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HomeNumeriAnno XXVIII, n. 27 (1)Salute e intrecci più-che-umaniAssemblages of health and manipul...

Salute e intrecci più-che-umani

Assemblages of health and manipulation of the relationships with spirits in a Candomblé healing ritual

Assemblaggi di salute e riformulazione delle relazioni con gli spiriti in un rituale di cura del Candomblé
Daniela Calvo

Abstract

A partire da un rituale di cura nel candomblé, analizzo come gli esseri più-che-umani si intrecciano nel processo di salute e malattia e come i confini fisici e ontologici possano diventare fluidi e porosi. In particolare, le relazioni con una società di spiriti chiamata ẹgbé òrun possono avere un impatto sulla vita di una persona e, nel caso di un àbíkú (lett. “nato per morire”), possono compromettere la salute e mettere a rischio la vita. Il rituale terapeutico esaminato include una “offerta di sostituzione,” in cui la vita umana è sostituita con quella di un altro essere vivente. A questo scopo, i confini fisici e ontologici tra gli esseri umani e altri esseri viventi e oggetti vengono ritualmente alterati, mentre assemblaggi più-che-umani convergono per concentrare forza sacra e rimodellare le relazioni con gli spiriti e la Terra.

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Introduction

  • 1 Candomblé is one of the many Afro-Brazilian religions, that emerged in a process of reterritorializ (...)

1The interpretation of the process of health and illness and healing rituals in Candomblé1 highlight the relational property of health, which can be defined through a posthumanist lens as an emerging quality distributed across more-than-human assemblages of diverse bodies, forces, signs and affects (Andrews, Duff 2019; Calvo forthcoming). Sarah Elton’s (2021) concept of “relational health,” which describes health production through interconnections and interdependencies in assemblages that include humans and plants, can be extended to more-than-human assemblages. In Candomblé, these more-than-human assemblages include a variety of “natural,” “technological” and “spiritual” beings, such as other humans, plants, animals, minerals, food, ritually prepared and common tools and things, the house and other places where a person lives, works or simply passes by, family ancestors, divinities, spirits, energies, as well as colours, behaviours, feelings and affects (Calvo, forthcoming).

  • 2 Affect is intended as a transitional state, a change of intensity, a way of connecting to others an (...)
  • 3 See, for example, Andrews and Duff (2019) for a more comprehensive review of concepts and bibliogra (...)
  • 4 Just to name a few: Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Tim Ingold, Edoardo Ko (...)
  • 5 The literature on health and healing rituals in Candomblé is very broad. For instance, regarding he (...)
  • 6 Following the instigations of Marcio Goldman (2005, 2016) and Annemarie Mol (2002), ontology is use (...)
  • 7 According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, “becomings” denote «new kinds of relations emerging (...)
  • 8 See, for instance, Abimbola (1993), Jagun (2015), and Calvo (2019).
  • 9 The term medicine is understood in a broad sense, including any substance or combination of substan (...)
  • 10 The àṣẹ is the life force that flows from the Supreme Being, creator of the cosmos, Olódùmarè, cons (...)

2Posthumanist approaches to health have shifted the emphasis from statuses towards social, material and affective2 processes, that are produced through relationships and encounters3. This is based on novel understandings of corporeality, materiality, assemblage, relationality, vitality and affect. Numerous authors4 – ranging from Indigenous Studies, Environmental Studies, Science and Technology Studies (STS), ecofeminism, new studies of materialities, and posthumanist, decolonial and ontological turns – provide opportunities to rethink the human and its boundaries, and relationships, encounters and interdependencies among more-than-human beings. Candomblé offers an intriguing framework for analysing how more-than-human beings entangle in the process of health and illness5 because its ontology6 implies relationality, incompleteness, conviviality, translation, affect, mutual in-becomings7, inteconnectedness, participation in the flows of life and materials, and porosity of ontological borders (Calvo 2022; Calvo forthcoming; Silva et al. 2020). The person is a composition of multiple parts, with spiritual and material components, that include materials, forces, ancestral elements, cosmological principles and divine particles (particularly the breath, which is the principle of life, the spirit, the soul)8. Animals, plants, minerals, sacred objects and places, the òrìṣà, the ancestors and other spiritual beings all convey in healing rituals, to produce “medicines”9 and “offerings.” In order to promote health, they aim to transmit, to make humans “participate” of specific modulations of àṣẹ10, and to establish flows and movements of àṣẹ in the cosmos (Calvo 2019).

3In Candomblé, caring for oneself usually entails caring for other people, animals, plants, places, energies and relations:

  • 11 Shrine.

Taking care (of oneself or of others) always entails taking care of what is woven together, in “knots” or “plots,” which are constituted in a more persistent, essential way (and, for the terreiros11, essences are also in continuous becoming), or circumstantial (in “cycles” or “transits” […]), also entailing what emerges at “crossroads,” in encounters and disagreements, in exchanges of energies that comprise all types of beings (Silva et al. 2020: 156-157).

  • 12 Whose traditions refer to Yorubaland, that includes South-West Nigeria, and part of Togo and Benin.
  • 13 Ifá denotes a complex system of knowledge (collected in the ìtàn, myths) encom­passing religion, hi (...)

4In this paper, I focus on the ways in which more-than-human assemblages, particularly ẹgbé òrun (a spiritual society), affect human health; how relationships (with spiritual beings, divinities, the Earth and the spiritual world) are ritually manipulated, strengthened or weakened; how more-than-human beings are charged with force and converge to compose a healing assemblage, and how physical and ontological borders can be blurred in everyday encounters and rituals. The data that will be discussed in this paper are the fruit of intensive ethnographic research conducted since 2015 among Candomblé practitioners in Rio de Janeiro, especially at the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ, a Candomblé terreiro of the ketu nation12, directed by Bàbá Marcelo dos Santos Monteiro Ọdẹarofa Ifamakanjuọla Alabi Adedosu, where Candomblé interweaves with the Ifá system13 and esin òrìṣà ibilé (traditional òrìṣà worship) from Nigeria.

