Turismo Etnico - Inglês WEB

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Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Bahia Salvador Bahia Brazil


African Heritage Tourism in Bahia © Copyright 2009, Secretaria de Turismo / Superintendência de Serviços Turísticos. Planning, Research, Writing and Editing Planning and Economic Studies Department (DPEE) and Press Relations (ASCOM) General Coordinator Clarissa Amaral Assistants Acácia Martins, Gabriel Carvalho, Simone Cabral, Fernanda Freitas, Daniel Meira, Silmara Menezes Interns: Davi Carneiro, Rafael Brito, Adriana Barbosa, Delmar Calil, Érica Almeida Production Viviane Santos Proofreading Tânia Feitosa Graphic Design and Art Solisluna Design e Editora Photographs SETUR-Bahiatursa Photo Archive, Rita Barreto, Jota Freitas Special Thanks Pedro Calmon Foundation Prof. Ubiratan Castro Maísa Menezes

Governor of the State of Bahia Jaques Wagner Secretary of Tourism of the State of Bahia Domingos Leonelli Cabinet Chief Antonio Carlos Tramm President of Bahiatursa Emilia Salvador Silva Superintendent of Tourism Services Cássia Magalhães African Heritage Tourism Coordinator Billy Arquimimo Project Advisors Manoel Passos Pereira Ubirací Oliveira Silva

Printing and Final Artwork Impacto Gráfica e Editora

B135 Bahia, Secretaria de Turismo. Superintendência de Serviços Turísticos - Suset. Turismo Étnico-Afro na Bahia./ A Secretaria. __ Salvador: Fundação Pedro Calmon, 2009. 152p.: il. ISBN: 978-85-61458-15-7 1. Tourism. 2. African Heritage Tourism. 3. African Legacy - Bahia. 4. Cultural Tourism. 5. African Culture. I. Title: African Heritage Tourism in Bahia. CDD 338 47918142

Secretaria de Turismo do Estado da Bahia Avenida Tancredo Neves, 776 – Bl. B / 8º andar, Caminho das Árvores CEP 41823-900 Salvador Bahia Brasil Tel. 55 71 3116.4115 gab@setur.ba.gov.br


“[...] Whether a lieutenant or fishermen’s son Or important ombudsman If you make an offering, all is one The force that lives in the water Can’t see the color of your skin And the whole city belongs to Oxum [...]” É D’Oxum Gerônimo e Vevé Calasans



Preface African Heritage Tourism in Bahia is more than a segmented tourism development scheme for the Secretariat of Tourism. It is an instrument of reparations that expresses the commitments and objectives of the Government of the State of Bahia to build a truly democratic State in which the population can take full advantage of social and economic progress. Many have already said that Bahia is a land blessed by the gods. And, without a doubt, it is. From environmental diversity to vast cultural wealth, Bahia is full of surprises, and always much more than what one would expect, whether for the natural beauty of its coastline, mountains, striking sert達o and savannas, or for its exceptional social structures, which have given rise to a distinctive population with unique standards of racial interaction. These characteristics make the State of Bahia especially attractive to people from around the world who travel to discover unique cultural experiences and situations. Although we still have a long way to go, the investments made in developing African Heritage Tourism reinforce political and economic commitments to communities of African descent, which have historically been excluded from the economic benefits generated by tourism, and to which they have contributed so greatly. We are aware that our debt to Bahian people of African descent is still great. Yet with faith, courage and determination we will build a Bahia that is even more diverse, more just and more human, a land that belongs, truly, to all of us. Jaques Wagner Governor of the State of Bahia





Preface In a state such as Bahia, especially the capital, Salvador, and its metropolitan area, in which more than 80% of the population is of African descent, it would be logical to assume that the most prevalent type of tourism would be that based on African heritage. However, this is not yet the case. In a state whose most outstanding artists, intellectuals and thinkers are of African origin, a strategy to attract African and African Diaspora visitors should have been implemented many years ago. Yet, it was not. Although recognition of the significance of the contribution of African culture is much discussed, it has not led to effective action with regard to the development of African heritage tourism on a professional level, specifically in terms of sustainability, social inclusion and equitable profit distribution. Instead of using Bahia’s cultural symbols for superficial purposes, we are convinced that the actions taken to develop itineraries and train the main stakeholders will protect and add value to places, people, cultural practices and historic references. A CandomblÊ house of worship, for example, is not and will never be simply a tourist attraction. It must be visited with the same level of respect shown at any church, synagogue or mosque. And if these visits generate income, it is fair that those who organize the ceremonies and maintain these religious centers should also benefit. The concept of African heritage tourism in Bahia and in Brazil is based on the democratization of access to all the links in the tourism chain of production to allow those of African descent to directly benefit from their cultural contributions, and effectively participate in the economy generated by culture and tourism. We are doing this together, both public and private sectors, here in the State of Bahia—the land of all of us. Domingos Leonelli Netto Secretary of Tourism of the State of Bahia



African Heritage Tourism A characteristic of the current administration is its willingness to consult a wide range of sectors in society, so as to modernize the concept of tourism, focusing on sustainability and the development of innovative management strategies. This philosophy has permeated the process of creating this document. The ideas, opinions and analyses generated at the Secretariat of Tourism were systematized and later presented to a variety of segments in society, so that together we could evaluate and ponder the issues discussed here. The outcome of this initiative was valuable. We received innumerable contributions, most of which have been incorporated into this document, or, when necessary, forwarded to other government institutions. The results of this process can be found in the pages that make up this Conceptual Framework, the first step for further Secretariat of Tourism initiatives to be implemented by the African Heritage Tourism Department and Bahiatursa. We hope to soon present research on these innovative initiatives to confirm our expectations of success. Billy Arquimimo African Heritage Tourism Coordinator



Acknowledgements The Secretariat of Tourism is immensely grateful to all who participated in the meetings, debates, interviews, research and studies on which this collaborative endeavor is based. Alberto Pita Aldair Roque Assunção Alcântara Aliomar do Ilê Amilton Santos Anjelia Faddoul Antônio Luiz dos Santos Carlos Alberto Dias Coelho Carlos Escorpião Carmem França Carmem Gama Carolina Barbosa dos Santos Célia Bandeira Cláudia Alexandra Silva Santos Cláudia Evangelista dos Santos Cleydson Sá Barreto do Rosário Deise Queiroz Dulce Silva Leno Eduardo Farina Edvaldo Sátiro dos Santos Eliana dos Santos de Jesus Eugênio S. da Luz Eurico Alcântara Evilásio da S. Lucas Fernanda Antônia Fernando Guerra Florivaldo Café

Francisco Argueiro Marli Carvalho Genésio O. Filho George Silva dos Santos Gilson Costa Babosa Goya Lopes Isamar Rita Silva de Oliveira Izabel Harris Jailton Bispo dos Santos Jeziel Silva Santos João Jorge Rodrigues Joilson do Desterro Silva Jorge Bafafé Jorge Kalile Joselita Gomes dos Santos Josevaldo de Souza Santos Julio Braga Jurema Monteiro Justiniana J. dos Santos Laércio Sacramento Ligia Carolina dos Santos Lindinalva N. da Silva Lindinete P. do Nascimento Lourdes Pinto Lucia Aquino Queiroz Luiz Carlos Café da Silva Manoel Passos R. Ferreira Márcia Maria de Souza Márcia Novais Marcos Luis F. Santos Marcos Rezende Maria Clarice dos Santos Maria Dias Conceição

Maria do Carmo B. Pita Maria Luiza de Barros Mário Nelson Carvalho Marrom Maneiro (Jorge Bonfim S. Silva) Mateus Aleluia Miguel Arcanjo Mônica Kalile Nadinho do Congo Neguinho do Samba Nelson Mendes Neto Bala Nilzete dos Santos Oscar Dourado Paulo Carvalho Paulo Ricardo dos S. Costa Paulo Rogério Nunes Rosana França Ruybela Cartedo Soraia Oliveira Steve Spencer Tereza Burmeister Tonho Matéria Ubirací Oliveira Uiliam Coelho Santos Vagner Jesus dos Santos Valciria Santana de Jesus Valdeci Teixeira Barbosa Valter Hugo Vandete Capinan Victor Santana dos Prazeres Vivian Caroline Wellington R. Dourado



