Almas e Angola

Within a star, there is a cross. A drawing on the floor shows the house is built on faith: the cross carries the Souls of Pretos Velhos, Exus, and Pombas Giras; the star is Angola’s. In trembling bodies, eyes roll and faces cringe… the entities arrive to inhabit the bodies stomping their feet on this place made for Souls and Angola.

Some might say the religion was originated in Rio de Janeiro, a daughter to Cabula: an Afro-Catholic form of syncretism from slavery days in rural area, a phase of intense Candomblé repression in Brazil. Others say Almas e Angola is Umbanda’s sister. But it is actually all about the daily routine: cultures from African orixás, worshipping ancestors and deceased spirits of Afro-Brazilian and Amerindian people enslaved and persecuted.

“We work with the forces of Nature,

with the magic of witches,

with the knowledge from the Orixás”

Father Alex, Tenda Espírita Oxosse Caçador

It’s been more than twenty-two years since Father Alex established his house in an underprivileged neighborhood in the city known as the “Magic Island”: Florianópolis is a piece of land in the South of Brazil with some of the most dazzling beaches along the country’s coast. The Tenda Espírita Oxosse Caçador, as is customary with Almas e Angola houses, is located in a place of extreme natural potency. It follows the Almas current lead by the healing orixá, Obaluaê.

Promoting cure and spiritual evolution is what’s behind all the works developed at the Father Alex’s Tenda. He knows how impactful faith can be in a simple and marginalized region of the city. Many come closer to practice their beliefs in ancestors, magic, music, community, and – definitely – in themselves.

“Perfume scent in the air

Seven red roses

I take the most beautiful of them all”

Song at a Gira de Exu ritual in Tenda Espírita Oxosse Caçador

One of the most exuberant festivities if offered to he whose energy clears paths, who tends to the energy between Earth and the Sacred, who opens the doors. Exu is the main entity to suffer from prejudice in Afro-Brazilian religions: he was wrongly interpreted and associated to the devil from a Christian perspective of the world.

“Exu is strongly connected to the Earth,

he walks with us 24h a day.

He has a need for alcohol and cigars

because he needs that energy.

But he’s not the devil.

He holds our vanity and our joy”

Father Alex, Tenda Espírita Oxosse Caçador

In his gira, in the Almas e Angola tradition, life’s exuberance is manifested in the bodies incorporating Pretos Velhos, Marias Padilhas, Caboclos… all dressed in their gala garments, turning the air into a smoky curtain of times, mixing the scent of the bodies with those of the drinks.

Bodies play the atabaques to the connecting rhythm while others hug, gazes can seduce and care for one another. The starry floor becomes a sacred sky: now, everyone shines and dances to the possibility of belonging to those who love them. Spontaneity transcends the dance: all toast and sing together to the most beautiful version of their history.

“We’re like brass

that can be polished

until it turns into jewelry”

Father Alex, Tenda Espírita Oxosse Caçador