What Is Umbanda? A Personal Introduction

Discovering Umbanda

The first time I entered a terreiro — the ritual space where Umbanda ceremonies take place — I did not really know where I was stepping into.

I was already curious about spirituality, but the environment felt different from anything I had experienced before. There was the steady rhythm of atabaques, traditional ritual drums, the scent of herbs slowly burning, and people dressed in white moving naturally between what felt sacred and everyday at the same time.

At that moment, I understood almost nothing of what was taking place. I simply observed.

Over time I began to realize that Umbanda was not just a set of rituals or beliefs. It felt more alive than that. It was a place of encounter—between people, between stories, between the visible world and what many spiritual traditions describe as the spiritual world.

Many years later, writing now from Europe, I can see how that first experience quietly opened an unexpected door in my life.

In another text on this blog I share the story of how I first encountered Umbanda.

But before continuing that journey, it is worth asking a simple—and at the same time difficult—question:

What is Umbanda?

What Is Umbanda?

When people ask me today what Umbanda is, I realize there is no single answer.

In general terms, Umbanda is a Brazilian religion that emerged from the meeting of different spiritual traditions: African religions brought to Brazil through the African diaspora, Indigenous spiritual knowledge, and influences from European Spiritism that became popular in Brazil during the nineteenth century.

Umbanda centers on mediumship, spiritual contact with ancestral presences, and the principle of charity and spiritual help, which many practitioners consider one of the core foundations of the tradition.

But any definition still feels incomplete. Umbanda is not only a set of ideas—it is primarily a lived experience.

In Umbanda temples, spiritual gatherings take place in ceremonies called giras (spiritual sessions). During these gatherings, mediums enter trance states and incorporate entities, who speak with visitors, offer guidance, and help people look at their lives from a different perspective.

For someone encountering this for the first time, it may seem unusual. But for those who spend time within the tradition, it gradually begins to feel surprisingly natural.

The Origins of Umbanda: History and Formation

Many narratives about the origins of Umbanda begin in 1908, with the medium Zélio Fernandino de Moraes and the manifestation of a spirit known as Caboclo das Sete Encruzilhadas.

According to this story, during a Spiritist gathering this spirit announced the beginning of a new form of spiritual work—one that would welcome spirits of different origins, Brazilian, Indigenous, African, and European, and that would be open to people from all social backgrounds.

This moment is often described as the official birth of Umbanda. In many ways it was an important milestone, because it gave public visibility and structure to spiritual practices that had already existed in different forms across Brazil.

Looking more closely at Brazilian history, however, it becomes clear that many elements associated with Umbanda today were already present long before that moment.

African communities preserved their religious traditions despite the violence of slavery. Indigenous peoples maintained their own spiritual knowledge and healing practices. And during the nineteenth century, European Spiritism—especially the ideas of Allan Kardec—spread widely across Brazil.

Umbanda emerged from this encounter of worlds.

It did not appear suddenly in a single moment of history. Instead, it gradually took shape in everyday life, in popular religious practices, often far from official recognition.

Orishas and Entities in Umbanda

Umbanda recognizes the existence of a single divine source—often called Olorum, Zambi, or simply God, depending on the tradition of each temple.

At the same time, the religion acknowledges the presence of the Orishas.

Orishas are not human spirits. They are understood as fundamental principles of nature and life itself—forces that express different aspects of existence, such as transformation, fertility, justice, communication, or balance. These principles are represented through personified deities.

Alongside the Orishas are entities — beings who once lived human lives and who now work spiritually to assist others.

These entities usually appear within different lines of spiritual work, such as:

• Pretos Velhos – wise ancestral entities associated with the experience of enslaved Africans in Brazil
• Caboclos – entities connected to Indigenous ancestry and the knowledge of the forests
• Erês – childlike entities associated with innocence, joy, and spontaneity
• Exus and Pombagiras – entities associated with crossroads, transformation, and human dilemmas
• Boiadeiros – entities linked to the cattle-driving traditions of Brazil’s interior
• Marinheiros – entities associated with the sea and emotional balance
• Baianos – entities connected to the culture of Brazil’s northeastern region
• Malandros – entities representing street wisdom and resilience
• Ciganos – entities inspired by Romani archetypes and themes of freedom and intuition

Each of these lines expresses a particular style of wisdom, language, and spiritual experience.

Over time I began to notice something curious: each entity seemed able to touch different aspects of life—often aspects of my own life—in ways that were simple but surprisingly effective. Those encounters almost always led to deeper reflection about myself and about the world, both spiritual and material.

The Experience of an Umbanda Terreiro

Someone entering a terreiro for the first time might expect something mysterious or otherworldly.

But what often happens there is something deeply human.

People arrive carrying worries, questions, and difficulties. They sit with the entities and talk. They receive advice—sometimes simple, sometimes deeply challenging.

Over time I began to realize that much of Umbanda’s spiritual work has less to do with dramatic miracles and more to do with small forms of guidance that help people see their lives from a different perspective.

And very often those insights return in the form of questions — that invite each person to reflect on themselves.

Umbanda Outside Brazil and in Europe

Today I write about Umbanda while living in Germany.

This creates an interesting situation.

In Brazil, Umbanda is part of the cultural landscape of many cities. Even people who have never visited a terreiro have usually heard about it.

In Europe, things are different.

Many people have never encountered Umbanda at all. Others know it only through fragments, stereotypes, or misunderstandings about Afro-Brazilian religions.

For that reason, speaking about Umbanda outside Brazil often requires a small act of translation—explaining words, historical contexts, and cultural references that in Brazil are often understood almost intuitively.

This blog was born precisely from that attempt to translate experiences—not to simplify the tradition, but to build bridges of understanding between different cultural contexts.

A Path Still Unfolding

This space is, above all, a place for reflection.

Not to present definitive explanations, but to share thoughts along a journey that is still unfolding.

Some readers may be encountering Umbanda for the first time here. Others may already have some connection with the tradition.

Part of the intention of this space is to explore what happens when a deeply Brazilian spiritual tradition is seen from other contexts—when it crosses cultures, languages, and different ways of understanding the sacred.

Umbanda itself was born from conversation between traditions: African cultures, Indigenous knowledge, and European influences that met in Brazil.

In a sense, it was born between worlds.

Perhaps that is why writing about Umbanda from Europe feels like just another chapter in this ongoing conversation across cultures and experiences.

Entre Mundos.

And perhaps this is simply another way to continue that conversation.