Quimbanda
Afro-Brazilian religion
Quimbanda, also spelled Kimbanda (Portuguese pronunciation: [kĩˈbɐ̃dɐ]), is an Afro-Brazilian religion practiced primarily in the urban city centers of Brazil.
Quimbanda focuses on male spirits called exús as well as their female counterparts, pomba giras. Pomba giras are often regarded as the spirits of deceased women who worked as prostitutes or in other positions traditionally considered immoral in Catholic Brazilian society. Quimbanda's practices are often focused on worldly success regarding money and sex.
A range of Afro-Brazilian religions emerged in Brazil, often labelled together under the term Macumba, which often carried negative connotations.
Historically, the term Quimbanda has been used by practitioners of Umbanda, a religion established in Brazil during the 1920s, to characterise the religious practices that they opposed. Quimbanda thus served as a mirror image for Umbandistas. By the early 21st century, Quimbanda had also spread to North America.
Definitions
As a religion, it has been described as taking influences from Kardecist Spiritism, folk Catholicism, and Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé. In Brazil, there are individuals who call themselves Quimbandeiros and openly practice Quimbanda.
“Quimbanda” enters the record as afro-Brazilian religion. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Quimbanda, Afro-Brazilian and religion can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Quimbanda” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Quimbanda, Afro-Brazilian and religion provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3128886. The Library of Congress control number is sh89004341. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Quimbanda”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Quimbanda primary sources, Quimbanda archive and Quimbanda research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Quimbanda”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Quimbanda” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.