You visit two terreiros of Umbanda in the same week. In one, the atabaque never stops; in the other, the ritual work runs in silence, with everyone in white around a table. The question comes naturally: is one of the two wrong?
Neither. What you saw were different vertentes of Umbanda, and this diversity has a historical explanation. This guide shows what the main ones are, what changes from one to another, and why they exist.
Line is not vertente
Before anything else, it is necessary to undo the most common confusion about the subject.
Line is how the work is organized inside the terreiro. They are fields of irradiation ruled by orixás, with their phalanges of caboclos, pretos-velhos, and children. Every house of Umbanda works with lines, and the blog already explains this in the 7 lines of Umbanda.
Vertente is the way that house practices Umbanda. It is what distinguishes one terreiro from another: whether there are atabaque drums, whether it worships orixás with proper foundation (fundamento), whether it opens a left-hand gira.
A house of Umbanda branca and a house of omolokô work the same seven lines, and even so, they perform very different giras.
Why does Umbanda have branches (vertentes)
The short answer: because Umbanda never had a single command that imposed only one way.
Tradition tells that everything began on November 15, 1908, when the Caboclo das Sete Encruzilhadas manifested through the mediumship of Zélio Fernandino de Moraes, in Niterói. Researchers point out that the documentary codification came decades later, which does not take away the value of the account for those who lived it.
In 1941, the First Brazilian Congress of Spiritism of Umbanda took place in Rio de Janeiro. The intention was to establish a single doctrine. It did not work, and the existence of the different branches is proof of that.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the dispute became clear. On one side, the federations pulled Umbanda closer to Spiritism and Christianity. On the other, Tata Tancredo da Silva Pinto publicly defended the African root, the atabaque, and ritual immolation.
Umbanda did not divide due to an administrative fight. It spread across a gradient, and each house established itself at the point of that gradient where it found its own way to work.
The sociologist Renato Ortiz described this process in A morte branca do feiticeiro negro, from 1978. For him, Umbanda is born from the meeting of two movements: the whitening of black culture and the blackening of the Kardecist doctrine. Reginaldo Prandi organized the same reading in three keys: syncretism, whitening, and Africanization.
The main branches of Umbanda
There is no official taxonomy. The entry on Umbanda itself records that there is no single or universally recognized typology. What exists are families of practice, named by the houses themselves.
| Branch | Reference | Atabaque | Imolação | Gira de esquerda | Approach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Branca (de mesa) | Federations, years 1930-40 | In general, no | No | In general, no | Kardecism |
| Popular (de caboclo) | Practice prior to 1908 | Yes | Varia | Yes | Healing and spirit incorporation |
| Omolokô | Tancredo da Silva Pinto | Central | Yes | Yes | Candomblé de angola |
| Traçada | Termo das casas | Yes | Yes | Yes | Candomblé, in separate sessions |
| Cruzada | Termo das casas | Yes | Varia | Central | Quimbanda |
| Esoteric | Matta e Silva, 1956 | Little or none | No | Reinterpreted | Occultism |
| Umbanda Sagrada | Rubens Saraceni, 1996 | Varia | No | Yes | Own doctrine |
| Almas and Angola | Pai Luiz d’Ângelo, 1930s | Yes | Yes | Yes | Candomblé de angola |
Umbanda branca, also called mesa, is the closest to Kardecism. Mediums in white, focus on caboclos and pretos-velhos, little presence of orixá with African foundation.
Umbanda popular, or de caboclo, is the one that has written the fewest books and exists most in practice. It comes from the continuity of Afro-Brazilian practices in Rio de Janeiro from the beginning of the 20th century, with atabaque and incorporação in the center.
Umbanda omolokô was organized by Tancredo da Silva Pinto in Rio de Janeiro. It is the branch that assumed the Bantu root and the proximity to Angola Candomblé, a theme treated in nations of Candomblé.
Umbanda traçada, sometimes called umbandomblé, is the name that houses give when the same priest serves both Umbanda and Candomblé, on separate days and with separate liturgies. The two religions remain distinct, as explained in Umbanda and Candomblé: the difference.
Umbanda cruzada is the house that opens umbanda gira and gira de esquerda on different days. Since the subject already has its own article, it is worth reading difference between umbanda and quimbanda.
Umbanda esotérica was systematized by W. W. da Matta e Silva, who opened the Tenda de Umbanda Oriental and published Umbanda de Todos Nós in 1956. He opposed immolation and linked umbanda to Western occultism.
Umbanda Sagrada is the line of Rubens Saraceni, who founded the Colégio de Umbanda Sagrada Pai Benedito de Aruanda in São Paulo in 1996. The doctrine declares itself independent from the other traditions.