5The paper is organised into three sections. In the first section, I analyse ẹgbé òrun and how it influences human life, particularly in the case of àbíkú, which has an impact on health and life expectancy. In the second section, I present the case of a child with an àbíkú diagnosis along with the history that led him to the healing ritual that will be examined in the third section.

Spiritual societies and their impact on human life

  • 14 The term “Yoruba worldview” refers to common characteristics of the Candomblé of the ketu nation, e (...)
  • 15 The spiritual world, that interacts in a play of mirrors and connections with the aiyé, the materia (...)
  • 16 Lit. “father of the secret,” priest consecrated to Òrúnmìlà.

6Life and well-being may be affected by a class of spirits with whom a person has special bonds and with whom he or she has made pacts and pledges before birth. In fact, in Yoruba worldview14, humans have a parallel existence in the òrun15, where they come to life before being born in the aiyé and they are part of a society of spirits known as ẹgbé òrun. The spirits that make up ẹgbé òrun may be dead, not or not yet born in the aiyé, or have a parallel existence in the aiyé (where, if they meet, they typically form strong relationships from the first encounter, or they have a common destiny, such as when many children die in the same period). The ties among the members of ẹgbé òrun continue to influence their life also when they are living in the aiyé, and the spiritual companions expect they follow agreements and commitments, which leads events to their fulfilment. Various myths describe instances where the oracle revealed the cause of some misfortune (such as financial loss, marital difficulties, or a child’s death or illness) as the action of ẹgbé òrun, and assisted in preventing its repetition through offerings to ẹgbé òrun and the advice of special behaviours (like avoiding the event in which the child promised to die and rejoin his or her ẹgbé òrun). For example, Bàbá César Ifalola Ẹbí Offe Orunmila, a babaláwo16 who has religious office in the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ, informed me that one of his acquaintances had been abused by her former spouses and had been unable to sustain a marriage for a long time. She learned through an oracle consultation with a babaláwo that her problematic relationships with men were caused by a marriage she had entered into in the òrun, and gave her ritual instructions to break this agreement. He also mentioned that she later got married and happy with her new family.

  • 17 Traditional Yoruba societies believe that people should die at an old age for natural causes, after (...)
  • 18 On the spread of Ifá system and esin òrìṣà ibilé in Brazil, see, for instance, Capone (2016) and Pa (...)
  • 19 An ẹgbé òrun made up of children.
  • 20 According to many myths, offering and accepting food, or eating together builds relationships and n (...)

7One particular ẹgbé òrun is that of àbíkú, lit. “born to die,” which refers to spirits that continue to move between the òrun and the aiyé because they promised to return to their spiritual community after a brief lifetime17, typically on a predetermined date or occasion like their birthday celebration, the announcement of their marriage, or the first time they would start walking. Abortion, early death, chronic or invalidating diseases, or a propensity for risky activities are all signs of àbíkú. This condition is discovered through an oracle consultation, which also guides ritual acts (usually offerings) and appropriate behaviours that may help postpone death and heal the child. In traditional Youruba societies, a divination is performed during pregnancy, and then for the newborn child during a ceremony known as Ikómọjáde, in which the child is given a name, and the condition of àbíkú can be identified and treated. This ritual has only recently begun to spread in Brazil, after the diffusion of Ifá system that began in the 1970s18. Consequently, the condition of àbíkú is typically discovered later, when a consultation is made after repeated abortions (because a woman can continue to carry àbíkú), accidents, illnesses or attempts of suicide, especially when they occur at a young age. In order to keep the children diagnosed as àbíkú alive and restore their health, both positive and negative measures (such as taboos, offerings, and specific names given to them that act as an enchantment that keeps them on the Earth) are adopted. As a consequence, the situation where the àbíkú promised to return to the òrun can be prevented; they get free from the ties and influence of their ẹgbé òrun, and the cycle of their constant transits between the òrun and the aiyé is broken. According to a lady who attends the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ, doctors diagnosed her daughter with a few days left in 2010 and, if she had survived, she would have had a permanent inability to walk. Then she made an Ifá consultation with Bàbá Marcelo, discovered that the child was an àbíkú and that her issue was with ẹgbé emèrè19, and made the offerings and the rituals directed by Ifá. Her daughter is still alive with no health or disability issues. The lady always keeps fruits and candies on hand for the children who visit her home or knock on her door requesting food. This way, if her spiritual companions want to take away her daughter, they will be fed and satisfied, and the child’s life will be spared20.

  • 21 Offerings made to ẹgbé òrun in order to strengthen relationships with it and gain their protection (...)

8In Brazil, the knowledge and practices associated with ẹgbé òrun started to spread following the diffusion of Ifá system and esin òrìṣà ibilé from Nigeria in the 1970s, even though it is still primarily linked to the concept of àbíkú and to the treatment of issues brought on by spiritual companions or by promises made to them before birth21.

Discovering the condition of àbíkú

  • 22 Offering.
  • 23 The social communication issues that Linus exhibits as part of his autism are metaphorically expres (...)

9During my fieldwork at the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ, I encountered Linus, a four-years-old child, accompanied by his mother, Ana, and his paternal grandmother, Jussara. They went to the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ to make an ẹbọ22 following an oracular consultation in which Bàbá Marcelo diagnosed Linus as àbíkú. Ana had been treating him as an àbíkú since he was born because she recognised some typical signals: she realised to be pregnant only after seven months, so she was unable to take the necessary medical and ritual cares; the birth was complicated, putting mother and child at risk of death (Ana had a haemorrhage and and Linus was born with the umbilical cord wrapped); Linus had a high fever in his first year of life and was hospitalised for a few days without receiving neither a diagnosis nor a cure; later, he developed breathing issues, and he was recently diagnosed with autism (which shows up as a delay in cognitive, motor and language development)23 and bruxism.

  • 24 He attends music, dance and swimming classes, and participates in activities with specialised profe (...)
  • 25 Including paediatrician, speech therapist, neurologist and chiropractor.
  • 26 Another Afro-Brazilian religion.
  • 27 The main attributes of the òrìṣà Ìbéjì, the twins, include to take care of children with àbíkú prob (...)
  • 28 Òrìṣà who takes care of children during pregnancy and the first few years of life.
  • 29 Offer to the órí, the head, that is the most significant and sacred part of a person, and the found (...)

