Finding an Umbanda Center

• 1). Try to locate an Umbanda center near you. While Umbanda is predominantly practiced in Brazil, with tens of thousands of centers in Rio de Janeiro, there are Umbanda centers in the United States located in San Francisco, New York, and Washington D.C.
  
  
• 2). Read the description of a Rio de Janeiro Umbanda ceremony below, as outlined in "Umbanda: Religion and Politics in Urban Brazil" by Diana Brown (see References).
  
  
• 3). There are no private rites in Umbanda; it is practiced publicly and communally. If you want to practice Umbanda, you will have to find an Umbanda center.
  
  

The Ceremony

• 1). An Umbanda ceremony, known as a gira, begins in the late afternoon or early evening, and takes place in a rectangular room divided between a ritual area and a seating area with pews.
  
  
• 2). There will be an altar in the front of the room with statues of the various Umbanda spirits, Indian warriors known as caboclos, elderly blacks known as pretos velhos, and also Catholic saints.
  
  
• 3). The ceremony begins with the entrance of an initiate carrying incense, part of a process of purification. The congregation will then sing a sacred song, followed by a blessing and a Catholic prayer.
  
  
• 4). The mediums -- those capable of communicating with spirits -- will then lead the congregation in singing and dancing, calling out to the spirits to join them. As the singing and dancing continues, the mediums will become possessed by spirits, some by cabolcos, others by pretos velhos, both of which have distinct characteristics.
  
  
• 5). Once possessed, the mediums will begin praying at the altar and smoking cigars, which are also associated with purification. Each "spirit" will also greet the others in a series of elaborate rituals.
  
  
• 6). After all of the spirits have arrived, members of the congregation will rise to consult the spirits. The possessed mediums will offer advice to the congregants and often prescribe herbal remedies.
  
  
• 7). There is no conclusion to the ceremony. After consulting a spirit, many congregants will leave, and the gira simply ends when there are no more congregants seeking advice.