Syncretic Wife Of Esu Elegbara , the Pombagira Worshiped In Brazil , In-depth Analysis
Identified as the wife of Esu , Pombagira is an entity from the highly syncretic twentieth-century Brazilian Umbanda and Quimbanda religion . It is the name of an Afro-Brazilian spirit evoked by the practitioners of Umbanda and Quimbanda , a version of African traditional religion in Brazil .
Pombagira , in its modern spiritual concepts , is the wife of Esu , the Brazilian path of Esu Elegbara . While Esu represents male sexuality, fertility and strength, Pombagira personifies female sexuality, beauty and desire. She is depicted as a beautiful woman who is insatiable. Pombajira is venerated with great respect and care because of her reputation for possessing great wrath. She is often invoked by those who seek aid in matters of the heart and love
Venerated only in Brazil by practitioners of Umbanda and Quimbanda , Pombagira is the consort of Esu who is the messenger of the Orisas in Candomblé.
Known by many names, or avatars, Pombajira is often associated with the number seven, crossroads, graveyards, spirit possession, and witchcraft. It is syncretic and timeline :
POMBAGIRA TIMELINE
Ancestral Period: There was an ancestral belief in the awe-inspiring divine Mothers, the Àwọn Ìyá Wa (iyámis), that possess the power Àjẹ́, which existed in many African nations.
Middle Ages: There was a widespread belief in Galician meigas (holy women), and bruxas (witches), prosecuted by the Holy Inquisition, existed in Spain and Portugal.
In the Traditional Africa , Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ spectacles were performed to appease the dangerous power, Àjẹ́, of the powerful, Ancestral Mothers.
1700s-1900s: Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ festivals were held annually in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil until the death of the third iyalorixá (priestess) of the Ilê Iyá Nasô (Casa Branca) Candomblé terreiro (religious community).
1900s (Early): Pombagira appeared as an Umbanda entity.
1920s: The first Umbanda groups started to appear in northeastern urban Brazil (Rio de Janeiro).
Pombajira is noted for her connection with both transgender women and effeminate male worshippers and is reputed to possess both. Some representations of Pombajira display the characteristics of being promiscuous, talkative and vulgar. However she has many avatars, and will be more or less inclined towards that behavior depending on how she manifests herself
Also known as Exua (Pronounced: Eh-shooah or Esh-wah) Pomba Gira evokes powerful reactions: Some considere her a whore, slut, prostitute, or devil-woman. For others , she is a goddess of love, sex, success, and abundance.
Her origins are in the European wise women, and in the pan-African Ìyàmi Òṣòròngà, both degraded as “witches,” as well as in the god Bombonjira, a Congo name for the Yoruba trickster and mediator god, Esu . In contemporary Brazil, Pombagira is the female counterpart of Exu, and she is portrayed as a street woman with all her vices and strength, an epitome of “the other.” She appears when Umbanda initiates enter into trances embodying her. This powerful figure has been identified with a female devil, but simultaneously is invoked for strength, protection, and support. She is a representation of a prostitute, an independent woman who has “seven husbands” and does not accept male domination. Pombagira is associated with transition and dangerous places, such as the crossroads, cemeteries, markets, beaches and garbage deposits (in the case of Maria Molambo [Raggedy Pombagira], and Pombagira da Lixeira [Garbage Pombagira]), as well as with possession trances, advice giving, blood sacrifice, alcohol, and the colors red and black. She is a female trickster figure. The archaic trickster persona is present in myths and folktales around the world. He/she is always an outsider and a marginal character that cannot be trusted, and is characterized by excessive behavior.
Pombagira’s name appear to be a synthesis and a reinterpretation of several popular traditions. According to Monique Augras, Pombagira was “born” as a transformation of Bombonjira, a Congo name for the Yoruba god Exu, [Image at right] mediator, trickster, and a fallic deity, into Bombagira and then Pombagira. An analysis of this name is revealing, as gira is the name of an Umbanda ritual and means “action of circling” in Portuguese, as well as “path” (nila/njira) in Bantu. In Portuguese, pomba means “pigeon” and is slang for the masculine sexual organs in the northeast, and the feminine sexual organs in the south of Brazil. On the other hand, for the BaKongo, pemba is the white clay that cleanses, and signifies “the mountain of the dead;” in Yorubaland (Nigeria and Benin) it symbolizes Obatalá, the orisa funfun (white) (Washington 2005:67). In Brazil, Obatalá corresponds to the orixá (god) Oxalá, identified with Jesus Christ. Pombagira may also be associated with the Àwọn Ìyá Wa (iyá mi), the powerful, awe-inspiring, and independent African ancestral mothers, manifested in today’s Afro-Brazilian worship of female orixás such as the iabás Nanã, Obá, Iemanjá, Oxum, Ewa, and Iansã/Oyá (Santos 1993:14-17).
