Ethnozoological aspects related to Umbanda Nagô Vladimir Stolzenberg Torres

Abstract

Human societies utilize animals for myriad material and spiritual ends. An example of their use in a religious context found in Brazil’s African-derived belief systems. Umbanda Nagô, an Afro-Brazilian religion includes various magical and liturgical uses of animals. This work inventoried the species utilized by adherents and to analyzed their symbolic and magical context. Data were obtained from Umbanda Nagô temples in Porto Alegre city, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Thirty - three species were identified and recorded, comprising seventeen families with the predominance of Cypraeidae, Megalobulimidae, and Ostreidae, all with four species, followed by Bovidae, Pimelodidae and Volutidae with three species.