New Religious Movement
Umbanda (Brazilian Afro-syncretic, mainstream)
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Brazilian Afro-syncretic religion (1908) blending Spiritism, Candomblé, and Catholic elements. Substantial Brazilian following.
CLCI radar
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Low Control
BITE breakdown
Behavior Control3/10
Information Control2/10
Thought Control3/10
Emotional Control3/10
Modifiers (+0)
0 — Brazilian Afro-syncretic religion; mainstream low-control.
Profile facts
Founded
1908
Members
Estimated several million in Brazil
Active in
LatAm
In context
Umbanda is a 20th-century Brazilian creation distinct from Candomblé and from European Spiritism. Distinctive ceremonial trance possession by orixás and pretos velhos. Mainstream low-control religious tradition.
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Evidence by BITE axis
Thought Control
- mainstream low-control
Timeline
- 1908Umbanda crystallises in Niterói, Brazil
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- Diana Brown academic work search ↗
- religion, class, and context: continuities and discontinuities in Brazilian Umbanda — American Ethnologist (1987) — https://doi.org/10.1525%2Fae.1987.14.1.02a00050 open ↗
- Religion and Cultural Identity: The Case of Umbanda — Sociological Analysis (1979) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3710239 open ↗
- Umbanda and Hybridity — Numen (2009) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F002959709X12469430260084 open ↗
- Umbanda and Africa — Nova Religio (2012) — https://doi.org/10.1525%2Fnr.2012.15.4.13 open ↗
- Umbanda: Africana or Esoteric? — https://doi.org/10.16995%2Folh.469 open ↗
- Musical and Spiritual Innovation, Participation and Control in Brazil's Umbanda and Quimbanda Religions — Ethnomusicology Forum (2013) — https://doi.org/10.1080%2F17411912.2013.812458 open ↗
- Black Magic and the Academy: Macumba and Afro-Brazilian “Orthodoxies” — History of Religions (2007) — https://doi.org/10.1086%2F518811 open ↗
- Black Magic and the Academy: Macumba and Afro-Brazilian “Orthodoxies” — History of Religions (2007) — https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/518811 open ↗
- Umbanda and Quimbanda Magic in Brazil : Rethinking Aspects of Bastide's Works / Magie Umbanda et Quimbanda au Brésil. A propos d'aspects des travaux de Bastide — Archives de sciences sociales des reli — https://doi.org/10.3406%2Fassr.1992.1552 open ↗
- Umbanda Healers as Effective AIDS Educators: Case-Control Study in Brazilian Urban Slums ( favelas ) — Tropical Doctor (1997) — https://doi.org/10.1177%2F00494755970270S118 open ↗
- Culture, Nation, and the Struggle for Black Atlantic Religion — Journal of Africana Religions (2018) — https://doi.org/10.5325%2Fjafrireli.6.1.0095 open ↗
- Spirit Possession in Brazil. The Perception of the (Possessed) Body — Anthropos (2014) — https://doi.org/10.5771%2F0257-9774-2014-1-135 open ↗
- An Alternative Healing Paradigm: A Case Study of Spiritual Therapy in Umbanda — Luso-Brazilian Review (2015) — https://doi.org/10.3368%2Flbr.52.2.174 open ↗
- Religion and Modernity: Three Studies of Brazilian Religiosity — Journal of Social History (1991) — https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fjsh%2F25.2.389 open ↗
- Umbanda and Batuque in the Southern Cone: Transnationalization as Cross-Border Religious Flow and as Social Field — The Diaspora of Brazilian Religions (2013) — https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789004246034_008 open ↗
- Wicked Women and Femmes Fatales: Gender, Power, and Pomba Gira in Brazil — History of Religions (2008) — https://doi.org/10.1086%2F592152 open ↗
- Learning from the Spirits: Candomblé, Umbanda, and Kardecismo in Recife, Brazil — Anthropology of Consciousness (2008) — https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1556-3537.2008.00001.x open ↗
- Social Dimensions of Health: Ritual Practice, Moral Orders, and Worlds of Meaning in Brazilian Candomblé and Umbanda Temples — Anthropology of Consciousness (2020) — https://doi.org/10.1111%2Fanoc.12123 open ↗
- Umbanda, Music and Music Therapy — https://doi.org/10.15845%2Fvoices.v1i1.780 open ↗
- Re-enchanting Late Modernity — Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (2016) — https://doi.org/10.1558%2Fjsrnc.v9i4.20838 open ↗
- Incorporating spirit — Body and Religion (2017) — https://doi.org/10.1558%2Fbar.29112 open ↗
- Assessing Ritual Experience in Contemporary Spiritualities — Religion and Society (2018) — https://doi.org/10.3167%2Farrs.2018.090110 open ↗
- Umbanda completa 110 anos em meio a ataques e queda no número de devotos — https://www.bbc.com/portuguese/brasil-44297088 open ↗
- Teor preconceituoso faz Justiça proibir livro de Edir Macedo — http://www.estadao.com.br/arquivo/arteelazer/2005/not20051110p3581.htm open ↗
- Le spiritisme au Brésil — Archives de sciences sociales des religions (1967) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/assr.1967.2629 open ↗
- Du syncrétisme à la synthèse. Umbanda, une religion brésilienne / Front Syncretism to Synthesis. Umbanda, a Brazilian Religion — Archives de sciences sociales des religions (1975) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/assr.1975.1920 open ↗
- Le Messianisme raté — Archives de sciences sociales des religions (1958) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/assr.1958.1961 open ↗
- Les intellectuels de l’Umbanda et le nationalisme des années 1930 et 1940 — Brésil(s) (2012) — https://dx.doi.org/10.4000/bresils.784 open ↗
- Dona Rosinha do Massapê : la cure spirituelle par le toré — Bulletin de psychologie (2001) — https://dx.doi.org/10.3406/bupsy.2001.15578 open ↗
- Magna Charta der Umbanda: offizielles Dokument der Umbanda-Religion. — https://www.e-helvetica.nb.admin.ch/search?urn=bel-2451613&sort=ehs_publication_date%20desc open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Source-density flags derived from existing free-text sources[]: academic sources. Heuristic auto-flag; subsequent editorial pass will populate structuredSources[] with reliability tiers.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Disclaimer. This profile is an educational summary based on publicly available reports. Many members of this group do not experience the patterns described. Individual congregations and chapters vary widely. If you or someone you know needs support, contact a licensed therapist or the International Cultic Studies Association.