10Linus engages in a variety of activities24, and Ana takes care of him in biomedicine with multiple specialists25, in alternative and integrative medicines like Anthroposophy, and in Afro-Brazilian religions (first Omolokô26 and then Candomblé) and in Ifá, and Jussara contributes with her art therapy work. Additionally, Ana is always there for her son because she works from home as a psychologist via teleservice. Ana claimed that Linus’s health improved after religious treatments, but she was unable to keep things consistent because of her moves from Rio de Janeiro to São Paulo and then to Nova Friburgo. She came to Bàbá Marcelo through Linus’ father, who is still caring for his son although he and Ana are no longer together. The òrìṣà that Linus was treated with were Ìbéjì27 and Òṣun28, through offerings, herbal baths and borí29. A babaláwo suggested that Linus should be initiated in Ifá, but Ana decided to wait until her son was old enough to choose his religion and not to make any commitments for him at a young age.

11Thus, in her care for Linus’ health, Ana combines biomedical follow-up, Candomblé treatments, and complementary and integrative medicines. This is a strategy used by the majority of my research participants, who combine Candomblé treatments with other medical systems, such as biomedicine, traditional medicine, complementary and integrative medicines, and other religions, particularly Umbanda and Catholicism (Calvo 2020).

Healing rituals and more-than-human assemblages

12In order to analyse how more-than-human relations impact the process of health and illness, how health assemblages are produced and charged with force, and how rituals and everyday behaviours blur the physical and ontological borders, I will go into the specifics of the ritual that Bàbá Marcelo performed for Linus. The ritual was long and complex, including prayers, invocations, preparing an herbal bath, a “replacement offering” and offerings to the òrìṣà, the ancestors, the Ancestral Mothers and ẹgbé òrun. Due to the risks connected to the condition of àbíkú, it was also necessary to take extra precautions, such us avoiding sitting directly on the floor, through which the living connect with the ancestors. Human beings, spirits, animals, plants, objects, materials and forces composed an assemblage meant to promote Linus’ long life and good health. It was also necessary to strengthen Linus’ bond with the Earth and weaken his relation to ẹgbé òrun.

  • 30 Doné is the title of a priestess in Candomblé of the jeje nation (that refers to the traditions of (...)
  • 31 The òare male initiated whose primary functions are to play the sacred drums, to perform animal (...)
  • 32 Worship of ancestors.
  • 33 The ojúbọ, also called assentamento, is an artefact that is, simultaneously, a place of worship of (...)
  • 34 These components can be used to perform ritual actions (such as healing, witchcraft and willpower i (...)
  • 35 Similar to the discussions on Linus’ birth, Candomblé recommends a number of precautions for a preg (...)

13Bàbá Marcelo, Linus, Ana, Jussara, Doné30 Malu (a member of the Àṣe Idasilẹ Ọdẹ, initiated in orìṣà and in Ifá, who helped Bàbá Marcelo in preparing the food and the necessary material, and during the ritual), Raphael Olutobi (the son of Bàbá Marcelo, who is an ò31 and has received the call for a religious office in the worship of Egúngún32), and I participated to the ritual, which was held in a room close to those that hosts the ojúbọ33 of the orìṣà. Linus was not present during all the ritual and spent some time playing with his grandmother in the courtyard. Bàbá Marcelo explained that this was not an issue (with the exception of a few specific ritual parts where his presence was necessary) when his mother was present because their close relationship and physical contact would allow them to influence each other more easily. In other occasions, Bàbá Marcelo performed healing rituals for people interned in hospital, with the clothes used during their stay. In fact, according to Candomblé ontology, the human body has porous boundaries and is spread, that is, it expands beyond its borders and can be affected by actions taken on its former components, such as hair and nails, fluids such as saliva, blood and sweat, or objects that came into contact with it, such as clothes or food scraps34 (Flaksman 2014: 213). In this case, the child’s and his mother’s physical borders are blurred, extending their close bond after birth and giving her the chance to affect his health and destiny through her actions, the energies to which she participates, and the rituals she engages with35.

  • 36 Èṣù is the òrìṣà of communication and movement, the Lord of crossroads, the origin of life, the dyn (...)
  • 37 The Ancestral Mothers, who carry the feminine power of fertility, reproduction and achievement.

14Bàbá Marcelo, Ana and Linus sat on a straw mat covered with white cloth, while on another, the materials for the àgbo and the offerings were placed. Bàbá Marcelo sacralised himself and the space, and invoked several spiritual beings – including Olódùmarè, Èṣù36, Ìyámi37, Òrúnmìlà, Ifá, Àjàlà (the divine potter, who shapes the heads), Oloro (the Lord of ritual), the first humans to set foot on Earth, his òrìṣà, the ancestors and the deceased priests. As Hubert and Mauss (2005) observed, these preparatory rites provide the priest a special strength and status, making him sacred so that he can perform the ritual. For Bàbá Marcelo, invocations are not only a sign of respect and reverence, but also a way «for the priest to enter this gathering of people in the òrun and the aiyé» (Bàba Marcelo, personal communication). This allowed him to present himself to the spiritual beings as a member of a lineage, which gave him reference and strength to perform the ritual, as well as to call upon these beings’ presence and assistance during the ritual and their action as intermediaries with Olódùmarè and ẹgbé òrun. In order to give his actions and words force and to be heard, the priest, who acts as a mediator in negotiations with the spiritual world, also employs the intermediation of other spiritual beings to achieve the intended outcome. The invocations were also a means of protection for himself, the person for whom the ritual was performed and everyone else involved. Other rituals and elements served to increase Bàbá Marcelo’s spiritual force and compose the ẹbọ, which, in the case of ẹgbé òrun, due to the danger of the beings he was dealing with and the weight of the desired outcome (that Linus’ spiritual companions gave up on him and the ties they had established before he was born), were greater than in other ẹbọ in which I have participated.

