Vale do Amanhecer

The Vale do Amanhecer (Valley of the Dawn) is a millenarian religious community situated in the Federal District of Brazil, 50 kilometers from its capital Brasília. It is a new religious movement with a complex syncretism, including elements of Christianity, Spiritism, Afro-Brazilian, and Oriental [Page 1341]religions, and beliefs in unidentified flying objects. The movement has spread all over Brazil (around 600 temples) and to seven other countries (the United States, Germany, Bolivia, Uruguay, Japan, Portugal, Trinidad-Tobago), garnering more than 100,000 adherents. The community was founded in 1959 by Neiva Chaves Zelaya (Tia Neiva), widowed at the age of 24 years and a mother of four children, who worked as a truck driver in central Brazil. Clairvoyant and guided by her visions, mainly by an Amerindian spirit named Father White Arrow (Pai Seta Branca), Neiva decided to consecrate her life to a special mission: to create a doctrine to heal people and to prepare humanity for the arrival of the third millennium.

Based on the so-called teachings of the spirits and combining elements of Allan Kardec's Spiritism, the doctrine of the Amanhecer considers its active members as mediums and the others as patients. Classified into two categories—jaguar and nymph—the mediums (a pair, a man and a woman) invoke the spirits during the rituals. The mediums are also characterized by their spiritual orientation: The one who “incorporates” (falls into a trance) is called apará, and the one who “indoctrinates” (teaches) the spirit is known as doutrinador.

Rituals are well-known for their impressive visual characteristics, with their use of different symbols from Aztec, Egyptian, and Afro-Brazilian religions: the colorful, shining costumes worn by the followers at the ceremonies; and the monumental displays, with huge statues, pyramids, lakes, waterfalls, stairways, and colored walls.

The ritual practices are very complex and require a great number of participants. Words, prayers, and gestures are previously determined and strictly controlled by the leaders of the ceremonies. They create a real epic scene where the verbal, sound, visual, and kinetic elements of the mise-en-scène are related.

Since Tia Neiva passed away in 1985, the Vale do Amanhecer has been ruled by the Trinos Presidente Triada, a triad that includes Tia Neiva's son, Raul Oscar Zelaya Chaves, who is also the official president of the community.