3 The religion of the forest: reflections on the international expansion of a Brazilian ayahuasca religion
OpenAlex – September 01, 2016
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A unique religious community emerged in the 1930s from Brazil's Amazon, centered around ayahuasca, a psychoactive beverage. Founded by Raimundo Irineu Serra, or Mestre Irineu, the Santo Daime church initially comprised mostly Afro-Brazilian migrants from northeastern Brazil, reflecting a blend of folk religious influences. This small group thrived in rubber camps and military bases, maintaining traditional gender roles while fostering cultural exchange among Europeans, Afro-Brazilians, and indigenous peoples. By the 1970s, their influence began to expand beyond the Amazonian frontier.
Abstract
In the 1930s, a new religious community emerged from the rubber camps of Brazil's Amazonian hinterlands, founded by a charismatic leader, Raimundo Irineu Serra, referred to by his followers as Mestre (Master) Irineu. He was born in the impoverished state of Maranhão, the grandson of black slaves, and had no formal schooling. The nascent church of Santo Daime represented a fusion of multiple folk religious and spiritual influences centered on the consumption of a psychoactive beverage best known in the academic literature as ayahuasca, but referred to by the group as daime. The initial community was small and included mostly AfroBrazilian migrants from northeast Brazil. Their social milieu included the rubber camps and military bases in the Amazon frontier, a traditional view of gender roles, and cultural exchange between Europeans, Afro-Brazilians, and indigenous Amazonian peoples. The group remained small, stable, and mostly unknown elsewhere in Brazil until the 1970s.