Conceptual Framework According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the concept of tourism includes activities people carry out while traveling or staying in places different from where they live, for a period of less than a year, either for leisure, business, or other reasons. Globally, segmentation has been developing as a tourism organization strategy to improve planning and management, as well as to establish new markets. Cultural tourism is considered one of the most important sectors since it allows for the creation of targeted segments, such as African heritage tourism. According to the conceptual frameworks1 developed by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism:“Heritage tourism consists of activities associated with authentic experiences resulting from direct contact with the way of life and identity of ethnic groups. The aim is to create bonds with host communities, take part in traditional activities, observe and learn about cultural expressions, lifestyles and local customs. Often, these activities could be understood as tourists searching for their own origins, an encounter with the traditions of their ancestors. Heritage tourism involves communities formed by the migration of Europeans and Asians, as well as indigenous peoples, communities of African descent and other social groups whose ethnic legacies have continued to guide their lives, wisdom or customs.” In Brazil, heritage tourism has only recently been defined with the aim of creating an institutional standard. With regard to Bahia, the great cultural diversity of the state has led to the application of this strategy in two main areas: African heritage tourism and indigenous heritage tourism. Considering the ethnic-racial prevalence and representivity of the state’s African legacy and the preservation of lifestyles and cultural identity, this segment has become the driving force behind the development of heritage tourism in the State of Bahia. 1

BRASIL, MTur. Segmentação do Turismo. Marcos Conceituais. Brasília: MTur, 2006.


With regard to tourism, the state’s Africa-based traditions, knowledge and experiences, known as its African matrix, have become increasingly more visible in terms of how they have been used by local tourism authorities. If, on the one hand, this is a reflection of the power, cultural value and identity of the state, on the other it reinforces the idea, widely held both within Brazil and abroad, that Bahia is a land that preserves and celebrates this identity, based on the legacy and mixing of cultures of European, Native Brazilian and, above all, African origin. In practice, these images are associated with products and attractions offered to visitors who come to the state capital, Salvador, and especially to towns located in the area around All Saints’ Bay, known as the Bahian Recôncavo, such as Santo Amaro, Cachoeira, São Felix, Maragogipe and São Francisco do Conde. For these destinations and itineraries, historic, social, cultural and anthropological elements related to the migration of several ethnic groups are central. This is especially true for groups migrating from the African continent that began to arrive in the early colonial period. The state’s African matrix cultural references are still prevalent in the Chapada Diamantina and along the coast, as these areas are home to quilombos—communities whose inhabitants are descendents of escaped slaves, and which have a vibrant Afrocentric cultural heritage. However, tourism in these destinations is intimately related to the cultural identities of their ethnic groups. Besides their cultural identity, these communities offer visitors the opportunity to take part in traditional activities, observe and learn about cultural expressions, lifestyles and unique customs, in accordance with the segmentation proposal put forward by the Federal Ministry of Tourism. However, the State of Bahia, through the Secretariat of Tourism, recognizes that this segment will not only provide opportunities to promote tourism. In reality, it is a means to foment economic and social development in communities of African descent that have historically been excluded from the tourism-related benefits in which they have played such an important role. According to the Brazil Tourism Report2, an analysis of recent decades leads us to conclude, with regard to heritage tourism, that the Brazilian state plays little or no role in its governance. Now, in the State of Bahia, a series of actions and initiatives is being implemented to modify this situation. To better evaluate the potential of heritage tourism in Bahia, the Secretariat of Tourism used a range of instruments: • Research at academic institutions, mostly associated with the federal and state universities, UFBA and UNEB, as well as social, anthropological, literary and artistic publications. • The state’s vast artistic and craft production as well as its traditional folk and cultural manifestations have become the basis for the creation and reinvention of these expressions. Starting in the 1970s, Afro blocos, the rise 2

BRASIL, MTur. Turismo no Brasil – 2007 a 2010. Brasília: MTur, 2006.


of samba-reggae, the increased international profile of black singers and composers and the resurgence of samba and capoeira, in all their varieties and styles, are good examples of this. • The recording of these manifestations on audiovisual media has created a unique and attractive market due to its diverse styles as well as its possibilities for creative exchanges with other cultures and consumers. • The rise, however incipient, of business organizations seeking out the development of industrial products with cultural identity and added value targeting tourists. In this case, ethnicity is the value and African heritage is the expression. As an example, it is possible to mention the brand Didara, created by designer Goya Lopes and the clothing by designer Márica Ganem, as well as fashions and accessories produced by cultural groups such as Olodum, Ilê Aiyê, Filhos do Congo, Malê Debalê and many others. • The hosting of large-scale governmental, cultural and scientific events related to the African Diaspora, (CIAD and the Meeting of Black Intellectuals, World Capoeira Congress). • The existence of initiatives in natural and cultural settings that already informally host tourists with ethnic-racial interests, for example Our Lady of the Sisterhood of Good Death, Bembé do Mercado in Santo Amaro, the Curuzu Cultural Corridor, Tide Island and Rio de Contas with their quilombo settlements, as well as the historic city of Cachoeira and others in the Bahian Recôncavo. • In the same places hosting these cultural and religious initiatives, documented evidence of tourists staying in community households, generating jobs and income, including the Oyá Institute, Capoeira Mangangá Association, Afro bloco Ilê Aiyê, and the Bogum and Ajagunã Candomblé houses of worship, among others. • Information from previous initiatives and efforts to attract African American tourists, such as the project initiated by US-based company, Avocet Travel. This context suggests that heritage tourism experiences focusing on Bahia’s African cultural matrix have developed in a rather limited fashion, and were not professionally set up as a segmented tourism product. With regard to the development of African heritage tourism “as a sustainable economic activity that can play a relevant role in generating jobs and foreign exchange as well as promoting social inclusion,” the Government of Bahia, through the Secretariat of Tourism, carried out a series of meetings, debates and seminars with communities of African descent, entities representative of Bahia’s African cultural legacy, as well as with intellectuals, anthropologists and ethnologists, researchers and scholars of what has come to be known as African ancestrality. Based on the proposals and studies, six structural action strategies were established: market, product, promotion, training, investments and operational logistics.


Craftswoman at the São Joaquim Market, in Salvador

The data that have been produced, both by the government and private sector, do not precisely measure the racial origin of tourists who visit the State of Bahia that are motivated by African heritage interests. However, despite this lack of research data, it is possible to make a preliminary qualitative projection of the profile of African American tourists and of the market generated by this type of visitor. Based on a series of empirical interviews with government advisors, workers and businesspeople active in this segment, it was possible to establish some basic parameters about the African heritage tourism market: • The target market for African heritage tourism in Bahia is mainly African American; • These visitors enter Brazil via São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, or directly to Salvador via Miami on the direct flight promoted by the state government, specifically to benefit African heritage tourism; • These tourists generally stay from four to seven days in Bahia; • Tour packages cost, on average, US$1,100; • The peak travel period for African Americans is the month of August, due


to the Good Death Festival in Cachoeira, which receives an average of 300 tourists who stay for a day in the city; • The hospitality of the Bahian people and local cultural events, as well as visual arts, leather goods, semi-precious and precious stones are these tourists’ main attractions; • Besides the subjective and identity-based links that African American tourists wish to establish, there is concern with regard to the distribution of tourism-generated income. It has been established that tourists of African descent are concerned about the participation of the Afro-Bahian community in the management of tourism-related profits. To meet the specific needs of this market, the Secretariat of Tourism and Bahiatursa are carrying out research to help orient these actions over the medium and long terms. However, using recent studies, it is possible to develop some products based on the identification of tourism circuits and itineraries, including a specific calendar with events of interest to tourists of African descent, found at the end of this publication. Based on official data from the 2000 American Census, SETUR and Bahiatursa have concentrated African heritage tourism-related investments in the main African American source markets: the cities of New York, Chicago, Detroit, Philadelphia, Houston, Baltimore and Los Angeles. Awareness of the areas with greater concentrations of African Americans is as important as the cities and regions from which flights will depart to Salvador. To this end, the following actions are being prioritized: marketing in media targeting African descendents in Brazil and the United States, participation in events and promotional advertising campaigns and the establishment of a network of overseas contacts. The implementation of these strategies has made it possible to disseminate information on the concept of African heritage tourism as a privileged niche market of cultural tourism, with the State of Bahia as the preferred destination, both in the segment as a whole, as well as specifically in this niche. Concurrently, SETUR and Bahiatursa have been actively developing professional training programs to benefit all those who participate in the tourism-related chain of production, including tourists, partners, workers and employers. This specific action targets workers in this sector who benefit from training in that it reduces their risk of becoming unemployed and provides them with a strategy to enter the workplace with a range of new skills. In order to take full advantage of the potential of this tourism segment in the State of Bahia, the African Heritage Tourism Program developed by SETUR aims to take into account a range of specific tourism-related social, historic and cultural aspects, while maintaining a focus on the economic integration of people of African descent in tourism-generated jobs and income.


