Os rituais religiosos dos Calundus coloniais em meio a crioulização e o afrocentrismo: estudos de caso no Brasil colonial (séculos XVII e XVIII)

Abstract

This research analyzes calundus in colonial Brazil as ritual systems of healing, divination, and spiritual mediation, proposing an interpretation that distances them from interpretations of deviation from Catholic orthodoxy, diffuse syncretism, or cultural miscegenation. Based on the notion of cyclical time and the Bantu worldview of West Central Africa, the study interprets these practices as devices for articulating the material and ancestral worlds, inserted in contexts of violence, displacement, and cultural recomposition in the African diaspora. Methodologically, the work combines a critical review of historiography, theoretical debate on Afrocentrism and creolization, and analysis of inquisitorial sources from the 17th and 18th centuries. The research demonstrates the recurrence of Central African ritual repertoires, associated with processes of recomposition and strategic incorporation of Catholic elements, which vary according to time and place. It concludes that calundus could consist of flexible practices structured according to their own logic, marked by adaptation, symbolic negotiation, and ritual continuity in the colonial context.