Founded in the 1930’s, Santo Daime is a syncretistic religion that is a blend of Christianity and Brazilian shamanism. It all began when founder Raimundo Irineu Serra was working as a rubber tapper in the Brazilian rainforest. The indigenous people of the rain forest introduced him to ayahuasca, which is a vision-inducing tea that has been used by South American shaman for thousands of years. Soon after drinking this he began to receive revelations of holy rituals from a woman he called “Rainha da Floresta” or Queen of the Rainforest who instructed him to create a church with and to use ayahuasca as its sacrament.
Irineu, who came to be known as Master Irineu, created a center in Rio Branco known as the “Doutrina do Santo Daime” where people of different ethnic origins were able to drink the sacred ayahuasca. The word Daime comes from the Portuguese word meaning “give me” which is taken from Daime Luz (give me light) or Daime Amor (give me love) and are phrases found in many Santo Daimi hymns.
After the death of Master Irineu in 1971 the church split into two groups when Sebastiao Mota de Melo formed another group made up primarily of affluent Brazilians. Known as Padrinho Sabastiao, he eventually began to have spiritual visions that called him to return to the rainforest and moved the church headquarters to Céu do Mapiá, located in the Brazilian state of Amazonas.
Beliefs and Basic Teachings
The ayahuasca tea is known as Daime and is considered to be a living sacrament. Used during the traditional liturgy, which consists of hymns, dancing, meditation and the sacrament, Daime is meant to promote spiritual growth and healing. The Santo Daime belief system recognizes and honors Jesus, Catholic saints, indigenous Amazonian deities and African orishas. Along with this there is a very strong belief in personal responsibility and a belief that the spirit world and the world of nature have lessons to teach all individuals through the Daime. All of the Daime rituals focus on self purification, healing psychic obstacles and overcoming spiritual obstacles. Rituals include meditation rituals, healing rituals, Hinário or a collection of hymns which is sung on important, festive days and Santa Missa which is a ritual to honor those who have departed this world.
Anyone is free to join Santo Daime and becomes fully initiated when they feel ready to do so. Once a person makes this decision they become fardado or “uniformed” which means that they are fully dedicated to the religion. Men and women who are fardado wear a uniform known as a farda azul, which consists of a blue skirt and white shirt for women, while men wear blue pants, white shirt and a blue tie.
Symbols
The Cross of Caravacas which is similar to a Christian cross but has two horizontal bars.
A six pointed star with images of the sun moon and stars which is given in the form of a pin to people who are fully initiated into Santo Daime.
Because of the use of ayahuasca Santo Daime is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a drug cult and has at times drawn public criticism. Santo Daime has also been involved in court battles in numerous countries due to the ritual use of ayahuasca. But on the whole it has maintained its right and ability to continue as a recognized and legal spiritual practice.
