda, which holds many similarities with Puerto Rican Santerismo.”
- 61.
At least Andrew Jackson Davis combined Swedenborgian ideas, mesmerism, and with respect to political philosophy, the socialism of Fourier to a spiritualist system (Bell 1997: 191–197).
- 62.
On Randolph, an African American occultist, see Deveney 1997.
- 63.
That is, baptism, methodism, pentecostalism, and holiness groups (Baer 2001: 112).
- 64.
1801 being the birth date according to Ward 2004: 191; for as discussion of the date, see Long 2007: 230, note 33. In fact, there have almost certainly been two Marie Laveaus (according to Hurston 1931: 326, there were three), as the mother had been replaced by her daughter at some stage (Ward 2004: ix). On legends surrounding this replacement and historical facts, see Long 2005: 288–292, Long 2007: 190–205.
- 65.
- 66.
“Most communications were of a personal nature […] but many were political commentaries about the social and political changes experienced during the 1860s and the 1870s” (Daggett 2014: 430).
- 67.
- 68.
Later, “spiritual” has been used instead of “spiritualist,” maybe to set oneself apart from “spiritualism” in order to have a more Christian image of the church.
- 69.
The Fon Sky-God Dan (the rainbow serpent) is associated with St. Patrick in Haitian Vodou (Danballah or Dambala or Danballa Ouedo) and has also been present in New Orleans Vodou (see, e.g., Long 2007: 115). The association is iconographic, since St. Patrick is usually portrayed with snakes (because legend has it that he drove out the snakes of Ireland).
- 70.
On minkisi (pl.; sing. nkisi), that is, Congo charms that are also used in New World African derived religions, see Thompson 1984: 117–131.
- 71.
It has to be noted that in some of the traditions discussed there is also a trend to “re-africanisation” in the last decades. However, this is beyond the scope of this chapter.
- 72.
The more “Africanised” the religion is, the more intense spirit procession appears to be.
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Hödl, H.G. (2021). African and Amerindian Spirits: A Note on the Influence of Nineteenth-Century Spiritism and Spiritualism on Afro- and African-American Religions. In: Pokorny, L., Winter, F. (eds) The Occult Nineteenth Century. Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55318-0_15
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