Santo Daime () is a universalistic/syncretic religion founded in the 1930s in the Brazilian Amazonian state of Acre based on the teachings of Raimundo Irineu Serra,Mestre Irineu photos known as Mestre Irineu. Santo Daime incorporates elements of several religious or spiritual traditions, mainly folk Catholicism, Kardecist Spiritism, African animism and indigenous South American shamanism, including vegetalismo.
Ceremonies — trabalhos (Portuguese for "works") — are typically several hours long, sung collectively, and are undertaken sitting in silent "concentration" or dancing according to simple steps in geometrical formation. Ayahuasca, referred to as Daime within the practice, which contains several psychoactive compounds, is consumed as a sacrament as part of the ceremony.
Santo Daime churches promote a wholesome lifestyle in conformity with Irineu's motto of "harmony, love, truth and justice", as well as other key doctrinal values such as strength, humility, fraternity and purity of heart. The practice became a worldwide movement in the 1990s.
History Santo Daime, sometimes called simply, the 'Doctrine of Mestre Irineu',Paragraph 5, "What is our religion?" Cefluris, 2000, accessdate 7 March 2010 is the name given to the religious practice originally begun in the 1920sThe history of Santo Daime in 'The Santo Daime Doctrine', an interview with Alex Polari de Alverga – Shaman's Drum #22 – Winter 1990-91 in the far western Brazilian state (then territory) of Acre by Raimundo Irineu Serra, a migrant from Maranhão in Brazil's northeast region, and grandson of slaves.
Irineu Serra was born in Brazil in 1892 to African parents and migrated to the Western Amazon region in 1912, attracted by a boom in the rubber tapping industry. He first drank ayahuasca in the border region between Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru. As a result of experiencing a series of visions whilst spending eight days in solitude in the forest, he began to conduct spiritual ceremonies using ayahuasca. Many people came to him sick, seeking healing they could not afford or failed to find in standard medical practice.Personal Accounts Contemporary of Irineu Serra.
Originally, Santo Daime teachings had no basis in written text, as early practitioners were illiterate,"Occasionally hymns were written down by hand; it is worth recalling that the majority of followers — including the 'owners' of hymnals ("hinários") — were illiterate or nearly so. People learned the hymns during the spiritual works, by ear,"... "the use of ayahuasca potions, more so than any other entheogenic drug we know, has survived the onslaught of literacy and acculturation, to make a place for itself in the New Order" , who is in turn referring to Jonathan Ott (1993:242) learning being experiential, through singing of inspired hymns praising the perennial values of love, harmony, truth, and justice through poetic and metaphorical imagery. The hinários (hymnals) of early practitioners have since become the sacred works of the doctrine. The earliest hymns were received by Mestre Irineu in the 1930s, eventually growing to a collection or hinário of about 130 hymns, titled O Cruzeiro ("The Cross"). The last hymns Irineu received in the late 1960s are considered especially important.
Ritual
Devotional in context, the hymns praise divine principles. The Cross of Caravaca (named after Caravaca, Spain, where the style originated), with its double horizontal beam, stands on the altar, next to a vase of flowers. Each trabalho begins and ends with Christian prayers, including the Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary. Santo Daime practice features several kinds of rituals which can be distinguished by the different selections of hymns that are sung, the uniforms worn by initiates (farda azul versus farda branca), the spiritual purpose (including but not limited to: healing, concentration, memorial, prayer, and/or celebration), and whether the ceremony is performed seated or dancing.
Participants drink Daime at regular intervals in all types of "works" ("trabalhos"); but the format and focus will differ. For example, the work of concentration ("concentração"), includes periods of silent, seated meditations, between 1 and 2 hours in length, in between the sung hymn selections.
Festival works, commonly or colloquially known as "hinários" or "hinário works", are generally much longer in length than concentrations or healing works (trabalhos de cura) and involve dancing and singing hymns in the farda branca, or white uniform for initiates, while playing maracás. The festival works occur on specific calendar dates and saints' days (i.e. Christmas, St. John's Day, Mother's Day, the birthday of Mestre Irineu, New Year's Eve, Three Kings' Day/Epiphany, etc), and the entire hinário (not just a selection) is sung, from the beginning to the end. For example, on Christmas Eve, Mestre Irineu's entire hinário, O Cruzeiro, is sung. These "festival" works involve singing of the hinários of founding and senior members of the church and each of these works coincides with official dates on the Santo Daime calendar.Céu do Mapiá calendar of Works
The Christian core of the doctrine is combined with other elements, drawing on other spiritual strands of Brazilian culture: there is an emphasis on personal responsibility within a fellowship, the need to walk on the path of love leaving behind old habits and evil (with divine help), to examine one's conscience carefully, to call on God and the Virgin Mother and Jesus Christ for help, to do good, to be just, to pray regularly; but also an animist appreciation of the enchantment of nature, such as the Sun, Moon and Stars, the oneness of life, as well as the totemic symbol of the beija-flor (hummingbird). Spiritual beings from indigenous Amazonian shamanism and deities from the Afro-Brazilian pantheon, such as Ogum and Iemanjá, are also respected and incorporated into the doctrine. The nature of the work is sometimes personified and addressed as Juramidam, a name disclosed to Irineu in his visionary experience, which means literally, "God (jura) and his soldiers (midam)". Metaphorically, the mystic body of the church during hymns is often referred to as the "Empire of Juramidam."
