The drink that terreiro research most records for the exus, and therefore the one most offered to Exu Caveira, is cachaça, the marafo. The tobacco is the cigar or the cigarette.
To know which drink Exu Caveira likes in your home, the spirit itself in the gira and the leader are the ones who confirm: internet lists do not replace either of them.
Which drink does Exu Caveira like?
The drink of Exu Caveira is cachaça, which in the terreiro is called marafo. Four field studies, in Fortaleza, Rio Tinto (PB), Vitória, and Ribeirão Preto, record cachaça as the main drink of the exus, and Exu Caveira is a cemetery exu from the same family.
Drink: cachaça (marafo) | Tobacco: cigar or cigarette | Candles: black and red | Day of the week: Monday | Greeting: Laroyê, Exu!
Researcher Melina Gomes explains the logic in a terreiro in Fortaleza: distilled drinks, which are stronger, "are more associated with the exus," and a shot of cachaça or whiskey will hardly go to a caboclo. In Paraíba, Geraldo Alves Júnior noted the house name: marafo is the "aguardente or cachaça offered to the exus."
What is read around, line by line:
| Drink or tobacco leaf | Is there a record? | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Cachaça (marafo) | Yes, the main one of the exus | Fortaleza, Paraíba, Vitória, Ribeirão Preto |
| Cigar | Yes | Vitória cemetery cross |
| Cigarette | Yes | Paraíba and Ribeirão Preto |
| Whiskey | a research, for exus in general | Fortaleza |
| Beer | a city | Victory |
| Cognac | only in one sung chant (ponto cantado), and of Caveirinha | Curitiba house |
| Wine, coffee, absinthe | no record for Exu Caveira | no source found |
| Ordinary bitter beer | no | it is craft beer label text |
The last line deserves an explanation. The answer that appears at the top of the search says that Exu Caveira likes "ordinary bitter light beer". The phrase is a description of a craft beer that bears the name of the spirit, copied as if it were tradition. A beer label is not a foundation.
What Exu Caveira likes to smoke
The tobacco of Exu Caveira is the cigar, and in many houses, the cigarette. In Vitória, researcher Barbara Thompson noted cigars among the offerings for exu at the cemetery cross; in Paraíba and in Ribeirão Preto, the record is of cigarettes.
The one who smokes is the spirit, not the medium. A mãe de santo from Paraíba told this about the pombagira she receives: "I hate cigarettes, but she smokes, she drinks, she is the one who consumes all that." The same rule applies to the drink: in the house studied, it is only taken "if the spirit requests and accepts", and it is the spirit who says the type and the quantity.
The one who decides is the spirit and the house
Each spirit asks for what matches their history. Gomes summarizes: beer is not offered to a preto-velho nor whiskey to a princess, because "each spirit has its preferences consistent with its histories". It is the same rule that separates the glass of the Pombagira from the cup of the Exu, explained in bebida de Pombagira.
Exu Caveira is a place name. Anthropologist Vagner Gonçalves da Silva shows that most names of Exu in Umbanda speak of the domain where he works, such as cemeteries, catacombs, and skulls. Many houses link this falange to Omolu (Omulu) and Obaluaê: the São Paulo federation FUCESP puts Exu Caveira, João Caveira, Tata Caveira, and Caveirinha under this orixá (orisha). Who the spirit is, and what it does in the person's life, is in Exu Caveira.
If your house does not work with alcohol or tobacco, the answer to "what Exu Caveira likes" is different, and it is the spirit who says.
Where it is delivered: the tronqueira, the cruzeiro, and the calunga
In the house of the orixás (casa de santo), the offering for Exu goes to the tronqueira, the place for the consecrated foundation (assentamento) of the exus. In a terreiro in Ribeirão Preto studied by USP, it is there that "cigarettes and drinks are offered to the exus and pombagiras". What this place is and why it is at the entrance is in what is the tronqueira.