  • 38 Yellow powder produced by the action of termites or by the sawdust of the sacred tree Baphia itida, (...)
  • 39 Powder that strengthens the speech’s power of achievements.

15Using ìyèròsùn38 on the Ifá board, Bàbá Marcelo traced the odù that Ifá had established, which he described as «a magic to give strength of realisation so that my word is heard» (Bàbá Marcelo, personal communication), then he strengthened his word with the àṣẹ of the gin and the àfòṣẹ39. To give it life and to re-actualise the event narrated in one of the odu’s ìtàn, Bàbá Marcelo marked the rhythm with a ritual instrument on top of the Ifá board; prayed for Linus’s life, the ritual’s success, and the odù drawn there. In that ìtàn, a babaláwo performed a divination for a man and suggested that he make a sacrifice in order to have wealth, health and a long life. The man did so, and his life flourished. Then, Bàbá Marcelo mixed a small amount of ìyèròsùn with water and drank it, in order to bring the strength of that odù and its mythical events within himself, so that he could achieve the same success obtained by the babaláwo in mythical times, bringing the strength of the faraway past to the present.

16This procedure is analogous to that of the cuna shaman called upon to assist in a challenging birth before beginning the chant, described by Claude Lévi-Strauss (1958). According to Carlo Severi (2002), the song results in a “duplication” of the shaman’s image (in this case, the babaláwo) and an unfolding of space:

[…] from the moment the singer starts to mention a chanter about to begin to recite his chant, from the point of view of the definition of the enunciator, (well before the beginning of the narration of the shamanistic journey) an entirely new situation is established: the enunciators have become two, one being the ‘parallel’ image of the other. There is the one who is said to be there (in the landscape described by the chant, preparing his travel to the underworld), and there is the one saying that he is here (in the hut, under the hammock where the ill person lies), chanting (Severi 2022: 32).

  • 40 Bath prepared with elements from the mineral, vegetable and eventually animal kingdoms, and other e (...)
  • 41 Aframomum melegueta, known as pepper or guinea pepper, conveys strength, the aṣe of achievement and (...)

17Bàbá Marcelo placed the remaining portion of ìyèròsùn on top of Èṣù’s ojúbọ, so that he, as the Ẹnugbárijọ, the messenger, could communicate with Olódùmarè and the voice of Bàbá Marcelo could be heard by Olódùmarè and the other spiritual beings invoked to intervene in the ritual. When he returned, he asked Ana to rub Linus’s body with a white cheesecloth and a red cloth (the colour of the egúngún, since ẹgbé òrun also includes the spirits of the dead) to dry his perspiration. The cloths were cut with the same height as Linus. Since Linus was playing and running in the backyard, the cloths, which were meant as part of his “spread body,” were soaked in his copious amounts of sweat and odour. Bàbá Marcelo laid the white and red cloths between himself and Ana (who had Linus on her lap) on top of the sheet. Bàbá Marcelo activated the vital force of the leaves which he later used to make the àgbo40 (the bath that Linus should have taken for a certain period) with invocations and elements like ataare41, which gives life, strength and joy, gin, which brings life and transformation, and water, which brings calm and refreshment. The àgbo is a medicine, i.e., a substance that, through contact with the body, transfers to the person specific modulations of àṣẹ from the plants and the elements that are sacralised, sacrificed, activated and used for its composition.

  • 42 The details of this ritual are described in Santos and Peixoto (2014).

18Using songs, he performed the ritual of Sasanha42, that includes songs and prayers to Òsányìn, the orìṣà of medicinal plants, for requesting his permission to use the plants, and for helping to activate their life force so that the medicine produced the desired effects. These songs contain an active verb that expresses the plants’ way of life (Verger 1995) and serves as an enchantment, that awakens their vital force, which is then transferred in the bath. Spoken words animate, set in motion, awaken and materialise the forces that are static in things and in the cosmos (Santos, Peixoto 2014), and the songs of the leaves also «circumscribe the symbols and signs, providing a dynamic totality that performs the function expected of it» (Barros 1993: 82).

19Although Linus was unable to comprehend their meaning, Bàbá Marcelo passed the leaves on his head because it was essential that his orí recognised and accepted the plants (as well as the entire ritual). He then macerated them in a bucket of water and added other elements. Many of the plants used provide health, longevity and the capacity to overcome adversities, such as Pèrègún (Dracena Fragans), Tètè (Amaranthus Hybridus), Akòko (Newbouldia Laevis), Màrìwò (Elaeis guineenses), Oṣíbàtà (Nymphaea lotus), Ójúóró (Pistia stratiotes), Òdúndún (Kalanchoe Crenata); and Ewé Lárá Funfun (Ricinus communis); the leaf of the white castor bean, which is the body’s leaf and is used to break ties with ẹgbé òrun. Among the other components, the bath contained ẹfún (white chalk, which represents serenity and the bond between people and the Earth and thus brings the àṣẹ that keeps the child in the aiyé); honey (which brings a sweet and pleasurable life); ìyèròsùn (yellow powder that brings the àṣẹ and the protection of Òrúnmìlà), and gin (which brings strength and joy).

  • 43 See Hubert and Mauss (1981).
  • 44 In other cases, an animal can be used, typically a goat, which shares many traits and behaviours wi (...)

20In the meantime, the second phase of the ritual began: it was a “replacement offering,” in which the ontological boundaries between a person and another being (in this case, Linus and a banana tree trunk) are broken in order to preserve the person’s life by substituting it with the sacrifice of the chosen and ritually prepared being. Bàbá Marcelo put the bagasse of the leaves inside an igbá, a round gourd with a fence cut in half, that was the size of a head and represented Linus’ orí. Raphael brought a banana tree trunk that Bàbá Marcelo had previously cut from the same height as Linus. Bàbá Marcelo then dressed the trunk with a used and unwashed shirt of Linus, which Ana had brought at his request, because it must have had his smell and energy to establish a relationship of identification with the child. In fact, in the ẹbọ ayèpínùn, a replacement offering, the life of a human being43 is replaced by the sacrifice of another living being, in this case, the trunk of a banana tree44.

