Ketu or Nagô
Terms used as synonyms when regarding one of the three biggest “mythic nations” of the Candomblé; displays the influence of the culture
and religion of Western Africa in the Brazilian culture; Ketu: Reign of Ketu;
Nagô: generic name of the people of the region, related by the same
genetic myth, more precisely, the Yorubas; its area of diffusion in Brazil
are: the States of Bahia and Pernambuco, in the Northeast; nowadays the
Ketu-Nagô influence also prevails in other states of the Southeast of Brazil.
Ntu
Radical Bantu; person; the distinction of these people regards the
linguistic unit. Also comprehended as a root of the philosophy of
the “vital strength” of the people of the Bantu world.
Nzinga
Queen of Matamba (Angola, 17th century); the only woman to receive
the name of N’gola, which used to distinguish the chiefs of the Mbundu
lineage (Reign of Ndongo). During the beginning of the slave trade and
the Portuguese conquering in the Centro-Western Africa, a tenacious
resistance against the dispersion of the Black people was undertaken;
conscious woman of her own world, remarks with struggles and alliances,
by one hand, with other African Chiefs, and by the other hand, with the
Portuguese, the maintaining of their power on the region.