Table of Contents 25

Introduction

71

Religious and Popular Festivals

31

Africans in Bahia

71

Good Death Festival

32

Main Ethnic Groups

72

Congada

33

Sudanese Civilizations

72

Lindro Amor

34

Bantu Civilizations

73

Nego Fugido

34

Islamic Civilizations

74

Zambiapunga

37

African Matrix Religions

74

Bembé do Mercado

37

Black Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods

77

African Matrix Culture

39

Candomblé Houses of Worship in Bahia

77

The Language

41

An Ecological and Animist Religion

78

Music

42

Sacred Plants

78

Drumming

43

Main Rituals

78

Samba

49

Main Ceremonies

80

Samba-reggae

51

Houses of the Saints in Bahia

80

Axé music

52

The Role of Women in Candomblé

80

Musical instruments

53

The Origins of Candomblé in Brazil

80

Drums

55

The Casa Branca Candomblé

81

Berimbau

81

Agogô

81

Capoeira

82

The Capoeira Fort

83

Afoxé

83

The Baiana do Acarajé

83

The Craft

84

Clothing

84

Public Markets

85

São Joaquim Market

House of Worship 56

Candomblé Nations in Bahia

56

Ketu-Nagô Nation

59

Ijexá Nation

59

Jeje Nation

62

Angola Nation

63

Caboclo Nation

65

The Society of Eguns

67

Religious Syncretism

68

Symbols of African Religiosity


86

Mercado Modelo

110

Ilê Aiyê Cultural Association

87

Dance

112

Carlinhos Brown and Candyall Ghetto Square

87

Maculelê

112

Muzenza

87

Samba-de-roda

113

Os Negões

88

Crafts

113

Cortejo Afro

88

Black Aesthetics

114

Filhos de Gandhy

89

African Matrix Gastronomy

114

Filhos do Congo

89

The dendê

114

Ara Ketu

89

Afro-Bahian Cuisine

116

Malê Debalê

91

Quilombo Communities

116

Capoeira Mangangá Cultural Association

91

Main Quilombos in Bahia

117

Projeto Axé

92

All Saints’ Bay

119

African Heritage Tourism in Bahia

92

Chapada Diamantina

119

Tourism Circuits

92

Dendê Coast

121

Salvador

93

Slave Rebellions

122

The Bahian Recôncavo

93

The Búzios Revolt

122

Chapada Diamantina

94

The Malês Revolt

122

Dendê Coast

95

Heroic Resistance

123

Existing and Proposed Itineraries

123

Existing Itineraries

101

African Culture and Tourism

127

Suggested Itineraries

102

Intellectuals and Interpreters of the

132

Theme-related Content for Itinerary Development

137

African Heritage Tourism Calendar

African Soul in Bahia 107

Cultural Resistance

145

Testimonials

108

Afrocentrism in School Curricula

150

References

108

Cultural Groups

108

Olodum Cultural Group



Introduction Between the 16th and 19th centuries, millions of slaves from various parts of the African coast were brought to Brazil, both through legal slave trade and as contraband. In Bahia, according to ethnologist Pierre Verger3, the slave trade can be divided into four periods. The first period, known as the Guinea cycle, took place in the second half of the 16th century and was so named due to the trade route that left from the west coast of Africa, north of the equator. Also known as Portuguese Guinea or the Malagueta Coast, as described by ethnologist Edison Carneiro, the region covers an area that today extends from Senegal in the north to Sierra Leone in the south. According to Verger, it has been calculated that between 50,000 and 100,000 Africans came to Brazil during this cycle. In Bahia, this cycle had a relatively limited impact as the estimated number of African arrivals was only around 7,000, the majority of whom belonged to Sudanese ethnic groups. The second period, known as the Angola and Congo cycle, but which also includes Africans from the east coast (Mozambique), began around 1580 and continued until the end of the 17th century. The number of Africans from this region who reached Brazil is estimated at around 600,000. In Bahia, the exact number of slaves who came from this part of the African continent is not known. However, due to the great number of slave ships that docked here during this period, it is assumed that a significant number of slaves arrived. What is known is that the majority of these people were taken to work at sugarcane mills and plantations in the Bahian Recôncavo. Besides Angolas and Congos, slaves from Mozambique also came during this cycle, all from the Bantu ethnic group. At the end of the 17th century, historic records describe a great smallpox epidemic in Angola, which led to changes in slave trade routes to Brazil. Slave 3

VERGER, Pierre. Fluxo e Refluxo do tráfico de escravos entre o Golfo do Benin e a Bahia de Todos os Santos: dos séculos XVII a XIX. Salvador: Corrupio, 2002. 25


traders’ fear of contracting the disease caused them to once again seek out slaves in regions further to the north, where today Ghana and the Guinea Gulf Coast are located. This period, called the Mina Coast cycle, lasted for two-thirds of the 18th century. From this region of the African coast, it is calculated that nearly 1.3 million slaves came to Brazil, the majority from Sudanese ethnic groups. According to Verger, the name Mina Coast refers to the dependence of Portuguese traders on São Jorge da Mina Castle, where slaves were exchanged for iron bars, gold and tobacco. The last period, the Benin Bay cycle, took place from 1770 to 1850, and included contraband trade. In this period, the strong presence of the Yoruba ethnic group is significant. This is especially true in Bahia where Dahomenians, known in Brazil as Jejes and Haussas from the interior of islamicized Sudan, and, above all, the Nagô-Yorubás, had been arriving since the latter part of the previous cycle. The urban centers in Brazil that imported the most slaves were Salvador and, then, Rio de Janeiro. Each had its own organizational system and competed against one another. The tobacco produced in the Bahian Recôncavo was a valuable commodity, which guaranteed supremacy during the first centuries of colonization. As the access of economic development shifted to the southeast after the discovery of gold in the State of Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro began to replace Bahia becoming the main center for urban growth in the 19th century. According to Boris Fausto4, the African peoples who came to Brazil can be divided into two broad ethnic groups: the Sudanese, predominantly from West Africa, Egyptian Sudan and the Guinea and Benin Gulf Coasts, and the Bantu, from equatorial and tropical Africa, the southern part of the Gulf of Guinea, Congo, Angola and Mozambique. However, it must be taken into consideration that the enslaved Africans in Brazil came from many tribes or kingdoms, each with its own culture. The Yorubas, Jejes, Tapas and Haussas, for example, were from the Sudanese group, while the Angolas, Bengalas, Monjolos and Mozambiques belonged to the Bantu ethnic group. The importance of this cultural difference cannot be underestimated, especially when considering differences in cultural influences exerted by these diverse African peoples on Brazilian life and culture. In Bahia, the strong predominance of the culture of communities from the Gulf of Benin is much more visible in the capital, Salvador, the Recôncavo and in part of the state’s coast. Elements of Yoruba culture are present in the worship of the orishas—African deities similar to those worshipped by the current inhabitants of southern Benin and southeast Nigeria—and in typical Bahian cuisine, whose dishes still bear their original names of Dahomeny and Yoruba origin, according to Verger. 4

26

FAUSTO, Boris. História da Brasil. São Paulo: Edusp, 2004.


For Verger, the strong predominance of the culture of the Yoruba peoples can be explained by two factors. First, the recent and more numerous arrivals of these peoples in Bahia. Another factor, according to the ethnologist, takes into account their high level of cultural resistance. Among the Yorubas, there were many prisoners of war from the upper echelons of society, as well as priests and priestesses aware of the value of their institutions, with strong links to the precepts of their religion. However, we must be careful to not underestimate the influence of the Bantu peoples on Bahian culture. The Bantu influence can be more easily seen in other parts of Bahia, and has greatly impacted the Portuguese language, especially in music and regional cuisine from the Bahian Recôncavo. Mixed with elements from indigenous and European cultures, the legacy brought by the diverse African ethnic groups made Bahia a magical, mystic and welcoming place. Together with the state’s natural beauty, this cultural caldron is, without a doubt, Bahia’s main tourism attraction.