21The principles of analogism and participation are at the basis of the identification and substitution of banana tree trunk for a human being. Analogism, intended as a way of distributing discontinuity and correspondences among beings, an effort to establish continuities, similitudes of effects and resonances, expresses a gradual discontinuity of essences, and a series of weak differences between forms and substances (Descola 2013). This is in line with Marcio Goldman’s (2005) definition of Candomblé’s ontological monism, which sustains a common origin and unity of substance and essence from which existence descends, in a process of modulation, molarization and crystallization, and with Roger Bastide’s suggestion to understand Candomblé’s conception of human personality as a «scale of existence of degrees of being» (Bastide 1973), that may vary depending on ritual and daily practices, relations and contacts. Most ritual practices in Candomblé are moved by a “wish to connect” (Bastide 1953: 78), to «establish continuities between segments that are usually discontinuous» (Goldman 2005: 106), to manipulate forces and to establish participations (Bastide 1953). A complex classification, that intersects various characteristics and natural and cosmic domains – such as cold/heat, positive/negative, masculine/feminine, the distribution among the òrìṣà, the four basic elements of nature (water, earth, air and fire), as well as form, smell, habitat (Barros 1993: 75), form of life, behaviour, relationships with other beings, mythical events (Calvo 2019) – and participations can be ritually manipulated; one element can be substituted by another, and forces can be “awakened,” transferred and recharged.

22Henceforth, the banana tree trunk is identified with Linus due to shared characteristics (similar proportion of water and height), but the replacement only becomes effective after ritual manipulation, the awakening of forces through spells, chants, ritual acts, natural elements and materials, the invocation of spiritual beings, contact and the transfer of fluids such as sweat, smell, materials and objects. On top of a larger piece of white cheesecloth, Bàbá Marcelo positioned the previously used white cheesecloth and red cloth. He then placed half of the igbá (the “head” of the trunk, which represented Linus’ head) on top of the banana tree trunk. Bàbá Marcelo took nine pieces of àkàsà, a paste made of white corn flour that represents life and human body (Calvo 2022; Reis 2002), since its preparation re-actualises individualization from a protomatter, and the creation of the human body, through a re-enactment of the myth of how the first human beings were formed from Èṣù Igbá Kẹta (“the third gourd”, the first being of the generic existence) (Calvo 2022: 129, 134). The number 9 indicated that it was a male person. He placed the àkàsà on the ground, prayed on top of it, and then handed Ana a piece to place on Linus’s head and chest, and then on her forehead and chest, in order to create the connection and identification between the element and the child. She then spoke to the àkàsà, expressing her wishes for her son, most notably, good health and longevity. She created a transference in the àkàsà of her emí, or breath, by bringing it closer to her mouth. This gave the àkàsà her life force and made it “participate” in her essence and, consequently, in her son’s. Then Bàbá Marcelo placed the pieces of àkàsà in the igbá on top of the bagasse of the leaves and, those that did not fit, on top of the banana tree trunk.

  • 45 The àkàra, commonly known as acarajé, is a ritual food made from black-eyed peas or cowpeas that ar (...)

23Bàbá Marcelo put the plate with nine àkàra45 on the child’s forehead and chest, then on the mother’s head, chest, knees and big toes and then placed it on the igbá: on the head to establish a connection with the orí and to be accepted by the mind, on the heart to make the connection with feelings, on the knees to present it to ẹgbé òrun, and on the big toes to present it to the ancestors. He placed eight akàrà next to the trunk, and one in the igbá. He followed the same procedure with the sugarcane dish, canjica (hominy), popcorn and chopped fruits. These offerings were accompanied by songs to ẹgbé òrun, with the aim that Linus’ spiritual companions would hear the praise and accept the offering.

  • 46 The òrìṣà of smallpox and infectious diseases, who has the power to both heal and spread illness. T (...)
  • 47 Kola nut, a significant offering to the òrìṣà and ancestors, that is also used as an oracle.

24These offerings, established by Ifá oracle in the consultation that Bàbá Marcelo made for Linus, were food offered to ẹgbé òrun to please it and convince it to give up disturbing the child, but many of them also took on specific meanings and messages through their vital force: sugar cane brings a sweet life, canjica brings peace and calm, and popcorn, Ọbalúaié’s46 food, represents the cure of diseases. Bàbá Marcelo dripped water on an obì47, and directed to it his prayers for Linus’ happiness, joy, prosperity, a happy destiny, accomplishments, a good orí, balance and long life, as well as the removal of death, illness and hardships from his life. Bàbá Marcelo then launched the obì to see if the ritual was proceeding correctly and if ẹgbé òrun accepted it. When he received a positive response, Anna felt more at ease about the ẹbọ’s success. Bàbá Marcelo made an offering to Èṣù, also known as Ẹnugbárijọ, the collective mouth, the messenger, and Ojiṣe, who is responsible for bringing the offerings to Olódùmarè so that he can turn the àṣẹ of the sacrifice back into advantages for the child.

25Subsequently, taking advantage of the fact that Linus had gone outside to play in the backyard with his grandmother, Bàbá Marcelo sacrificed the guinea pig, a substitute for the òkété, a rat very common in West Africa, but which in Brazil can be found only dry, being brought by Nigerians who sell goods for Ifá and òrìṣà worship. Since Linus had a health issue, all the animals had to be alive. The òkété and, by extension, its replacement, the guinea pig, brings long life and offspring. The association between these two animals operates for analogism, and is activated through the enchantment, that uses the name òkété (instead of the guinea pig’s), as it is customary in Candomblé when one element is replaced by another, because the Yoruba name is considered a “foundation name,” originating from the creation of the cosmos and beings (Verger 1995), and conveys particular forces. Bàbá Marcelo supported the guinea pig on Ana’s forehead, nape of the neck (which represents the unconscious and the relationship with ancestry), heart, knees and feet. The physical contact aims to introduce the animal to Anna and her ancestry, as well as to create an association between the victim and the sacrificer (Hubert, Mauss 1995: 38).

