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Candomblé’s Cosmic Tree and Brazil’s Ficus Species

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African Ethnobotany in the Americas

Abstract

Candomblé identifies largely orally transmitted religious traditions in Brazil tracing back to various parts of Africa. This research identifies the species of Ficus that serve as Candomblé’s cosmic tree. Nineteen religious centers (terreiros) were surveyed and 17 had fig trees. Contrary to the general assumption of a single species, five native figs were identified, including Ficus elliotiana (S. Moore), F. clusiifolia (Schott), F. gomelleira (Kunth), F. cyclophylla (Miquel), and F. tomentella ((Miq.) Miq.) The most common was F. elliotiana, followed by F. gomelleira and F. clusiifolia. These results suggest that Candomblé has a complex relation with a variety of Ficus species, both native and exotic, and a wider survey that includes more rural communities and other urban areas will probably yield many surprises.

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Acknowledgments

I thank all the communities of Candomblé whose support made this study possible. I am also grateful for the support of Dr. Ubiratan Castro de Araújo and Dr. Jocélio Teles dos Santos who served at different times as the Director of the Center for Afro-Asian Studies of the Federal University of Bahia. A special thanks to Valdina Pinto de Oliveira for sharing her love of Candomblé and nature and to my colleagues in Salvador and Recife, especially Cláudia Regina Muniz Barreto, Fernando Batista, and Hernandes Santos Souza, without whose assistance this project would not have been possible. This chapter has benefited from the helpful comments of Moore Quinn, Dee Dee Joyce, Henry Drewal, and Ted and Dale Rosengarten.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, College of Charleston, 66 George Street, Charleston, SC, 29424, USA

    John Rashford M.A., Ph.D.

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  1. John Rashford M.A., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to John Rashford M.A., Ph.D. .

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  1. , Department of Geography, California State University, 800 N. State College Blvd, Fullerton, 92834, California, USA

    Robert Voeks

  2. , Department of Sociology and, College of Charleston, 66 George St., Charleston, 29424, South Carolina, USA

    John Rashford

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Rashford, J. (2013). Candomblé’s Cosmic Tree and Brazil’s Ficus Species. In: Voeks, R., Rashford, J. (eds) African Ethnobotany in the Americas. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0836-9_12

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