In Yorubaland, one of the main ancestral places for Brazilian traditions, researchers have documented the existence of a mighty feminine energy Àjẹ́, “a cosmic force that originates with Great Mother Deities,” often misunderstood as “witch.” It is “a biological, physical, spiritual force of creativity and social and political enforcement. A vastly influential power that is inclined toward paradox and multiplicity,” Àjẹ́ is embodied in the Àwọn Ìyá Wa, Àwọn Ìyàmi Òṣòròngà, as well as in certain persons of power. These powerful ancestral Mothers, also named iyá mi (“my mother”), Ìyàmi (“My Mysterious Mother”), Yewájọbí (“The Mother of All the Òrìṣà and All Living Things”), Àgbàláàgbà (“Old and Wise One”), and Ayé (“The Earth”), possess such mystical and dangerous powers (Àjẹ́) that they must be appeased in the Gẹ̀lẹ̀dẹ́ spectacles, through a satirical masquerade.
Pombagira, in her different avatars, is a unique Brazilian creation, a female version of Exu, and as such is famous for being insatiable, promiscuous, vulgar, and talkative. Esu is the messenger and mediator African god with characteristics of a trickster. His colors are red and black, and his symbol is fire. In Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomblé, Esu is the dynamic, propelling principle, responsible for communication. This Orisa of destiny and the crossroads, who opens the paths for any enterprise, is the first to be given reverence in anyceremony. In Umbanda, Esus are identified with spirits of particular persons from the past, and they are divided into “superior” and “inferior” “non-baptized” Esus , such as Zé Pilintra [Image at right] and the Pombagiras, which are seen as demonic forces. Esu spirits do the “dirty work” the Orisas cannot perform, are considered their “slaves,” and they only obey “the logic of the marketplace” of a capitalist society (Hayes 2011:193). It is also believed that every living being has their personal Esu
The multifarious Pombagira is one of the most powerful entities of the Umbanda religion. As a liminal being par excellence, Pombagira is strongly connected to marginality, ambiguity, sacred powers, transformation and transmutation of matter, the passage from life to death, and vice versa, and she may be accompanied by symbols of death. Pombagira´s favorite dwelling places are crossroads and cemeteries. The liminality of this figure is both spatial and temporal, as she is often linked to the outskirts and to the transition between day and night; this reflects the social marginalization of large groups of her devotees in Brazil. She is also connected to blood and regeneration, sometimes requiring blood sacrifice. In addition, she is linked to possession trances, usually performed by women, during which the mediums speak. Pombagira is connected to human sexuality and to love magic, as well as to blood and death, thus containing the life cycle.
In African and Afro-Brazilian philosophical thought, there is a strong belief in continuity between god, the orixás, the spirits of the dead, and human beings. The Umbanda pantheon includes different figures, such as santidades (holy figures, such as god and the Orisas), and entidades (entities). Pombagira is one of the main, four traditional types of Umbanda’s entidades: Caboclos (Indians), Prêtos Velhos (Old Slaves), Crianças/Erês (Children), and
Pomba Gira is the scarlet woman, the sacred harlot, and the lady of crossroads and street lights. An Afro-Brazilian spirit, Pomba Gira derives from the intersection of Iberian, Gitano, and Central African roots. Pomba Gira is the crossroad where these traditions meet. She is a goddess of power, eroticism, death, and vengeance. She has dominion over sex for pleasure and power, not procreation. (That said, she can bestow fertility when and if she desires.) Pomba Gira is an oracular spirit who can reveal the past and future, but she can be a brutally plain-spoken truth-teller. Don’t ask her for information unless you are ready to hear unvarnished truths.
Pomba Gira’s origins are mysterious. She is not worshipped in African traditions, only in Brazil. (It is possible that devotees did not survive elsewhere. Pomba Gira is sometimes translated as “whirling dove,” which is not inappropriate as many Pomba Giras love to dance, but the name really derives from the Kikongo Mpamba Nzila or “crossroad.”