  • 48 Cowrie shells were used as money in West Africa. The purpose of the cowrie shells and coins was to (...)
  • 49 This procedure is followed before that some being (like the corpse of a dead, an ojúbọ, a sacred ob (...)
  • 50 Children’s spirits.

26He then sacrificed the guinea pig, dripped its blood on the igbá and Èṣù, and set it atop the banana tree’s trunk, while praying to ẹgbé òrun. He offered a rooster to Èṣù, and a black hen to Ìyámi in the same manner. Bàbá Marcelo then added palm oil to the Èṣù and the igbá, representing the red blood of the vegetable kingdom, which has the power to soothe after offering “warm blood” straight from the neck of the sacrificed animal; salt, which brings long and pleasant life by its power to preserve food and give it flavour; gin, which brings joy and strength; honey, for a sweet life. The acceptance of the offering was confirmed through obì divination. Bàbá Marcelo took the Ifa board, put ìyèròsùn on it and traced the odù Èjíogbé, the first in the hierarchical order and the oldest, through which all the other odù are also greeted. He prayed to Èjíogbé, blew on top of the odù to transfer his àṣẹ to it, and pronounced the phrases «Orí àláfíà» («Orí is all right»), «life and health», «Àláfíà ẹbọ ẹgbé òrun» («All right in the ẹbọ for ẹgbé òrun»), sanctioning with his voice the result of obì divination. He then put the ìyèròsùn where the odù was traced on top of the banana tree trunk, in order to convey this message to ẹgbé òrun. Bàbá Marcelo filled Ana’s hands with cowrie shells48, which she put on her head, chest, knees and feet, and brought close to her mouth to speak to them and then donated them to ẹgbé òrun placing them in the igbá. Numerous coins were used in the same procedure. According to Bàbá Marcelo, the purpose of the cowrie shells and the coins was to provide ẹgbé òrun with recompense to “buy” Linus’ life, to pay him so that he would leave the child alone and give up interfering with his life. With Raphael’s assistance, Bàbá Marcelo wrapped the banana tree trunk in strips of cheesecloth to keep the trunk, the igbá, the two cloths, and the offerings all together. He also folded the igbá on top of the trunk to maintain Linus’ height. The result looked like a child’s mummy wrapped in swaddling cloths, creating a powerful visual effect. Bàbá Marcelo, with Raphael’s assistance, tapped it three times on the ground49 to ask permission to lift it and placed it at the base of the akòko, a sacred tree that is home to spiritual beings like the emèrè50. It stayed there till the ẹbọ was concluded.

  • 51 Dreams are means of communication of ancestors, orìṣà and the other spiritual beings with humans.

27The third phase of the ritual involved making offerings to Egúngún, Ìyámi and Èṣù (as recommended by the oracle) so that, through the energy set in motion by the sacrifice of beings from the three natural kingdoms (mineral, vegetable and animal), they might bring health, joy, and a long and prosperous life to Linus. As before, Ana brought the àkàsà, the obí, the cowrie shells and the coins to her mouth, and talked to them, asking the ancestors for everything she desired for her son, before they were offered. The obí divination confirmed that the offerings were accepted, so Ana knelt in front of the ojúbọ of Egúngún with her head resting on the ground, praying for her son’s health. Bàbá Marcelo and Raphael then went out to dispatch the ẹbọ. Bàbá Marcelo recommended that Linus, and possibly everybody who was in the terreiro, remained there until they had returned, so that ẹgbé òrun, who saw him enter and saw the banana tree trunk with Linus’ old shirt and the white and red cloths that were soaked in his sweat and smell, would pursue it (thinking it was Linus), receive the offerings and the money with the mother’s prayers, and eat there. Consequently, it would leave the child alone and desist from interfering with his life and pretending that he returned to the òrun to fulfil the agreements he made before his birth. Bàbá Marcelo noted that the ẹbọ ẹgbé òrun is tied to a tree, with the exception of other Ifá determinations. In this way, it stands up, resembling a child (in this case, Linus). Upon their return, Bàbá Marcelo explained to Ana the taboos Ifá had established for her and her son. Additionally, Bàbá Marcelo suggested that Ana prepared an àkàsà and placed it beneath Linus’ bed once a week, because it is during sleep51 that the relationship with spiritual beings is stronger and ẹgbé òrun acts. As a result, when it tries to approach Linus, ẹgbé òrun is drawn to the àkàsà, eats and then departs without endangering the child’s life and well-being.

28After some time, I spoke to Ana and Linus’s father, who informed me that they were doing as Bàbá Marcelo advised and that Linus was better and less agitated.

Final considerations

29The analysis of the healing ritual presented in this paper highlights key aspects of Candomblé with regard to the concept of health as a process involving relationships and interactions among more-than-human beings; the concept of “spread body” and the porosity of physical and ontological borders; the possibility of a ritual manipulation of these relationships and the forces they are charged with; and the composition of more-than-human assemblages that favour recovering, health and long life.

  • 52 Another case in which relations are unmade is “to take the hand” of a mother-of-the-saint or a fath (...)

30Health is a dynamic and open process, depending on states of balance and unbalance, harmony and disharmony, alignment and misalignment, in constant movement and becoming, and on a range of relationships, interconnections, participations, intensities and affects with other more-than-human beings. Borrowing the terminology that Tim Ingold (2010) employs for the definition of “thing” (as opposed to “object”), ritual and daily practices in Candomblé show that beings are «a meshwork of interwoven lines of growth and movement» (Ingold 2010: 3), participating in «the fluxes and flows of materials» (Ingold 2010: 3), and they «leak, forever discharging through the surfaces that form temporarily around them» (Ingold 2010: 4). And «The body/person is a “complication” of entangled dynamisms, not a closed space, […] but an open space, co-implicating territories through their thresholds, a space constituted and crossed by energies, a space of intensities and interactions, in continuous variation» (Silva et al. 2020: 156). Ẹgbé òrun, spiritual companions, and other more-than-human beings (which form complex entanglements of bodies, forces, affects and interdependencies), have a variety of effects on human health: they can favour a prosperous and healthy life, but also cause death, accidents and unfavourable circumstances, interacting and forming a “parliament of lines” (to use Ingold’s terminology). The healing ritual for àbíkú aims to unmake relationships and connections, in this case with egbé òrun52, while also establishing or strengthening other connections and participations (with the force of plants, the earth, the òrìṣà, ancestors and the Ancestral Mothers). This is a counterpart of the attempt to establish connections and participations in most Candomblé ritual practices (Bastide 1953; Goldman 2005).