Show of popular bands in Pelourinho’s Carnival, Salvador’s Historical Center

27


Several percussion instruments, tambourines, congas and shakers sold at open markets and fairs throughout Bahia

28

Within this context, this publication aims to identify and highlight the contributions these African peoples left us, and present proposals for the creation of tourism circuits and itineraries to meet the needs of visitors interested in African heritage tourism. This publication is divided into 14 chapters. After this introduction, the second chapter, Africans in Bahia, focuses on the most outstanding characteristics of the main African ethnic groups who came to Bahia. We then analyze African matrix religions in the third chapter, with a special emphasis on Candomblé and its varieties based on the origin of the ethnic groups involved. The fourth chapter is dedicated to folk and religious festivals, including the Sisterhood of Good Death Festival in Cachoeira, a city in the Bahian Recôncavo, and other folk manifestations, such as Bembé do Mercado, Congada and Zambiapunga. The fifth chapter provides an overview of African matrix culture, with a focus on language, music, capoeira, dance, crafts and the new black esthetic. The sixth chapter discusses communities formed by escaped slaves known as quilombos and the evolution these communities have undergone. In chapter seven, Slave Rebellions, we review the two main slave rebellions which took place in Bahia: the Búzios Revolt and the Malês Revolt. These two uprisings took place in Salvador’s historic district and, as such, are well-suited as the basis for the development of theme tourism itineraries. In the same vein, in the following chapter, Heroic Resistance, we highlight outstanding historic personalities of African descent in Bahia, who rebelled, fought and led movements against slavery and oppression. Chapter nine focuses on the relationship between the African cultural matrix and tourism, while in the following chapter recent cultural resistance movements are presented. Here, we highlight the work of social groups whose aim is to raise the self esteem of children, adolescents and young people of African descent by rescuing and valuing the culture of their ancestors, for example Olodum Cultural Group and Ilê Aiyê, among others. To contextualize the current mosaic of Bahian Africa-based religions, we discuss, in chapter eleven, the influence of Judeo-Christian religions. In the following two chapters, we present proposals for the creation of specific tourism circuits and itineraries for visitors interested in heritage tourism, as well as the African Heritage Calendar which provides information on Afrocentric events, ceremonies, festivals and important dates for Bahia’s communities of African descent. Finally, in the last chapter, we have included testimonials written by African Heritage tourism visitors to Bahia.




Africans in Bahia According to anthropologist Luis Nicolau Parés5, the collective identity of West African societies during the colonial period was multi-dimensional and structured on different levels: ethnic, religious, territorial, linguistic and political. On an ethnic level, group identities were based on the genetic links of family groupings that recognized a common ancestry, and on religious activities associated with the worship of specific ancestors or spiritual entities. These links were determining factors of ethnic or community identity and could be recognized by a series of marks on the face or other parts of the body of members of a specific group. The city or territory and language were also important factors of determining group identities, especially since the name of cities or territories was incorporated into the name of the inhabitants. What are now known as national “identities” were determined by political alliances and loyalties to certain monarchies. This diversity of collective identities, however, was subject to historic transformations relating to matrimonial alliances, wars, migrations, enslavement, appropriation of foreign religious worship manifestations or political changes. In many cases, the denominations referring to certain groups were created by neighboring peoples or foreign powers and only later appropriated by members of the groups so described. The imposition of these external denominations often included a plurality of originally heterogeneous groups. Thus, we must take into consideration the fact that the ethnic denominations of African peoples, as they are known today in Brazil, can refer to slave transshipment points, kingdoms, ethnicities, islands or cities that were used by slave traders to promote their own administrative interests or domination. Ethnic terms, such as Nagôs, Jejes, Angolas, Congos and Fulas, for example, were 5

PARÉS, Luis Nicolau. A Formação do Candomblé: História e Ritual da Nação Jeje na Bahia. São Paulo: Editora Unicamp, 2007.

To the side, an Angola capoeira group, in the city of Valença 31


A religious ceremony dedicated to the war god, Ogum, at a Candomblé house of worship

identities created by slave traders, and designated a range of enslaved tribes from each region of the continent.

Main ethnic groups The Africans who were enslaved and brought to Bahia were from three great civilizations: Sudanese, Bantu, and African Islamic. These civilizations extended to diverse ethnic groups that included distinct tribes that spoke the same or similar languages and professed the same religion with minimal variations. In Candomblé, these tribes are denominated as nations. According to anthropologist Vivaldo da Costa Lima6, the concept of nation in Candomblé is significant in relationship to religious formation and is used to distinguish the origin of religious rituals. Therefore, in Brazil, each African group has a set of specific rituals that determine the type of Candomblé and its origin.

COSTA LIMA, Vivaldo da. A Família-de-Santo nos Candomblés Jejes-nagô da Bahia. Um estudo de relações intragrupais. Salvador: Corrupio, 2003.

6

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Sudanese civilizations In Bahia, Sudanese civilization is largely represented by Yoruba ethnic groups, known in Brazil as Nagôs, and by the Dahomeans known as Jejes. In Candomblé, these two groups are known as the Ketu-Nagô nation and the Jeje nation. Iorubás (nagôs) The Yoruba ethnic branch extends to diverse peoples. The most well known are the Nagôs and the those originating from the Ketu kingdom, currently located in Ghana and Nigeria. The Nagô ethnic group is originally from the Egbado region near the Oyo River in Nigeria. They migrated and spread throughout various parts of the Kingdom of Dahomey, currently Benin. In Brazil, they received the generic denomination Nagô. According to Verger, the designation was given to the Yorubas by the French, who occupied the Kingdom of Dahomey during the third cycle of the slave trade. The religion they adopted is called Candomblé of the Ketu-Nagô nation. The most representative Yoruba groups in Bahia are: • Yoruba (Oyo Kingdom) • Ketu (Ketu Kingdom) • Nagô (Egba and Egbado region) • Ijexá (Ilesha Region) Dahomeans (Jejes) The term Jeje is given to several peoples who lived in the Kingdom of Dahomey, today known as the Republic of Benin. They are also known as Dahomeans. Like the NagôYorubas, the Jeje people are originally from the Sudanese ethnic branch predominant in western Africa. They were great conquerors and much feared by the people they dominated. Their fame as relentless warriors was so widespread that according to anthropologist Vivaldo da Costa Lima, it distorted the meaning of the Yoruba word djeje (Jeje). Originally, the term meant foreigner, outsider, stranger, but it took on a pejorative connotation meaning “enemy” on the part of those they conquered. According to the anthropologist, the term was brought to Brazil by the Nagôs who, when they saw a Dahomean, would yell, “Pou okan, djedje hum wa!” (Look the Jejes are arriving!). This version is contested by anthropologist Luis Nicolau Parés, who defends that the term Jeje originates from the term gbe, utilized to designate the vocabulary shared by people who speak languages from the northern regions of the African continent. According to him, the term appears commonly in documents in Nigeria and Benin. However, in regards to the name, the Dahomeny group, and by extension the religion they practiced, is known in Brazil as the Jeje nation. The most representative of the Jeje (Dahomean) groups in Bahia are: • Fon (southern region of Kingdom of Dahomey) • Ewê (the region around the Kingdom of Dahomey) • Fanti (coastal region, today southern Ghana) • Ashanti (Ashanti region, located within modern day Ghana) 33


Bantu Civilizations The Africans of Bantu origin arrived in Bahia from the Kingdom of Congo, the region that today includes Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo or ex-Zaire, as well as the east coast of Africa, specifically the region where Mozambique is now located. They were easily recognized by their different ways of speaking, singing and playing the drums. In Bahia, they were called Angolas and their religion, the Angola-Congo nation. The most representative of the Bantu peoples in Bahia are: • Angola (Ambundas, Cassanges and Bangalas, Luanda region) • Congo (Kicongos, northern region of Angola and Congo) • Benguelas (the Province of Benguela, in Angola) • Cabinda (the enclave of Cabinda, between Angola and Congo) • Mozambiques (Macuas and Angicos, ethnicities from Mozambique)

