Origins and character
Tradition describes Cobra Coral as a spirit of Aztec origin who works within Xangô's vibration, present, in Umbanda belief, at the tops of rock formations, in waterfalls, and in the forest. He is pictured as a tall chief carrying a club in one hand and coral snakes in the other, a knowledgeable and calm figure said to understand both healing and the danger of venomous animals.
Umbanda's Xangô line is syncretized in Catholic terms with Saint Jerome, representing divine justice, and is associated astrologically with Jupiter and, within this same devotional framework, with the archangel Michael as guardian.
A note on Umbanda's early history
Umbanda's founding in Brazil is conventionally dated to 1908, tied to the first incorporation of the Caboclo das Sete Encruzilhadas. Some Kardecist-era accounts, however, describe a Cobra Coral incorporation as early as 1890, in a Spiritist center whose practice already drew on indigenous spirit guides alongside the doctrine of Allan Kardec — evidence, within this oral history, of the gradual, layered way Umbanda's practices took shape before the religion had a settled name.