31Common interactions like the contacts between a mother and her child; body fluids like sweat and breath; objects that came into contact with the body like a used shirt; a ritual treatment of beings like the àkàsà, a banana tree trunk or a goat cause mutual affects among beings, porosity of physical and ontological borders, identification and even exchange of identity. This is the core of “replacement offerings,” when human life is exchanged by an animal’s or a plant’s, and which are usually performed in the most severe cases like the risk of death, the condition of àbíkú or serious illness. By combining “medicine” and “offering,” healing rituals enable human beings participate of forces and relationships, and set energies in motion in the cosmos through the composition of more-than-human assemblages that include humans, animals, plants, minerals, body fluids, the òrìṣà, ancestors, the Ancestral Mothers, forces, foods, artefacts, sacred and common objects, colours, rhythms, words, chants and prayers. Health results in a process in continuous becoming, and balances achieved through ritual are enmeshed in the flow of life and in the leaking of materials and energies, as emerges from the need to continue adhering to taboos and taking other precautions (in the case analysed, the offerings of àkàsà that Ana must make weekly for ẹgbé òrun).

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Note

1 Candomblé is one of the many Afro-Brazilian religions, that emerged in a process of reterritorialization after slavery trade. Despite the variability among the different traditions and lineages, it can be defined through the following distinctive fea­tures: the worship of ancestry; the ritual embodiment of the òrìṣà, i.e., divinized ancestors who hold sway over the elements of nature and social and cultural domains, such as war, metallurgy, hunting, justice and medicine; a complex initiation procedure; animal sacrifice; oral transmission of knowledge, marked by secrecy; oracular consultation and social organisation in so-called terreiros.

2 Affect is intended as a transitional state, a change of intensity, a way of connecting to others and to the world (Massumi 2015: 3-4).

3 See, for example, Andrews and Duff (2019) for a more comprehensive review of concepts and bibliography on the theme.

4 Just to name a few: Bruno Latour, Gilles Deleuze, Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Tim Ingold, Edoardo Kohn, Sarah Whatmore, Cary Wolfe, Rosi Braidotti, Karen Barad, and Jane Bennett.

5 The literature on health and healing rituals in Candomblé is very broad. For instance, regarding health in relation to more-than-human-beings, José Flávio Pessoa de Barros and Eduardo Napoleão (2007) examine the use of plants for therapeutic purposes; Monique Augras (2008) explores the relationship with the personal òrìṣà; José Flavio Pessoa de Barros and Maria Lina Leão Teixeira (1989) consider the various causes of illness, including those that involve the relationships with the òrìṣà, the dead and other spiritual beings; Estélio Gomberg (2011) and Miriam Rabelo (2014) discuss healing and caring.

6 Following the instigations of Marcio Goldman (2005, 2016) and Annemarie Mol (2002), ontology is used as a methodological approach in this paper. Goldman, relating Isabelles Stengers’ concept of cosmopolitics to what she sees as a “fundamental unknown” (Stengers 2007), suggests «doing anthropology starting from a kind of transcendental not knowing that, far from paralysing the research, may, on the contrary, act as its dynamic impulse» (Goldman 2016: 34). Analogously to Mol’s (2002) analysis of atherosclerosis, I consider how ontology is shaped by praxis (in this paper, ritual and daily practices), enactment, and the interplay of various praxes, enactments, contexts, relations and more-than-human beings. According to Goldman (2005), Candomblé’s ontology is «more supported by becomings and multiplicities than by states of being conceived as fundamentally unitary» (Goldman 2005: 107) and has a «strictly constructivist and multiple character» (Goldman 2005: 114).

7 According to Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, “becomings” denote «new kinds of relations emerging from non-hierarchical alliances, symbiotic attachments, and the mingling of creative agents» (1987: 241–242).

8 See, for instance, Abimbola (1993), Jagun (2015), and Calvo (2019).

9 The term medicine is understood in a broad sense, including any substance or combination of substances, ritually manipulated to awaken their life force, which can be ingested, rubbed or put in contact with the body or in incisions, or absorbed through an herbal bath.

10 The àṣẹ is the life force that flows from the Supreme Being, creator of the cosmos, Olódùmarè, constitutes life in all its manifestations and forms, and enables the life process.

11 Shrine.

12 Whose traditions refer to Yorubaland, that includes South-West Nigeria, and part of Togo and Benin.

13 Ifá denotes a complex system of knowledge (collected in the ìtàn, myths) encom­passing religion, history, medicine, botany and ethics, and the oracle given to humanity by a divinity called Òrúnmìlà, òrìṣà of wisdom, and testimony of the choice of human destiny prior to birth in the òrun, the spiritual world.

14 The term “Yoruba worldview” refers to common characteristics of the Candomblé of the ketu nation, esin òrìṣà ibilé (traditional òrìṣà worship), Ifá system (in West Africa and African Diaspora), other Afro-Brazilian religions of the complex ketu-nagô (such as Xangô, Tambor de Mina, etc.), as well as other Afro-diasporic religions like and Trinidadian Orisha, and Cuban Regla de Ocha and Regla de Ifa (see, for example, Capone 2018). Olupona and Rey (2007) assert that òrìṣà worship ought to be regarded as one of the great “world religions.”

15 The spiritual world, that interacts in a play of mirrors and connections with the aiyé, the material world.

16 Lit. “father of the secret,” priest consecrated to Òrúnmìlà.

17 Traditional Yoruba societies believe that people should die at an old age for natural causes, after fulfilling their destiny. The oracle is typically consulted to investigate the causes of premature death or abortion, which can be attributed to wrongdoing (by the person or other family members), witchcraft, a “bad orí” and a difficult destiny, or the intervention of spiritual beings like ancestors and ẹgbé òrun.