Islamic Civilizations In lesser numbers, the Africans from these civilizations who arrived in Bahia were considered to have a higher cultural level. Most knew how to read and write, and consequently were able to disseminate their Islamic faith. In Bahia, they were known as Malês, although the term was used to designate any African Muslim. According to Verger, the term has its origin in the Yoruba expression imale, which means Islam or Muslim. They were responsible for one of the main Bahian slave rebellions of the 19th century, the Malês Revolt. Originally from the region of Sudan, Ivory Coast and Chad, these Africans had taken over Yoruba territory when they were enslaved. The most representative Islamic groups in Bahia are: • Haussa (Sahel region, northern Nigeria and southeast Niger) • Fula (or Falani, northern region of Nigeria) • Mandinga (northern Guinea-Bissau) • Tapa (or Nupes, western Niger)

Vegetable merchant at Sao Joaquim Market

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African Matrix Religions African matrix religions have suffered all manner of discrimination and persecution, even by the police. In Brazil, they integrated into Catholicism, widening and creating new ways of worshipping their deities, as observed by Lody7. Today, nine African matrix religions exist in Brazil, and three of them can be found in Bahia: Candomblé, Umbanda and Jarê. The most well known of these is, without a doubt, Candomblé. The first religious manifestations of Africans in Bahia were called Calundu. According to ethnolinguist Yeda Pessoa de Castro8, the vocabulary of the Bantu language was recorded in the 17th century, in poetry by Gregorio de Matos. Originally, it meant “to follow a commandment and worship a god by invoking spirits through music and dance”. In Brazil, and especially in Bahia, as stated by Câmara Cascudo9, the word acquired a double meaning. One referred to an ancestral spirit of Africans of Bantu origin, known as kialundu, the other, to the peculiar aspect of a scowling facial expression or the behavior of those in trance, who were possessed by the deities. This is why, the expression, “in calundu” or “of calundu” initially meant the sadness of the slaves and subsequently, the state or condition of being angry, aggressive or ill tempered.

Black Brotherhoods and Sisterhoods Africans sought to practice their faith in several ways, given the impossibility of manifesting their religions in public. While some opted for hidden or camouflaged worship, an example of which would be what was called calandu, others chose to worship black saints from the Catholic Church. LODY, Raul. Atlas Afro-brasileiro: Cultura Popular. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006. CASTRO, Yeda Pessoa de, Falares Africanos na Bahia - um vocabulário afro-brasileiro. Rio de Janeiro: Academia Brasileira de Letras / TopBooks, 2001. 9 CASCUDO, Luís da Câmara – Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro, São Paulo: Global, 2001. 7 8

Celebrations of Baiana’s Day in the Pelourinho, Salvador, in front of the Church of Our Lady of the Blacks 37


It was in this context that several religious practices and devotions were created, such as those dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary or Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks, São Benedito, Santa Efigênia, São Elesbão, Santo Antônio of Catagirona, Our Lady of Good Death, Our Lord of the Martyrs, Good Jesus of Patience, Lord of the Cross and the Lord of Redemption. These resulted in the founding of associations called brotherhoods. According to historian João Reis10, they represented a space of relative autonomy for Africans, in which the members constructed significant social identities through festivals, assemblies, elections, funerals, masses and mutual assistance, in this new land, in which the realities and perspectives for the future were uncertain. It represented a sort of ritual family, in which Africans, transplanted from their homelands to Brazil, lived and died in solidarity. Idealized by whites, particularly the Jesuits, as a strategy to evangelize and consequently domesticate the Africans. However, these associations actually served to introduce elements of African religious practices into the religion of their masters. Over time, they became instruments of collective identity and solidarity. Ironically, the brotherhoods produced many written documents, and in this way, as referred to by Reis, men and women from oral cultures constructed their identities, codified discourse about their differences and defended themselves against the arrogance of whites. In synthesis, they left testimony of notable cultural resistance, re-creating, within these associations, their African ethnic identities. These types of religious associations had existed in Portugal since the 8th century and were divided into brotherhoods and third orders. The latter were differentiated from the former by their association to religious orders such as Franciscans, Dominicans and Carmelites. In Brazil, their formation began starting in 1586, thanks to the Jesuits who founded several rosary-related brotherhoods in the sugarcane mills. As stated by Lody, the first brotherhoods consisted exclusively of Africans from Angola. In Bahia, the first brotherhood was that of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks, founded in Salvador in 1685. Subsequently, in the 18th century, the Lord of the Cross, the Lord of Redemption and São Benedito Brotherhoods were created in 1721, 1752 and 1777, respectively. Yet until today, the most well known are the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks, the Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death and the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Solitude, Protector of Invalids (Society for the Protection of Invalids).

REIS, João José. Identidade e diversidade étnicas nas irmandades negras no tempo da escravidão. Revista Tempo, Rio de Janeiro, vol. 2, n°. 3, 1996, p. 7-33. 10

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Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks Founded in 1685, the Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks was confirmed at Sé Cathedral that same year. At the beginning of the 18th century, between 1703 and 1704, members of the congregation began construction of a chapel on land donated by the Portuguese government, at the Carmo Gate, where the Pelourinho is currently located. Yet, this chapel was only finished in 1781. During the 19th century, the structure was restored on several occasions. Today, it represents one of the principal symbols of cultural resistance of Bahians of African descent. The brotherhood was so prestigious that it was elevated to the category of third order. The participation of African women in these associations was of fundamental importance. According to Reis, they occupied the position of judges, helpers to those in need, alms collectors, assistants and were even responsible for organizing the brotherhoods’ annual festivals.

Sisterhood of Good Death In several black associations, for example, that of the Rosary of Black Men, there was a table of women and one of men. However, as time passed, women started to found sisterhoods that were exclusively female, such as the Yoruba Sisterhood of Good Death, headquartered at Barroquinha Church, in downtown Salvador, which was later transferred to the Municipality of Cachoeira. Founded almost 150 years ago, its objective was to buy slaves their freedom. When it moved to Cachoeira, the sisterhood changed its strategy and besides continuing to free slaves through legal means, it also began to help them run away to free zones outside the city, such as Quilombo do Malaquias, in Terra Vermelha.

Society for the Protection of Invalids The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Solitude, Protector of Invalids, provided the ideological framework for the foundation of the policies of 19th century black brotherhoods. According to Verger, this brotherhood was founded in 1832, with the primary objective of purchasing the freedom of slaves, by Manoel Victor Serra, a slave whose owner allowed him to circulate within the city. Today it is known as the Society for the Protection of Invalids. The association no longer maintains the same objective, yet is still headquartered at the same address where it was founded, on Terreiro de Jesus Square, number 17, São Francisco Cross.

Candomblé in Bahia Originating from the Bantu term kandobile, which means place of worship and prayer, as per anthropologist Raul Lody11, Candomblé is one of the nine African 11

LODY, Raul. Atlas Afro-brasileiro: Cultura Popular. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006. 39


The Ilê Asé Òpó Aganjú Candomblé House of Worship, in Lauro de Freitas

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matrix religions that still exist in Brazil. In Bahia, it is the most common. Its roots stem, however, from several parts of Africa, and that is why the religion is expressed in different ways, depending on the dominant ethnic model. The different rituals and names of the ceremonies, as previously mentioned, refer to Candomblé nations. Intellectuals use the criteria of the language spoken by its practitioners to group or identify a nation to which a Candomblé pertains. This includes religious terms, names of the foods, attire or deities, the songs and rituals, that indicate the Candomblé’s origin. In Bahia, Candomblé is the religion professed and practiced by three nations: Ketu/Nagô (Yoruba); Angola/Congo (Bantu) and Jeje (Fon/Ewê), as well as Caboclo Candomblé, considered Candomblé of Brazilian origin as it worships indigenous divinities. Each has its own characteristics that differentiate it from others. Regardless of nation of origin, Candomblé will always be based on nature and the elements of earth, fire, water and air. It contains a rich collection of knowledge ranging from gastronomy to botany, including crafts, dance, music and language, as well as other symbols that constitute this system of faith, devotion and expressions of the sacred, as inferred by Lody. Candomblé should not be confused with Umbanda, Macumba or other AfroBrazilian religions, nor with similar African-American religions from other countries, such as Haitian Voodoo, Cuban Santería or Obeah in Trinidad and Tobago.


