FROM AFRICA TO BRAZIL, A PARALLEL BETWEEN RELIGION AND TRADITIONAL YORUBA MEDICAL SYSTEMS

The Yoruba are one of the largest ethnolinguistic groups in West Africa. Among the Yoruba and their descendants, medicine and magic are given the same name, oogun, due to the similarity of their practices. From this point of view, Yoruba Traditional Medicine is interconnected with Yoruba Traditional Religion, including a series of religious and therapeutic practices employed in general health care and emotional well-being services. With their forced arrival in America, following Portuguese colonization, these people brought their rituals and their vision of medicine to Brazil, giving rise to the religion known as Candomblé. The objective of this work was to conduct a review study on Traditional Medicine employed by African people of Yoruba ethnicity in Nigeria, drawing a parallel with their descendants (direct and indirect) who practice Candomblé in Brazil, from an epistemological perspective, reflecting on the religiosity and health of these people and the challenges for its consolidation as a traditional medical system.