Iemanjá e pomba-gira: imagens do feminino na umbanda

Abstract

Among all the Afro-Brazilian religions composing the religious scene in Brazil, Umbanda is the only one to be considered truly brazilian, as it originated in this country, combining elements of African religions, Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritualism, Esotericism, and South American Indian practices, among others. The Umbanda religious cult reflects a great part of the aspirations, demands, conflicts, contradictions, and perspectives of the society where it developed. Its pantheon includes two intrinsically distinct female symbols, which are equally strong and significant of the feminine condition. Yemanja, originally an African mother goddess with notable power, is a feminine model par excellence of all the Afro-Brazilian pantheon, and presents, in Umbanda, an association of various distinct attributes which engendered her complex image of mother, woman, virgin, siren and saint, making her an essentially maternal and feminine, but almost asexual, entity. On the other side, there is Pomba-gira, a female figure with strong sexual, erotic and seductive content, present in this cult as another important symbol of femininity, representing different attributes, in contrast with those represented by Yemanja. Together with Yemanja, rather than by her side, Pomba-gira assumes, in Umbanda, the condition of great female entity, composing a contradistinctive complementary model of attributes inherent to feminine sexuality. The present study seeks to comprehend what Umbanda actually proposes in terms of image or model of femininity in its cut, separating so ostensively the feminine images of mother – Yemanja – and sexed woman – Pomba-gira. We intend to identify and understand the female image currently proposed by Umbanda, starting from the comprehension of evaluative and conceptual contents present in these two mythical figures, representing the feminine condition par excellence of their pantheon; and to what extent this image is present in the everyday life of Umbandist women.