In honor of one of the most symbolic figures of Umbanda, the Old Black Day is celebrated this Wednesday (13). The date coincides with the 138th anniversary of Golden Law.
African-based religiosity celebrates the date that honors entities that represent spirits of light from elderly enslaved Africansconsidered guardians of the ancestry and symbols of wisdom and patience.
Resistance and historical memory
The choice of date is not casual. While history tells the memory of the last Western country to free itself, em 1888from a religious point of view, is seen as the resignification of history itself as a moment of political resistance.
The understanding is that legal freedom did not extinguish structural racism nor the social impacts of the colonial period, making the cult an act of preserving the memory of the slave quarters.
The role of entities in Umbanda
Os Old Blacks act under the vibration of Omoluthe patron saint of healing, are sought out to offer advice and spiritual assistance.
Characterized by simplicity, Pretos Velhos use specific elements in their services, such as pipe – for transmutation of energies – in addition to branches of rue for purification and the supply of coffee.
For practitioners, the maintenance of altars and the performance of rites with chants and smokes are ways of expressing gratitude and revering the cultural roots black from Brazil.
In addition to physical rituals, the spiritual commitment to Pretos Velhos involves the continuous search for justice, integrity and daily connection with the teachings of the ancestors.