An Animist and Ecological Religion The anima (soul) of nature is the basis of Candomblé. Therefore, it is considered an animist as well as ecological religion. The religion’s objective is equilibrium between human beings and the divinities. The space between the material world (aiyê) and the spiritual world (orum) is occupied by the deities (orishas/inquices/voduns). Sociologist Reginaldo Prandi12 infers that to arrive at the version currently practiced today, the religion while still in Africa evolved in three stages. First, the elements and natural manifestations were granted spiritual life. Therefore, a simple rock, the sun, and thunder were considered to possess an animus (spirit) giving them movement and mood. The second was the resulting association of these elements to abilities and to daily activities of the ethnic group, which are: planting, cultivating and harvesting (associated with earth, water and sun); pottery (associated with earth, water and fire); knowledge of roots and medicinal plants (in reference to the forest, palms and leaves); fabrication of metal artifacts (in reference to the soil, rocks and fire); location of springs, fishing and navigation (associated with water) and the hunting of animals (a reference to the forest). In this stage, the animus acquires abilities related to its identifying element and this gave rise to rituals that celebrate or reproduce planting, hunting, storms, the handling of herbs, the use of water, protection during a storm and the mastery of fire and metals, among others. In the third stage, there is a fusion between divinities and ancestors that stood out in their tribes, such as patriarchs, hunters, kings, potters, diviners, priests, messengers, blacksmiths, fishermen and healers. These human beings then merged with orishas associated with their specific craft or wisdom. Upon arrival to Brazil, this complex process was continually observed in ritual and oral tradition. Within this context, the deities (orishas/inquices/voduns) became complex personalities, which allowed for multiple classifications according to genealogy, color, gender, days of worship and ritualistic preferences. However, the main identity of the divinities is the bond each has with nature, which demonstrates that the first stage of the religion has prevailed over the others. With the passing of time, this animist view has not only continued but has become more complex and has consolidated, in this manner, the bond between religion and nature. Altogether, the orishas/inquices/voduns constitute a mystic version of biodiversity. Candomblé followers deem that to preserve nature is to preserve the religion, which in turn is the way to preserve life. According to Verger, in the Ketu-Nagô Candomblé nation, there is a proverb that says: kosi ewé, kosi orisa, that is, without plants there is no life. According to this ethnologist, this is an ecological, therapeutic and ethical principle, because it appeals to humanity’s responsibility to the environment. The link between Candomblé and nature is evident in the rituals, as each 12

PRANDI, Reginaldo. Mitologia dos Orixás. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007. 41


orisha/inquice/vodun requires the adequate elements and foods to play his/her role in the cosmos. Thus, Candomblé developed its own liturgical, culinary and therapeutic ministrations, including the cultivation of plants and herbs, handling of grains, food preparation, hygiene in the ritual use of animals, elaboration of cures and temple cleansing, among others. Candomblé in Bahia is monotheistic, even though some argue that the ceremonies are directed to several gods. For the Ketu-Nagô nation, the supreme god is Olorum, while for the Bantus it is Zambi, and for the Jejes, Mawu. The orishas/inquices/voduns receive regular tribute with offerings, chants, dances and special attire. The orishas of the Yoruba mythology were created by Olorum, the voduns of the Fon mythology by Mawu, the supreme God of the Fon. The inquices of Bantu mythology were created by Zambi /Zambiapongo, the supreme god and creator. The orishas/inquinces/voduns have individual personalities, unique abilities, ritual preferences, and a connection to specific natural phenomena. Each person is chosen at birth by one or more orisha(s)/inquice(s)/vodun(s), identified by the high priestess or priest of the Candomblé house of worship to which the follower belongs. Candomblé temples are called houses, fields or terreiros depending on the nation. They can also be called barracão or by the translation of the word “house” in the each nation’s language. In Yoruba, terreiro is egbe and house is ilê. The majority of the names of Candomblé houses begins with Ilê Axé meaning “house of axé,” which in turn can be translated as energy, power, force of nature or power of accomplishing something via supernatural forces. For the Jejes, house is kwe, whereas Angola practitioners call it inso or cazuá.

Sacred Plants The relationship of plants and herbs to Candomblé is as sacred as the devotion of its followers to the deities. Since the orishas, inquices and voduns are living representations of the forces that govern nature, the plants represented by each one, in a liturgical context, are consequently associated to those elements. For Candomblé followers, plants, called ewê in Yoruba, are classified into four dimensions, directly related to the four elements: ewê afeefe (plants of air or wind); ewê inon (plants of fire), ewê omi (plants of water); and the ilê or ewê igbo (plants of the earth). However, other classifications are made to determine if a plant is positive or negative, male or female, right or left. In the Jeje-Nagô worldview, for example, right/male/positive are opposites of left/female/negative13. Therefore, male is positive and is positioned to the right, while female is negative and located to the left. In this context, the compartments that contain the ewé inón (plants of fire) and ewé afééfé (plants of air) are associated with the masculine, elements that 13

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VERGER, Pierre. Ewe – O uso das plantas na sociedade iorubá. Salvador, Corrupio, 1995.


fertilize, while the ewé omi (plants of water) and the ewé ilè (plants of the earth) are linked to the feminine, elements that are fertilized. The objective of these binary classifications is to attain natural equilibrium. In the pantheon of African Matrix religions, we generally find the orishas Exu and Xangô in the fire compartment, while Ogum, Oxóssi, Ossain and Obaluayê are linked to the earth element. Yemanjá, Oxum, Obá and Naná are divinities associated with water and Oxalá and Oyá, with air. AThe sacred plants and herbs are used in liturgical rituals, to cure illnesses, as aphrodisiacs, to bring good luck or to break a bad spell and to ward off the evil eye, among other uses.

Iaô, Son of Oxalá and ritual of Closing a Candomblé House

Main Rituals Candomblé is characterized by four stages as observed by Edison Carneiro14: possession by the divinity; the personal character of the divinity; the oracle and the messenger; and the areas and types. The house of worship is called a terreiro, led by a high priestess or priest, literally called mother or father of-the-saints, who acts as the main messenger of the gods, with access to privileged information on the past or future of their spiritual children. Her/his principal mission is to maintain the worship of the deities called orishas/inquices/voduns, to which the houses are dedicated, and to provide advice to the children-of-the-saints. 14

CARNEIRO, Edison. Candomblés da Bahia. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1978. 43


Feijoada Black Bean Stew for Ogum at a Candomblé House

For Roger Bastide, a researcher of Keto-Nagô Candomblé nation, the central point of the public ceremony is the trance or, as he called it, the crisis of possession. Even though it has received special attention from researchers and non-initiates, the trance and the ritual presented in public ceremonies are only a small part of Candomblé life. According to this researcher, the religion influences and controls all of the existence of it followers, who in turn become members of a world with a different mindset. In Ketu-Nagô Candomblé the rituals are dedicated to a specific deity. Ceremonies are held in honor of a given deity although ritually similar to those for other entities. Generally, the most traditional ceremonies begin in the morning and include several elements, ranging from animal sacrifice to trancestate rituals that extend into the night15. Since the Ketu-Nagô nation is the most widespread in Bahia, we will limit ourselves to the description of the main rituals and ceremonies of this type of Candomblé, emphasizing the fact that slight variations occur in the rituals and ceremonies of other nations, each with its own peculiarity.

Animal Sacrifice This part of the ceremony, as registered by Bastide, is performed in the morning and only members of the house can participate. It is led by the axogun, who in the religious hierarchy is the man responsible for this ritual. The animal may

15

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BASTIDE, Roger. O Candomblé da Bahia: rito nagô. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2001


have two or four legs, as identified in Candomblé houses, generally hens, doves, goats and sheep. The sex of the scarified animal is the same as the deity that receives the spilt blood. The ways of sacrificing the animal and the instruments used vary according to the nation or divinity being honored. These ceremonies, in reality, involve the sacrifice of two animals. The first sacrifice is always dedicated to Exu, the messenger, who acts as the intermediary between the gods and mortals, as he has the gift of speaking the language of both. Afterwards, the second animal is scarified and offered to the divinity being venerated.

Offerings Ritual offerings take place in the afternoon. The sacrificed animal is given to the iabassê, the person in charge of the kitchen, who prepares the preferred foods for the orisha/inquice/vodun being honored and for the other gods that will be called forth throughout the ceremony. The iabassê will also provide nourishment to the sacred stones. The rest of the food is eaten by the followers and by the noninitiated individuals who attend the evening ceremony.