Sometimes when people refer to Pomba Gira they really mean Maria Padilha (or vice versa).The names are frequently used interchangeably but there are many Pomba Giras. These may be multiple paths of one goddess or Pomba Gira may name an entire category of spirits like Ezili; Mami Waters; Simbi.
Maria Padilha may be the Queen Pomba Gira. It’s possible that at least some of the other Pomba Giras are vestiges of the Fairy court of beautiful female spirits who serve as the entourage for Spain’s Maria de Padilla. They may have accompanied their queen on her sea voyage to Brazil. As she transformed into Maria Padilha, so they too transformed into Pomba Giras.
The names Pomba Gira and Exua are also sometimes used interchangeably. As Exua, Pomba Gira is identified as the wife of Exu, the Brazilian path of Eshu Elegbara.
Depending on her path, Pomba Gira may be hot and passionate or cold and calculating. Some paths of Pomba Gira are associated with vampires. In addition to Maria Padilha, paths of Pomba Gira include: Maria Mulambo, Maria Quiteria, Pomba Gira Seven Crossroads , Pomba Gira Queen of the Crossroads , Pomba Gira of the Souls , Pomba Gira Tsigana (Gypsy) , Pomba Gira Queen of Calunga (Queen of the Sea) , Pomba Gira Bonita , Sulamita
Pomba Gira is an ally of women. She bestows fertility but is also invoked to cause a miscarriage when pregnancy is inconvenient or disastrous.
The favored people are Women, crossdressers, sex workers etc.The Manifestation depends on which Pomba Gira appears or is invoked. Most dress in red (if they’re dressed at all).
Pombagira may be depicted as a “red she-devil” complete with pitchfork, horns, and cloven hoof or as a beautiful, scantily clad woman. Pomba Gira haunts crossroads, street corners, and nightclubs. Some paths of Pomba Gira display fondness for seashores and cemeteries too ..The common offerings to Pombagira includes Perfumes , cosmetics, roses, alcoholic beverages, tobacco products
To understand the Pombagira entity we need to consider the context in which she appeared, that of Umbanda, a modern religion from urban Brazil. Umbanda, which similar to Pentecostalism has been called “a cult of affliction” able to empower the powerless, is a highly syncretized Brazilian religion that started in Rio de Janeiro at the beginning of the twentieth century. It is believed that Umbanda, with its “inferior” and liminal entities, such as Pombagiras, appeared as a consequence of rapid industrialization and massive migration of marginalized individuals from rural areas as well as from abroad, to large cities such as Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, at the turn of the nineteenth century. Umbanda does not deal with death or with salvation of the soul, but rather, is a religion of life, concerned with the manipulation of daily reality. It is a practice geared towards everyday survival in difficult life circumstances, used to alleviate afflictions of the body, the mind, and the spirit. Ill health, love and financial problems, as well as other areas of daily subsistence that require constant attention, are a special focus of Umbanda. These disorders of reality require a mystic cure that Umbanda rituals can provide.
The liminality of Umbanda entities such as Exus, and Pombagiras bestows them with unusual power. Their dwelling places are the street, the crossroads, the market, and the cemetery, places of transition, ambiguity, and insecurity, in which, nonetheless, they know how to operate. This is opposite to the privileged sectors of society, for most of which these places are off limits; they are only places of transition, not their dwelling places. But people in certain occupations (such as street vendors, prostitutes, taxi drivers, policemen, drug dealers, and thieves) also dwell in these places, and they often seek the aid and protection of special entities, such as Esus and Pombagiras in Brazil, and Santa Muerte in Mexico.
In Brazil´s Umbanda, a person can be “chosen” by an entity (entidade) to serve her through embodiment in divine possession trances, during which she speaks with the deity’s voice and gives advice to devotees. The problems that can be remedied by advice, rituals, and offerings prescribed by the embodied entity/goddess range from physical, mental or undefined illness, family and marital disturbances, employment and legal troubles, including harm provoked by malefic forces. Through their sacred roles as Pombagira’s mediums, women in Brazil may attain financial independence, respect, and status that are otherwise unattainable in their destitute environments.
As her African and European predecessors, Pombagira is a powerful persona. She is addressed formally, as dona, senhora or você and by her name (Prandi, “Pombagiras;” (Brumana and Martinez 1989:188). It has been revealed that a close relationship with her can be the source of strength, protection, autonomy, recognition, and prestige for women who keep an altar to her at their homes.