Almas e Angola has a codification attributed to Pai Luiz d’Ângelo, in Rio in the 1930s, and established itself in Greater Florianópolis with Mãe Ida de Xangô (Shango). It uses cowrie-shell divination, recolhimento, and obligations at 7, 14, and 21 years, but keeps pontos (sacred songs) sung in Portuguese.
The criteria that separate one house from another
In practice, five questions resolve almost all the classification.
- Is there an atabaque? The drum marks closeness to the African root. The curimba in Umbanda changes significantly from one branch to another.
- Does it perform ritual immolation? It is one of the firmest dividers. Africanized branches keep the practice as part of their foundation; the spiritualized ones do not work this way.
- Does it open gira de esquerda? Exus and Pombagiras on their own day indicate a cruzada or Africanized house.
- Does it worship orixá with fundamento or as vibration? In the branca and the esotérica, the orixá appears as energy; in the omolokô and in Almas e Angola, there is assentamento.
- Does it have initiation with recolhimento? Long obligations bring the house closer to the structure of candomblé.
The general functioning of a session, which applies to all of them, is in what is gira de umbanda.
White Umbanda does not mean a purer Umbanda
This is the most delicate point of the subject, and it deserves to be said plainly.
The adjective branca is historical and descriptive. It points to the process of approximation with Spiritism and Christianity that Ortiz studied, in a Brazil where African practice was persecuted by the police. It is not a measure of purity, of cleanliness, or of spiritual evolution.
Treating white Umbanda as superior reproduces the religious racism that pushed the terreiros into clandestinity. And the inverse error is equally valid: saying that omolokô is the only true one and white is watered-down Umbanda is the same prejudice with the sign reversed.
Terms such as traçada, cruzada, and umbandomblé are also names of internal use within the houses. The meaning changes from region to region, and none of them is a closed academic category.
How to position yourself in the house you attend
If the intention is to understand where your house positions itself, observe without judging. These signs are enough:
- The clothing. Solid white, without visible bead necklaces, usually indicates a casa de mesa.
- The sound. Atabaque and curimba lean toward the Africanized pole.
- The calendar. A house that separates the day of the left works cruzada.
- The vocabulary. Speaking of assentamento and obrigação indicates a foundation of Candomblé de Angola.
- The entry of the spirit guides. Caboclos and pretos-velhos appear in all of them, and the blog explains who they are in Umbanda spirit guides.
The most honest question is not which branch is the best. It is which house welcomes you, treats your development well, and has responsibility toward those it serves.
Frequently asked questions
How many branches of Umbanda are there?
There is no official number. The most used lists cite between five and eight families of practice, such as branca, popular, omolokô, traçada, cruzada, esotérica, Umbanda Sagrada, and Almas e Angola. Each house positions itself on a gradient, and many combine characteristics of more than one.
What is the difference between umbanda branca and umbanda traçada?
The branca is close to Spiritism, with mediums in white, little or no atabaque, and no immolation. The traçada is the house where the same priest serves umbanda and Candomblé, in separate sessions, with atabaque, assentamento, and nation foundation.
What is umbanda cruzada?
It is the house that maintains a gira of umbanda and a gira de esquerda, with Exus and Pombagiras, on different days of the calendar. Today it is the most common arrangement in Brazil. The blog covers the subject in depth in the article about umbanda and Quimbanda.
Is there a right umbanda and a wrong umbanda?
Not in terms of branch. All were born from legitimate historical paths and are lived by millions of people. What exists are serious houses and poorly managed houses, and this is not measured by the branch, but by the responsibility of those who lead the terreiro.
Which branch is closest to Candomblé?
The omolokô and the Almas e Angola are the most Africanized, both linked to the candomblé de angola, of Bantu root. Even so, they remain umbanda, with pontos cantados (sacred songs) in Portuguese, caboclos, pretos-velhos, and charity at the center of the practice.
Where to buy items for your gira
At Joia Mística Laroyê, you find what the house needs, whatever the branch:
- Candles in the colors of the seven lines: white, blue, green, yellow, red and purple
- Bead necklaces and beads: assembled by line and by spirit
- Herbs for ritual bath and smoke cleansing (defumação): rue, guinea hen weed, rosemary and lavender
- Statues and assentamentos: caboclos, pretos-velhos and children
- Cigars, pipes and seven day candles: for firmness and ritual work of gira
Visit our shop in Extrema, Minas Gerais or buy via WhatsApp with delivery to all of Brazil.
References
- Transversos Magazine (UERJ): article by Joana Bahia and Farlen Nogueira about umbanda omolokô and the uses of Africa
- Brazilian Journal of History of Religions (UEM): biographical study about Matta and Silva and esoteric umbanda
- USP Repository: record of the text by Reginaldo Prandi about syncretism, whitening and africanization
- Wikipedia: Umbanda entry, with the caveat that there is no single typology of branches
- Wikipedia: Souls and Angola entry, with the coding and the obligations