Preparation of Offerings at São Joaquim Market, in Salvador

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Padê for Exu The public ceremony begins at sunset and continues throughout the night. It is obligatory to begin with the padê for Exu, so that he will keep his distance and not disturb the ritual. The term dispatch, which, in Candomblé, means to send someone or something away, comes from this ritual, performed at the site of the padê. The padê is celebrated by two of the oldest female Candomblé initiates called the dagã and sidagã and coordinated by the mother or father of-the-saints, and helped by the iatebexê, one of the female initiates who does not enter into trance, has completed the seven-year obligation and has been given the responsibility of caring for a divinity. To the sound of chants sung in an African tongue, the ceremony takes place before a glass of water and a plate of food for Exu. The items used are then placed at a crossroad, one of this divinity’s favorite places. The ritual is completed with a prayer for the dead or for the Candomblé ancestors.

Call of the Gods The celebration that honors the divinity begins with the playing of drums, which, as Exu, also act as intermediaries between humans and the gods. Three drums are used in Candomblé ceremonies, and the variations of drumming styles and names of the drums depend on the nation of origin. In the nations of Sudanese origin, they are played with sticks called aguidavis. The objective of the drumming is always the same: calling for the deities to come from Africa to Brazil. When the deities take a long time to manifest, the mother-of-the-saints rings the adja (bell with one, two, or more chimes) next to the ear of the initiate that is dancing in the center of the room.

Preliminary Dances The preliminary dances and the drumming and chanting are to call down the gods. In an order that varies according to the origin of the Candomblé, the gods are called upon to participate. In Ketu-Nagô nation Candomblé, the order, from Exu to Oxalá, the highest orisha, is called xirê, which means to play in the Yoruba language. At least three chants are intoned in honor of each orisha. The chants and dances reproduce episodes from the stories of the gods. According to Bastide, they are myth fragments that evoke the gods. The story of the myth should be performed simultaneously as it is sung to obtain maximum “evocative power.” In this way, devotees believe the gods will not delay in “mounting their horses,” an analogy referring to the moment when the ancestral spirits are incorporated, answering the call of their spiritual children. QWhen trance is delayed, the drums play the adarrum rhythm, that does not call only one divinity, but rather all at the same time. This rhythm is not accompanied by chants and as the speed of the drumming steadily increases, the muscles, bodies and heads of the female and male initiates are “opened” so that the divinity can incorporate. 46


To the side, Olubajé Ceremony at a Candomblé House of Worship

Trance Once possession has occurred, the ekedes remove from the initiate in trance clothing not consistent with the religious celebration. They also remove the shoes. According to Bastide, this is a highly symbolic gesture, because its purpose is to strip individuals of their modern identities, so they can return to their ancestral African state of being. Shoes played an important role in the life of Africans that were enslaved and brought to the Americas, and for a long time symbolized a sign of their freedom. When slaves were manumitted, they immediately tried to buy shoes in an effort to achieve equality with whites. As they were used to walking barefoot, they often had great difficulty in adapting to shoes, which ended up slung around their necks by the shoelaces, for all to see. The intensity of the trance varies according to circumstances, the temperament of the individuals and the nature of the god that has possessed them. If this process is very violent, the priest or priestess places his or her hand on the neck of the “horse” to calm him or her down. The ekedes then help them leave the ceremony room to go to the peji (room where the material representations of the orishas, called ibas are kept). From then on, the trance state becomes milder and the believer is dressed in liturgical attire with the symbolic objects of the divinity. 47


Presentation of the Orisha Dances

Dance of the Gods While the possessed believer is prepared in the peji, the celebration is interrupted for a few moments. During that time, visitors might be offered something to eat. When the initiates return to the main room, the dances are modified, even though the rhythm of the ceremony remains the same, with new evocations to the same divinities and in the same order. The incorporated divinity greets the drums and the high priest or priestess of the house. The divinity dances and at times reveals the future or counsels his/her spiritual children. At this point, one can easily perceive the desired communion of humans and their gods.

Coming Out and Communion Rituals The trance only ends when the drums introduce the anunlo chants, whose objective is to send the divinities away. They are in reverse order of the invocations, starting with the divinities that were called last and ending with the ones that were called first. The last chant takes place in the peji, to reaffirm the mystical force of the items kept there. Contrary to the previous chants, the last song maintains the same order as the xirê. The final ritual is that of communion when Candomblé initiates offer those present the divinities’ sacred foods.16 16

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As informações sobre os rituais estão contidas em BASTIDE, 2001.


Main Ceremonies Initiation Initiation is a rite of passage, a symbolic death that transforms an everyday person into an instrument of an orisha, who is then called and elegun or iaô, an initiate who can enter into a trance and who lends his/her body so that, for a period hours or days, an orisha can again live among mortals. The initiate passes through complex rituals of isolation and segregation, absolute silence, ritual head-shaving, animal sacrifice, food offerings, small cuts (healing) to insert magic powders in his/her body (sacred scars that define future priests), that symbolize a return to the uterus of Mother Earth where there is a rebirth not as a common person, but rather as an instrument of an orisha, through whose mouth and body the orisha will speak and manifest itself, increasing his/her knowledge, and that of all other believers.

The Waters of Oxalá The Waters of Oxalá is an annual celebration in honor of this deity. Candomblé initiates, dressed in white and in silence, carry pots and jugs as they leave the Candomblé house in a procession led by the high priestess playing her ajá. The ceremony is an act of reverence, a plea for forgiveness for the injustices against Oxalá that took place in the Kingdom of his son Xangô, as told in legend. Outside the terreiro, initiates parade through city streets. In Salvador, the

Son of Oxalá, Ceremony in a Candomblé House 49


procession often goes to Bonfim Church. The celebrations begin with a variety of rituals the previous year and reach their peak in the month of January, when the church steps are symbolically cleansed in homage to Father Oxalá. The event is called the “Washing of Bonfim.”

Ipeté for Oxum Ipeté or peté is the name of Oxum’s favorite dish. The same name is used for the annual celebration in honor of Oxum at many Candomblé houses throughout Brazil. The celebration starts at five in the afternoon, with the peté procession. All the daughters of the house come out of the house of Oxum, each carrying a basket. Some baskets have peté with plates and cutlery while others contain adun and eko. Others carry baskets with flowers or trays with a range of gifts. They sing and dance in ijexá to the sound of fireworks. Then the xirê begins with the oldest Oxum dancing. The others dance only when the oldest Oxum sits down again. The celebration goes on until midnight, when it finishes with the regular circle dance to greet Oduduá, asking for peace, health and spiritual tranquility for all the followers and visitors of the Axé House, in the hopes that all will be united again the following year to pay homage to the orishas.

Axexê Son of Oxalá and his Opaxorô Staff

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This ceremony is held after a funeral ritual or burial of a Candomblé initiate. It is called the last obligation. This ritual is special, unique and complex because it undoes what was carried out during the person’s initiation. It is similar to the initiation process, called sacralization, but in reverse order. Therefore, it is also called de-sacralization because it liberates the protector orisha from the person’s body. The high priest or priestess scrapes the top of the cranium of the dead person and removes the oxu, a conical artifact made from an animal substance and placed on the head of the novice during the initiation ceremony, together with all the powders placed there during initiation. Then an egg is broken, a ritual obi fruit, from an African palm now grown in Bahia, is offered and painted with efun, a ritual name given to a white clay used in the initiation ceremony, with waji, a liturgical name given to the color dark blue and other tones. Then, a new oxu is put into place. A dove is sacrificed and the blood that is spilled is collected with a piece of cotton. Some of the objects are wrapped in a white cloth and placed in the grave while others are taken to start the axexê ritual. All of the individual’s personal items used for sacrifice and obligations such as clothing, necklaces, etc. are gathered and an oracle consultation using the cowry shells is performed to see what is to be done with the objects. If the orisha that is consulted indicates that the items are to go to someone, they are washed with sacred water and given to the heir or heirs revealed by the oracle. In a situation where a negative response arises, the items are separated and placed in a bundle to be taken and left at the location indicated by the oracle.


Olubajé This is a ritual specific to the orisha Obaluayê, held at Candomblé houses of worship to prolong life and bring health to all the spiritual children and visitors. At the closing of the ritual, a minimum of nine delicacies of African origin, called “food of the saints” is offered to Obaluayê. The food is served in a leaf called ewê ilará, popularly known as mamona assassina, a highly poisonous plant that symbolizes death, iku.

