Cidade Eclética (Eclectic City) is a religious
commune
A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to:
Administrative-territorial entities
* Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township
** Communes of ...
founded by the
spiritualist
Spiritualism is the metaphysical school of thought opposing physicalism and also is the category of all spiritual beliefs/views (in monism and dualism) from ancient to modern. In the long nineteenth century
The ''long nineteenth century'' i ...
Mestre Yokaanam (died 1985), and is located 62 km west of
Brasília
Brasília (; ) is the federal capital of Brazil and seat of government of the Federal District. The city is located at the top of the Brazilian highlands in the country's Central-West region. It was founded by President Juscelino Kubitsche ...
,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, in the state of
Goiás
Goiás () is a Brazilian state located in the Center-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso. The state capital is Goiânia. ...
. It belongs to the municipality of Santo Antonio do Descoberto.
Brasiliatur.com.br
/ref> It has a population of around 1,500 persons, of whom 790 were registered to vote in 2004. The inhabitants depend on agriculture, leather handicrafts, and cattle raising for their livelihood.
Mestre Yokaanam said that his city was the world religious center, guided by the religion that he founded, the Igreja Eclética Espiritualista Universal. This sect is described as an eclectic-religious movement, philanthropic and universalist, and "pioneer in the unification of all the sects of the planet." There are strong connections with Umbanda
Umbanda () is a syncretic Afro-Brazilian religion that blends traditional African religions with Roman Catholicism, Spiritism, and Indigenous American beliefs. Although some of its beliefs and most of its practices existed in the late 19th cent ...
, an Afro-Brazilian religion. Another name given to this religion by Yokaanam was Umbanda Eclética Maior.
Mestre Yokaanam
Mestre Yokaanam, who was born in Maceió
Maceió (), formerly sometimes Anglicised as Maceio, is the capital and the largest city of the coastal state of Alagoas, Brazil. The name "Maceió" is an Indigenous term for a spring. Most maceiós flow to the sea, but some get trapped and form la ...
, Alagoas
Alagoas (, ) is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco (N and NW); Sergipe (S); Bahia (SW); and the Atlantic Ocean (E). Its capital is the city of Maceió. It ...
in 1911, considered himself a reincarnation of Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...
and John the Baptist
John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...
. Yokaanam is supposedly an anagram of John the Baptist's name and means "The Diver".
Yokaanam's real name was Oceano de Sá and he was an officer and pilot in the Brazilian Air Force. Legend says that he was flying over the region where Brasília was to be built and was visited by an extraterrestrial being who told him that his real mission was on the Earth and not in the skies. But Oceano did not believe the visitor, with the result that the plane crashed and he woke up in the hospital. When he opened his eyes the same being was at his side, asking: "And now, did you learn?". The next day de Sá allegedly left the air force and changed his name to Yokaanam.
His abilities as a medium
Medium may refer to:
Science and technology
Aviation
*Medium bomber, a class of war plane
*Tecma Medium, a French hang glider design
Communication
* Media (communication), tools used to store and deliver information or data
* Medium of ...
supposedly began when he was 13 years old. In one of his books, he claims to have visited 300 Kardecist spiritual centers, 18 Masonic
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to Fraternity, fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of Stonemasonry, stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their inte ...
temples, 15 Theosophist
Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion a ...
temples, 823 Candomblé
Candomblé () is an African diasporic religion that developed in Brazil during the 19th century. It arose through a process of syncretism between several of the traditional religions of West Africa, especially that of the Yoruba, and the Roman ...
centers, 100 Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
churches, and 4 Rosicrucian
Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its ...
temples.
The community
The original community was founded in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
in 1946 and was transferred in 1956 to the Planalto Central, the central high plain where Brasília was to be built. Approximately three hundred families were in the first group. Many left but new members arrived to join the commune.
According to the official site there are 600 people living in the community today who are called "internal workers". Outside, but in contact with the work of the organization, are the "external workers." The Fraternity has 12 branches (or regionals) in several states and two outside of Brazil: one in Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
and another in Paraguay
Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. The total number of people connected to the movement is estimated to be 3,000.
With the death of Yokaanam, on April 21, 1985, three long-time followers of the leader took over leadership of the movement.
References
External links
Mestre Yokanam
Umbanda Eclética Maior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cidade Ecletica
Populated places in Goiás