In the cemetery, the calunga pequena, the delivery follows the leader. In Vitória, Thompson recorded that the exus receive at gates, cruzeiros, and tombstones, and that at the cruzeiro there was cachaça, beer, cigar, and black and red candles. The name of the spirit usually says where it works: Exu Sete Caveiras and Sete Catacumbas are names "indicating that these spirits act in the cemetery". The cemetery cross has its own page in Cross of Souls (Cruzeiro das Almas).
In the house that USP followed, the pai de santo describes João Caveira as "exu of the calunga line, the line of the souls", who takes care of the cemetery gate. The other Exus who carry the souls in the name are in Exu das Almas.
Exu Caveira on All Souls' Day
The All Souls' Day falls on a Monday, November 2, 2026, and Monday is the day of offering to exu for the umbandistas heard in Vitória. It is when many terreiros go to the cemetery: in Vitória, umbandistas leave offerings at the cruzeiro and on the tombstones, and in São Paulo about 500 umbandistas from dozens of terreiros gather at the São Pedro cemetery, on the turn of November 1 to 2. What the day means for each tradition is in All Souls' Day in Umbanda.
Three precautions for those who think about taking cachaça and cigar to Exu Caveira on day 2:
- Go with your house. Delivery at the cemetery is done with the leader, who knows where and how.
- Cemetery has its own rules. In São Paulo, the concessionaire tried to prohibit lit candles and limit the time of the party, and the Court ruled in favor of the terreiro.
- Bottle and glass return in the bag. The terreiros themselves already remove the plastic, replace clay with leaf, and collect the "religious waste" after the delivery.
The black and red candle, the cigar, and the cachaça that the house requests can be found in any religious items shop; if the doubt is about the right material, you can check with us via WhatsApp.
Frequently asked questions
Which drink does Exu Caveira like?
The cachaça, called marafo in the terreiro. It is the drink of the exus recorded in field research in Fortaleza, Paraíba, Vitória, and Ribeirão Preto. Whiskey and beer appear in one source each; wine and coffee have no record for Exu Caveira. Who confirms is your house.
What does Exu Caveira like to smoke?
Cigar or cigarette. The cigar appears among the exu offerings at the crossroads of the Vitória cemetery, and the cigarette in houses in Paraíba and Ribeirão Preto. Who smokes is the incorporated spirit, not the medium.
What is the drink of Exu Tata Caveira and João Caveira?
The sources do not separate drinks by name. Tata Caveira and João Caveira are from the same falange of the Exu Caveira cemetery, and cachaça is the drink recorded for the exus. In a sung chant from Curitiba, who asks for cognac is Caveirinha.
What to request from Exu Caveira?
Protection, spiritual cleansing, and closing of cycles, inside the terreiro and with the house's spirit guide. No serious spirit guarantees results, and a request to harm someone has no place in a responsible house. The complete portrait is in Exu Caveira.
Is there a day for Exu Caveira?
There is no specific date in religious sources; Monday is the day of the exus. In Porto Alegre, Law 12.915, of 2021, placed the Day of Exu Caveira on the municipal calendar on August 8. To discover which Exu walks with you, take the test which is your Exu.
References
- Gomes, UFC, 30th RBA (2016): beverage in umbanda terreiro
- Alves Júnior, UFPB, 31st RBA (2018): beverage and possession in Paraíba
- Thompson, UFES (2019): gates, tombstones and crosses of the souls
- Macedo, USP (2015): Crossroads of interpretation in umbanda
- Silva, Anthropology Journal (2012): Exu of Brazil
- Prandi, USP Journal (2001): Exu, from messenger to devil
- Capponi, Religion and Society (2024): sacred residues
- FUCESP: Obaluaê
- Terreiro Pai Maneco: Exu handbook
- Agência Pública (2025): the party in Kalunga in São Paulo
- Porto Alegre: Law 12.915/2021