18 On the spread of Ifá system and esin òrìṣà ibilé in Brazil, see, for instance, Capone (2016) and Palmié (2005).

19 An ẹgbé òrun made up of children.

20 According to many myths, offering and accepting food, or eating together builds relationships and no one can harm someone after accepting food from them.

21 Offerings made to ẹgbé òrun in order to strengthen relationships with it and gain their protection and favours in life are common in Nigeria, but not in Brazil, where similar rituals (particularly the offer of sweets, honey and other foods), probably originally linked to the worship of ẹgbé òrun, are celebrated during feasts honouring Ìbéjì (the twin òrìṣà), the erê (spirits of children) – who are associated with the Catholic saints Cosma and Damian, patron saints of physicians – and children.

22 Offering.

23 The social communication issues that Linus exhibits as part of his autism are metaphorically expressed by the diagnosis of àbíkú and his relationships with ẹgbé òrun. In fact, strong bonds with his spiritual companions cause him to become distracted from his worldly existence and relations. This is consistent with Ifá’s verses stating that the àbíkú’s spiritual companions continue to call him or her, and that «his or her eye make him or her look here [at the aiyé] and there [at the òrun]» (Verger 1983: 146). The rituals that Bàbá Marcelo performed for Linus included prayers and materials aiming at strengthening Linus’ ties with the aiyé.

24 He attends music, dance and swimming classes, and participates in activities with specialised professionals.

25 Including paediatrician, speech therapist, neurologist and chiropractor.

26 Another Afro-Brazilian religion.

27 The main attributes of the òrìṣà Ìbéjì, the twins, include to take care of children with àbíkú problems. Síríkù Sàlámì (Bàbá King), on his website https://www.oduduwa.com.br/?cont=templo-ibeji states that «As for the orisha Ibeji, he protects against premature death, calms material and spiritual suffering, guides the ori of the abiku and the devotees to follow the right path, attracts economic progress and spiritual development, harmonises material and spiritual life. It provides feelings of peace, tranquillity, serenity, confidence, fertility, turns tears into smiles. It is associated with duplicity – between existing and non-existing, doing and not doing.»

28 Òrìṣà who takes care of children during pregnancy and the first few years of life.

29 Offer to the órí, the head, that is the most significant and sacred part of a person, and the foundation of destiny.

30 Doné is the title of a priestess in Candomblé of the jeje nation (that refers to the traditions of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, in Benin Republic).

31 The òare male initiated whose primary functions are to play the sacred drums, to perform animal sacrifice and to dispatch offerings.

32 Worship of ancestors.

33 The ojúbọ, also called assentamento, is an artefact that is, simultaneously, a place of worship of the òrìṣà, a place where the life force of the òrìṣà is concentrated through simulacra, materials, artefacts, invocations, prayers and songs; a point of connection and communication with the òrìṣà, and the same òrìṣà.

34 These components can be used to perform ritual actions (such as healing, witchcraft and willpower influence) that are intended to have an impact on the person’s life.

35 Similar to the discussions on Linus’ birth, Candomblé recommends a number of precautions for a pregnant woman, as well as for the mother and the baby for a specific amount of time after delivery. These precautions include medical care, oracle consultation, an appropriate diet and (general and personal) taboos related to places, behaviours, food and contacts, as well as the ritual treatment of the placenta. These measures are intended to reduce the likelihood of carrying an àbíkú or other undesirable spirits, of being attacked by witchcraft, jealousy or evil eye, or of harming the child in any way.

36 Èṣù is the òrìṣà of communication and movement, the Lord of crossroads, the origin of life, the dynamic principle of life, and the first being of the generic existence, from which the first human beings formed.

37 The Ancestral Mothers, who carry the feminine power of fertility, reproduction and achievement.

38 Yellow powder produced by the action of termites or by the sawdust of the sacred tree Baphia itida, sp. Leguminosae Papailionoideae. The odù, that convey Ifá’s messages, are scratched in this dust. The odù is a sacred sign resulting from Ifá oracular consultation, and has many ìtàn associated.

39 Powder that strengthens the speech’s power of achievements.

40 Bath prepared with elements from the mineral, vegetable and eventually animal kingdoms, and other elements.

41 Aframomum melegueta, known as pepper or guinea pepper, conveys strength, the aṣe of achievement and awakens the life force of the other elements.

42 The details of this ritual are described in Santos and Peixoto (2014).

43 See Hubert and Mauss (1981).

44 In other cases, an animal can be used, typically a goat, which shares many traits and behaviours with humans.

45 The àkàra, commonly known as acarajé, is a ritual food made from black-eyed peas or cowpeas that are formed into a ball and deep-fried in palm oil.

46 The òrìṣà of smallpox and infectious diseases, who has the power to both heal and spread illness. The doburu (popcorn) represents smallpox wounds that have been healed, and has healing properties.

47 Kola nut, a significant offering to the òrìṣà and ancestors, that is also used as an oracle.

48 Cowrie shells were used as money in West Africa. The purpose of the cowrie shells and coins was to compensate the members of Linus’ ẹgbé òrun who lived in the aiyé at different times.

49 This procedure is followed before that some being (like the corpse of a dead, an ojúbọ, a sacred object, an offering etc.) is moved from one place to another.

50 Children’s spirits.

51 Dreams are means of communication of ancestors, orìṣà and the other spiritual beings with humans.

52 Another case in which relations are unmade is “to take the hand” of a mother-of-the-saint or a father-of-the-saint from the people initiated by her/him after her/his death (see, for instance, Oliveira 1999).

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Daniela Calvo, «Assemblages of health and manipulation of the relationships with spirits in a Candomblé healing ritual»Archivio antropologico mediterraneo [Online], Anno XXVIII, n. 27 (1) | 2025, online dal 20 giugno 2025, consultato il 11 maggio 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/aam/10261; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/145os

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Daniela Calvo

Kyoto University, Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies - dnlclv7@gmail.com

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