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Tia Neiva (born Neiva Chavez Zelaya, 1926–1985) was a Brazilian medium and founder of the community Christian spiritualist Vale do Amanhecer (Dawn Valley) located in the Planaltina, Federal District, Brazil.
She was born in Propriá, in the state of Sergipe, in 1926. Until 1959, when she was 33, Neiva Chavez Zelaya was an unremarkable woman and had not manifested any public mediunic tendencies. The only trait that set her apart was the fact that she had become a truck driver after her husband died and left her with four children to raise. Neiva went to Federal District, where she rented one of her two trucks to Novacap, the company that built the new capital.
According to her memoirs the first mediunic manifestations bothered her a lot, since she was Catholic and did not feel comfortable with the paranormal powers. She sought out explanations in Spiritualism but could not adapt. Immersed in what the spirits told her she gave up her professional life and worked to implant the system that today is known as the Vale do Amanhecer.
According to her own writings, as soon as she was able to dominate the technique of projecting her body, she began to visit other spiritual plains, where she received instructions that she applied among her community of mediums. Among the teachers of Tia Neiva was a Tibetan monk called Umahã, who she allegedly visited daily between 1959 and 1964 and who supposedly died in 1981.
In 1963 she caught a respiratory disease and was interned in a tuberculosis sanitarium in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. She got better but began to breathe with only a small area of her lungs until her death in 1985.
The first community founded by Tia Neiva was in the Alexânia, Goiás, and was called "União Espiritualista Seta Branca". Seta Branca was the alleged spirit of an Incan who appeared to her and was her mentor. Today he is the central figure of the cult, which includes elements from Christianity, Candomblé, Spiritism, extraterrestrials, and Egyptology. From there she moved to Taguatinga, Federal District, and in 1969 to the place known today as Vale do Amanhecer in the rural zone of Planaltina, Federal District.
In her last years, Tia Neiva was always accompanied by her companion Mário Sassi who was known as Trino Tumuchy. Her children continued her work and are part of the hierarchy of the sect. The most important, Gilberto Zelaya, or Trino Ajarâ in the spirit world, is the First Doctrinator of the Dawn and Coordinator of the Temples of the Dawn.
A large sect has been built around Neiva, who had incredible powers of organisation and ability to convince the authorities to acquire land and funding. According to the official website today there are 589 temples in Brazil and in other countries like Germany, the United States, Japan, and Portugal. The group's membership is 139,000 in 700 temples. [1]
American filmmaker Janell Shirtcliff directed a documentary about Neiva called Mother of the Dawn, which debuted at the 2022 South by Southwest festival. [2] [3]
Chico Xavier or Francisco Cândido Xavier, born Francisco de Paula Cândido, was a popular Brazilian philanthropist and spiritist medium. During a period of 60 years he wrote over 490 books and several thousand letters claiming to use a process known as "psychography". Books based on old letters and manuscripts were published posthumously, bringing the total number of books to 496.
Vale do Amanhecer is a new religious movement and UFO religion founded in the 1960s, with around 40,000 adherents. It is centered around a mother temple located in an eponymous locality in Planaltina, Federal District, Brazil.
Planaltina is an administrative region in the Federal District in Brazil. It is located in the east of the Federal District, bordering Fercal, Sobradinho, and Itapoã to the west, and Paranoá to the south. With an area of 1.534 square kilometers, it is the largest administrative region of the Federal District. Planaltina has a population of 177.540. The region seat was founded in 1859 and is the oldest city in the Federal District.
Tuya was the wife of Pharaoh Seti I of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt and mother of Tia, Ramesses II, and possibly Henutmire.
Spiritualism is a metaphysical belief that the world is made up of at least two fundamental substances, matter and spirit. This very broad metaphysical distinction is further developed into many and various forms by the inclusion of details about what spiritual entities exist such as a soul, the afterlife, spirits of the dead, deities and mediums; as well as details about the nature of the relationship between spirit and matter. It may also refer to the philosophy, doctrine, or religion pertaining to a spiritual aspect of existence.
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Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká is a historic Candomblé temple in the city of Salvador, Bahia, in northeastern Brazil. It is also known as the Casa Branca do Engenho Velho, or simply the Casa Branca. Located on a hill above Vasco da Gama, a busy avenue in the working-class neighborhood of Engenho Velho, the terreiro belongs to the Ketu branch of Candomblé, which is heavily influenced by the religious beliefs and practices of the Yoruba people. The earliest documents proving the temple's existence are from the late nineteenth century, but it was certainly founded much earlier, probably c. 1830. Since the 1940s, the religious community has been registered as a public entity under the name Sociedade Beneficente e Recreativa São Jorge do Engenho Velho.
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Tia is a usually feminine given name with diverse, unrelated origins from multiple cultures. It might have originated as a short form of names containing the word element tia or thea. The word tía is coincidentally the Portuguese and Spanish word for aunt. Some parents might have used the name in reference to the alcoholic beverage Tia Maria. Tiana might be an extended version of the name. Tia is the goddess of peaceful death in Haida mythology. Tia was also the name of an ancient Egyptian princess who lived during the 19th Dynasty. The meaning of her name possibly referred to royal status. In some cultures, including the Ancient Egyptian and Maori. Tia has also been used as a male name.
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Janell Shirtcliff is an American filmmaker, photographer, and music video director. She also worked as a model for a decade, and as an actor for which she has been praised. She made her film directorial debut with 2021's Habit. Her photography has been featured in publications including Variety, Billboard, Nylon, and Teen Vogue.
The familicide in the Federal District in 2023, a case that became better known in the Brazilian press as the massacre in the DF, refers to the murder of 10 people from the same family between the end of December 2022 and mid-January 2023.
Altamira Cecília dos Santos, also known as Mãe Tatá Oxum Tomilá, was the eighth mãe-de-santo, ialorixá or high priestess of the Casa Branca do Engenho Velho temple of Candomblé Ketu, the largest and most influential branch of the Candomblé religion practiced in Brazil.