Ayahuasca Churches
The ayahuasca churches were born in the state of Acre, in the Brazilian Amazon. They were the result of the encounter in the first half of the 20th century between rubber workers, who had arrived in the Amazon from northeastern Brazil, and the mestizo and indigenous healers who worked on the border of Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru.
The indigenous practices, which then carried the stigma of witchcraft and savagery, were structured into organized and hierarchical religions with Catholic, African, and spiritualist elements. Raimundo Irineu Serra, a descendant of African slaves, founded Santo Daime, the first of the three main churches. Then followed the União do Vegetal and finally the Barquinha.
