O fumo dos falecidos: o tabaco como oferenda e ferramenta dos mortos anônimos no Vodou haitiano e na Quimbanda brasileira

Abstract

This doctoral thesis examines the ritualistic, votive, and symbolic role of tobacco in the veneration of exus and pombagiras in Umbanda and Quimbanda, as well as the gedes in Haitian Vodou. Gedes and exus share the commonality of being primarily understood as spirits of deceased individuals who somehow maintain agency in the world of the living. Furthermore, these dead are depersonalized, meaning they are now treated as exu so-and-so or gede so-and-so, rather than by their supposed earthly identities. Tobacco is a common element in various African-American cults, and its use is likely inherited from the practices of Native American peoples. Among these so-called peoples, tobacco was considered a power plant, associated with shamanism and the spirit world, as well as the dead. The work is conducted using bibliographic research and the ethnographic method through observant participation. Through this study, we observed that tobacco is more than a mere ritual element; it appears to be part of a sympathetic element that reflects the liminal and trickster nature of Exu, Pombagira, and the Gede.