Ayahuasca, consumed sacramentally by Daimistas in Eucharistic ceremonies, has many different traditional names, but is known within the Santo Daime religion as Santo Daime, or simply Daime, as originally named by Mestre Irineu. Dai-me (with a hyphen) means "give me" in Portuguese. A phrase, Dai-me força, dai-me amor ("give me strength, give me love"), recurs throughout the hymns of the doctrine. "Daime" is revered as an entheogenic sacrament, not as any kind of recreational drug; in fact, there are many testimonies of it curing drug addictions and alcoholism.
Participants in the ritual come to submit themselves to a process through which they may learn self-knowledge, to be more humble, have their hearts opened up, and experience the Grace of God. This may include various wonders — ayahuasca is known for the visions or "mirações" it generates, and the sense of communion with nature and spiritual reality — as well as more mundane, less pleasant lessons about the self. The Daime is thought to reveal both positive and various negative or unresolved aspects of the individual, resulting in difficult "passages" involving the integration of this dissociated psychological content. This often will be end-pointed by the purgative nature of Ayahuasca, whereby negative emotions, sinful elements from within, and even demonic energies are expelled, as well as physical toxins. This leads to a general release, a sense of joy, lightness, and clarity afterwards, with a general improvement in life. The only real dangers to be experienced during ceremonies are exposure of egotistical tendencies and contrition.
Ceremonies are referred to as "works" or "trabalhos" because hard work is needed on the spiritual path, laziness being an impediment on the path of the soul. The effects of Daime combined with dancing, singing, and concentration for up to twelve hours require and develop stamina/determination firmeza (firmness). The Daime will often give energy to people to help them through a long challenging work, with added help coming from a sense of fraternity and shared purpose, as per the doctrine.
Santo Daime hymns
The teachings of Santo Daime are transmitted through its hymns, which, when sung, are intended to facilitate a first-hand experience of the divine. Musical accompaniment often includes the unison rhythmic playing of maracás, in strict 4:4, 3:4 or 6:4 time, along with typical folk instruments such as the guitar, accordion, and flute. The rhythms are "Marcha" (4:4), "Valsa" (3:4), "Mazurca" (6:4), "Marcha e Meia-Valsa" (4:4), "À Capela" (0:0) and some more uncommon like "Valsa e Meia-Valsa" (alternates between 3:4 and 4:4) and songs that change rhythm from À Capela to Marcha. Mestre Irineu's hinário contains 133 hymns (3 of which have not been published)https://evangelhodejuramida.com.br/historia-dos-hinos-do-cruzeiro/ and chronicles his spiritual journey and evolution from when he began drinking the Daime until his death in 1971. Through the singing of his hinário, the participant can connect with the spirit, teachings, and experiences of Mestre Irineu and, in many ways, can begin walking the same spiritual path.
A significant proportion of members of the Santo Daime community also have hinários of their own, or collections of hymns that they have authored through direct, unaltered revelation from the divine. The process of experiencing such new songs in this context is referred to as "receiving". These are not artistic works that are created, they are spiritual testaments, received directly via divine epiphany.
Denominational diversification and conflicts The death of Mestre Irineu in 1971 resulted in a diversification within the Santo Daime community. The resulting schism formalized into fiercely opposed socio-political factions. The original orthodox group, Alto Santo, currently led by Peregrina Gomes Serra, operates as a non-expansionist branch restricted strictly to the city of Rio Branco.
Conversely, a distinct group known as CEFLURIS (now called ICEFLU) was formed when Sebastião Mota de Melo, commonly called Padrinho Sebastião ("Godfather Sebastião"), left the original center with a group of his followers. Many of Padrinho Sebastião's initial followers were Brazilians from the country's affluent south or citizens of other South American countries who were drawn to the Daime due to their background in middle-class counterculture. Presently led by Alfredo Gregório de Melo, ICEFLU leveraged this demographic to aggressively expand the doctrine internationally, establishing a presence in at least 43 countries across all inhabited continents.
The ideological rift between these factions has been characterized by intense political maneuvering and disputes over the symbolic monopoly of the beverage. Beginning in 1999, Alto Santo cultivated strategic alliances with the state government of Governor Jorge Viana, successfully shifting the regulatory framework of ayahuasca from the Ministry of Justice into the domain of the Ministry of Culture. This political consolidation culminated in September 2006, when the architectural and historical elements of the Alto Santo community were officially recognized as cultural heritage (tombamento) by the state and municipal governments.