Candomblé sacred objects gain space in a Brazilian museum
The fight for the historical reparation of objects of religions of African origin is entering a new phase. By determination of the Institute for National Historic and Artistic Heritage (Iphan), the items that used to belong to the so-called Black Magic Museum are now called Acervo Nosso Sagrado (Our Sacred Collection). The pieces of the collection were seized by the Rio de Janeiro police between 1890 and 1946.
One day before the Iphan's decision, on Monday (20), the Minister of Human Rights and Citizenship, Silvio Almeida, signed an agreement for research on sacred objects at the Museum of the Republic, in the south zone of Rio.
In an interview to Agência Brasil, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro babalaô professor Ivanir dos Santos said that it is necessary to advance even more. For him, research needs to identify the characters involved during the seizure of these objects. For him, it is necessary to know who are the people who suffered from the violence of having their objects damaged, disrespected and seized by the police of the time, in situations that characterized racism and prejudice.
"An important step was taken in that an agreement [covenant] was made about the lawsuits suffered by the priests. That is a new fact. People know the seized pieces used as evidence, which were in the Museum of Magic and now have a new configuration. Another thing, who were these people who suffered these lawsuits? Where were they arrested, why were they arrested? These are questions that need [to be answered]. What fate did they have? Were they convicted? Now I think it will emerge who these characters are. Who were these priests and priestesses that were arrested?
For Mãe Meninazinha de Oxum, from the Ilê Omolu Oxum terreiro, the identification of these objects will be difficult because their seizure - classified by her as theft - occurred in several terreiros at the same time.
"So, it is difficult today for us to identify which Ilê it was a certain [object]. I think that is not even necessary. It is enough to identify that it was from candomblé or Umbanda. You don't need to say if it was from my house or yours. Any house that was invaded by the police to get the Sacred was mine, because I belong to candomblé. The pain is ours, it is mine too," said Mãe Meninazinha in an interview to Agência Brasil.
The yalorixá said that the path is still long, despite the achievements, such as the research agreement, the change in the name of the collection, and the location of the collection, which left the Civil Police premises and is now at the Museum of the Republic.
History
The director of the Museum of the Republic, Mário Chagas, told Agência Brasil about the legislation in force at the time the sacred objects were seized.
"The police raids were based on the Penal Code of 1890, which criminalized the practitioners of religions of Afro-Brazilian origin, even though the Constitution of 1891, the first of the Republic, guaranteed the secular state. In other words, it was a contradiction. The criminal code criminalized and the Constitution guaranteed the secular state. So the practice of persecution was unconstitutional and yet it was done. Things were so crazy that the police raids took place during religious ceremonies.
The collection, which was under the responsibility of the Civil Police of Rio de Janeiro without the proper conservation care, was declared a National Heritage Site in 1938, by the then National Historic and Artistic Heritage Service. According to Iphan, of the 523 objects in the collection, the institute took 126 and all are, since 2020, under the custody of the Museum of the Republic, in a shared management with religious leaders.
IPHAN's president, Leandro Grass, says that the material was registered in the so-called Tombo book as Coleção Magia Negra (Black Magic Collection): "obviously a very prejudiced and meaningless terminology, because it is a pejorative term to designate and to make references to African religious matrices".
Grass considers that the change in the name of the collection, formalized by rectification in the Livro de Tombo Arqueológico, Etnográfico e Paisagístico represents a historical reparation.
"It comes, first, in a logic of breaking away from pejorative terminology regarding symbols of African origin. Secondly, it comes in the sense of contemplating the desire of the civil society and, thirdly, it brings to this collection and this material a look of respect, of consideration, because this material was seized in actions that had, as a basis, a legislation founded on making a crime, the so-called profane rituals that, in fact, were of African matrix. Symbolically it is very important."
The long process of reparation counted with the participation of candomblé and umbanda leaders from Rio de Janeiro who did this construction until the creation of the Movimento Liberte o Nosso Sagrado (Liberate Our Sacred Movement), with Mother Meninazinha de Oxum at the head.
Access
The material should be available to the public in September, when an exhibition will be held. For Mãe Meninazinha de Oxum, when the public has access, one more stage of historical reparation will have been accomplished.
"The population will get to know this negative side of Brazilian history. For them [police officers] at the time it had no value, but thank God we still have freedom to worship our orixás," she said, adding that she fought an intense fight without fear.
