Abstract
The Afro-Brazilian religions come out of a process of mingling between the African religions brought to the Americas through the slave trade. Many see them as religions of cultural resistance, in the sense that by paying homage to African deities they helped Africans not to lose touch with their ancestral origins. Although there are many different variants of Afro-Brazilian religions in Brazil, the author focuses on two syncretic cosmologies that are more common in Portugal: Umbanda and Candomble. Umbanda went through an initial process of 'whitening' as the white elites who elected it as a symbol for nationalism strove to eliminate any vestiges of what was considered, at the time, primitive and dangerous. The trend towards more Africanized versions of the Afro-Brazilian religions is tied to the creation of Afro-Brazilian associations and federations. Keywords: Afro-Brazilian associations; Afro-Brazilian religions; Candomble; Portugal; Umbanda
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