The tree and its drink
Among indigenous peoples of Brazil's northeastern sertão, the jurema tree was long treated as sacred, prized for surviving the region's harsh dry seasons when much of the surrounding vegetation could not. A ceremonial drink prepared from it, known as vinho da jurema, was historically used in rites led by pajés, healers, and juremeiro masters, and became closely tied to indigenous resistance during and after Portuguese colonization — tolerated by colonial authorities when turned against rival European powers, but suppressed as sorcery when practiced as a religion in its own right. Over time, jurema worship spread into Afro-Brazilian religious life, and Candomblé recognizes Jurema as an Orixá in her own right — one considered distinctly Brazilian in origin rather than inherited directly from West Africa.
Cabocla Jurema
In Umbanda, Cabocla Jurema is venerated as Queen of the Woods and the eldest daughter of Caboclo Tupinambá, with two sisters, Jupira and Jandira, named alongside her. She is understood to work purely through charity, without accepting payment for her aid, and her legion is described as encompassing many related manifestations — such as Jurema da Praia, associated with Iemanjá, or Jurema da Cachoeira, associated with Xangô — that practitioners regard as expressions of one underlying spiritual presence tied to different aspects of nature.
Devotees describe her as offering courage and comfort to those in distress, and she is closely associated within Umbanda with the spiritual line of Oxóssi.