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Author Willson, Brian, author

Title In search of ancient kings : Egúngún in Brazil / Brian Willson ; foreword by Robert Farris Thompson
Published Jackson : University Press of Mississippi, 2021

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Foreword / Robert Farris Thompson -- Part I: Never too late. Introduction: From Long Island to Brazil ; Diary 1 2006-2007: "She is standing right behind you" ; Diary 2 2007: "I miss you already" ; Diary 3 2008-2012: Obrigação ; Diary 4 2013: Amuxian ; Diary 5 2016: Visiting the matrix: a trip to Itaparica -- Part II: Egúngún: custodians of endless memory. Ancient kings emerge ; Origans of Egúngún ; Change and continuity: from Africa to Brazil ; A mysterious wind: Aparaká ; Mother of nine -- Part III: Across the bay of All Saints. Timeline: a miracle of memory and perseverance ; "And then there was the letter" ; Conclusion
Summary "The Egúngún society is one of the least-studied and written-about aspects of African diasporic spiritual traditions. It is the society of the ancestors, the society of the dead. Its primary function is to facilitate all aspects of ancestor veneration. Though it is fundamental to Yorùbá culture and the Ifá/Òrìṣà tradition of the Yorùbá, it did not survive intact in Cuba or the US during the forced migration of the Yorùbá in the Middle Passage. Taking hold only in Brazil, the Egúngún cult has thrived since the early 1800s on the small island of Itaparica, across the Bay of Saints from Salvador, Bahia. Existing almost exclusively on this tiny island until the 1970s (migrating to Rio de Janeiro and, eventually, Recife), this ancient cult was preserved by a handful of families and flourished in a strict, orthodox manner. Brian Willson spent ten years in close contact with this lineage at the Candomble temple Xango Cá Te Espero in Rio de Janeiro and was eventually initiated as a priest of Egúngún. Representing the culmination of his personal involvement, interviews, research, and numerous visits to Brazil, this book relates the story of Egúngún from an insider's view. Very little has been written about the cult of Egúngún, and almost exclusively what is written in English is based on research conducted in Africa and falls into the category of descriptive and historical observations. Part personal journal, part metaphysical mystery, part scholarly work, part field research, and part reportage, In Search of Ancient Kings illuminates the nature of Egúngún as it is practiced in Brazil"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Description based on print version record and CIP data provided by publisher
Subject Egúngún (Cult) -- Brazil
Yoruba (African people) -- Brazil -- Religion
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Cultural
Egúngún (Cult)
Yoruba (African people) -- Religion
Brazil
Form Electronic book
Author Thompson, Robert Farris, author of foreword
LC no. 2021015812
ISBN 9781496834508
149683450X
9781496834478
149683447X
9781496834485
1496834488
9781496834492
1496834496