What Is The Significance Of Syncretism In Candomble?

Over the past several centuries the Candomblé religion has incorporated several elements from the Christianity in its belief system. The Crucifixes are also sometimes displayed and shown in the candomblé temples called the houses, and the African deities were also often identified with certain specific Catholic saints.

This syncretism can be considered in part as a reaction to the  Church-inspired persecution of the followers of the Candomble, by the authorities and also the slave owners, who had always viewed Candomblé as being equivalent to paganism and to witchcraft. Indeed, there are also reports in existence of the Christian devotional altars for being used in early slave houses so as to hide the African cult icons and the  ritual objects of Candomble. Even after the end of the slavery, the claim that the ritual dances of the Candomblé were in honor of the Catholic saints was often used, by the  practitioners and the authorities alike, as an excuse to avoid and get away from confrontation.

However,the religious persecution may not be regarded as the only  and sole reason for the Candomblé's syncretism. While the Christians denied that there is a Divine status of the Orixás, there was really no reason for the believers of the Candomblé to not regard Jesus Christ and the other Christian Saints as being powerful deities along with their own original set of dieties.