Sassayin Sassayin or Sasanha is the name of the ritual in Candomblé to take the vital energy from plants and to extract their sap, which is used to purify and nourish the sacred objects and the bodies of the initiates to reach a state of equilibrium and renew energy. The act includes chants and prayers for the sacred plants. Each plant has a specific chant and is known by its ewé or African name.

Houses of the Saints in Bahia Although the most common in Bahia are Ketu/Nagô, two other nations rigorously maintain their original rituals, despite the first often being considered a model. Terreiro Casa Branca from the Ketu/Nagô nation was the first Candomblé house of worship officially founded in Brazil. In Salvador, a study published in 2008 by the Center of Afro-Oriental Studies (CEAO), part of the Federal University of Bahia, and the Municipal Secretariat of Reparations, mapped Candomblé houses throughout Salvador and identified a total of 1,410 terreiros in the city. Of this total 57.8% identified themselves as pertaining to the Ketu-Nagô nation, while 24.2% said they belonged to the Angola nation and 2.1 % as Jeje. The Ijexá Candomblé nation, a variant of Ketu-Nagô, was identified in 1.3% of the houses. The rest of the houses professed a mix of the four other nations. Most Candomblé houses in Salvador are led by black women and are predominantly ruled by female orishas. Oxum is the reigning or summit orisha in 30% (186 houses) while the second is Iansã (130 houses). The proliferation of Candomblé houses in the city, according to the study, took place mainly in the 1980s, a direct result of decree No. 25,095, dated January 15, 1976, which exempted Candomblé houses from acquiring a license from the Gaming and Customs Authority. Another factor that contributed to the growth of the number of houses, according to the CEAO study, was the Second Conference on Orisha Tradition and Culture that took place in Salvador in July 1983. The study concluded that these two factors diminished prejudices that surrounded the religion which had historically suffered all manner of persecution.

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The Role of Women in Bahian Candomblé

Festival in Honor of Obaluayê

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One of the most important characteristics of the Africa-based religions in Bahia was, and still is, the striking presence of female leadership. The powerful presence of women in Candomblé houses of Bahia is expressed in the role of the mother that nurtures the orishas and Candomblé initiates, attaining an importance not found in similar circumstances in places like Cuba or Rio de Janeiro. Even though illustrious researchers such as Pierre Verger do not agree with this vision, women predominate numerically, representing 68% of the CEAO study. What the French ethnographer considers an apparent leadership role, due to the grandiosity and splendor of the women’s sacred attire, has been an object of study since 1947. At the time Columbia University sociologist Ruth Landes wrote the book “City of Women,” she raised the question: “Will the United States believe that there exists a city where women love men, are secure and comfortable with them without fearing them?” Landes defined terreiro as “a matriarchal temple where men, though necessary, are mere spectators” and she even went as far as to affirm that men could only reach more important positions by “exalting their feminine side”. Even though her studies did not go into further depth on this subject, Landes opened the path to gender research, which considers Candomblé among the most interesting fields of study. Other researchers, in more recent times, such as the Italian anthropologist and photographer Patrizia Giancotti, continued this task, particularly trying to verify and explain the reason for this Bahian particularity. To her, women were the only ones responsible for the establishment of African religions in Brazil during slavery. While men were forced to work in sugarcane fields and plantations, women had access to the cities, they lived in their employers’ homes, maintained family relationships, were cooks and sold acarajé and other delicacies on the streets. One of these women was the founder of the first Candomblé house, Iyá Nassó. While considered a slave in Brazil, in Africa she was the holy high priestess of the king of Oyo for the people from Dahomey-Benin. Around 1830, Iyá Nassó seated the first axé and on this cornerstone, the Casa Branca line was founded. Besides being able to count on female figures of great charisma, already well known by members of the slave community as spiritual leaders, according to the researcher, a more practical reason aided women in becoming leaders of Candomblé houses. Female slaves had a lower commercial value than males on the slave market. An 1871 law allowed slaves to buy their own manumission at the same price that the masters had paid for them. Women were able to free themselves from captivity sooner and in greater numbers than the men. As Giancotti observed, this is certainly the only time that the devaluing of


women contributed to their freedom. Being in the city, with access to money obtained from the sale of foods, they were able to buy their freedom and open the first Candomblé houses. For the Italian anthropologist, if today the situation has not changed and women are still leading the terreiros of Bahia, it is because this process meets the precise needs of the Bahian community. Being an iyalorixá, mother-of-the-saints or high priestess in Bahia, besides brining prestige within the community, is also an opportunity for social advancement, based on the particular capacities of women. Candomblé houses are places for women to meet, exchange views and help each other. They are places centered around traditionally female activities such as food preparation, where the typical role of women extends beyond the kitchen to become a means of communicating with the divine.

Mãe Wilma being dressed by her spiritual daughters

The Origins of Candomblé in Brazil Established at the end of the 18th century or beginning of the 19th century behind Barroquinha Church, Casa Branca was the first great Candomblé house in Bahia and Brazil. Its origins date back to the first Brazilian worship of Oxóssi 53


Caboclo Guarany de Oxóssi House of Worship, in the Municipality of Cachoeira, Bahian Recôncavo

established by the African free slave and high priestess Iyá Adetá, as registered by anthropologist Renato da Silveira17. The official founding of the terreiro only took place in 1807, when Africans and Brazilian-born people of African descent from the Martyrs Brotherhood decided to rent the land behind the church to create a space to worship orishas, led by Iyá Akalá. But the Candomblé religion, as it is known today, was only consolidated many years later by the iyalorixá Iyá Nassô, who came from Africa at the very beginning of the 19th century, with the specific mission of organizing Candomblé. With two other women from the Mina Coast, of whom only the African names are known, Adetá (Iyá Detá) and Iyá Kalá, Iyá Nassô brought together the African societies that operated extra-officially and restructured an important liturgical and political space, attracting important individuals from the community who were given titles of recognition. According to Silveira, this led to the conception of a Candomblé house associated with secret civil organizations and brotherhoods. 17

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SILVEIRA, Renato da. O Candomblé da Barroquinha: processo de constituição do primeiro terreiro de ketu. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006.


The Barroquinha Candomblé functioned officially until 1850 when governor Francisco Gonçalves Martins began to urbanize the neighborhood. However, according to the aforementioned anthropologist, this urbanization was merely an excuse to promote an “ethnic cleansing,” backed by the government of Gonçalves Martins, who gained notoriety for having been the police chief who put down the Malês Revolt. Invaded, profaned and evicted from Barroquinha, the Casa Branca Candomblé House was moved 1855 to the neighborhood of Engenho Velho de Brotas, on the old road to Rio Vermelho, currently known as Avenida Vasco da Gama.

The Casa Branca Candomblé House of Worship The Barronquinha Candomblé or the Casa Branca Terreiro gave rise to the three most famous Ketu-Nagô Candomblé houses of worship in Bahia. With the death of Iyá Nassô, the leadership of the Candomblé house went to the daughter of one of the three founders, known as Marcelina, who in turn had two daughters, Maria Júlia Conceição and Maria Júlia Figueiredo. When Marcelina died, both daughters wanted to be leader of the terreiro. Maria Júlia Figueiredo took over as she was already the second in command of the Candomblé house and enjoyed great prestige with both members and visitors. The other Maria Júlia, however, left the community and rented some land in the neighborhood of Rio Vermelho and there she founded along with other dissidents Ilê Axê Omim Iyá Massê, currently known as Terreiro do Gantois, so-called because the original owner of the property was French. Legend has it that Maria Júlia Conceição took with her the sacred axés from Engenho Velho, making it therefore the legitimate heir of the Barroquinha Candomblé. Gantois prospered and became internationally known under the leadership of Mãe Pulquéria, daughter of Maria Júlia Conceição and aunt of Maria Escolástica Conceição Nazaré, Mãe Menininha of Gantois, the most illustrious iyalorixá in Bahia. With the death of Maria Júlia Figueiredo, Mãe Sussu (Ursulina) became the leader. A new dispute arose for the command of Ilê Iyá Nassô when Mãe Sussu died. The conflict revolved around Ti’Joaquim, a Bahian babalorixá, living in the City of Recife and was led by Aninha, who wanted Ti’Joaquim to lead the house. However, the opposing faction prevailed and Tia Massi (Maximiana Maria da Conceição) assumed the role of high priestess. The defeated faction led by Aninha left the house and founded an independent Candomblé, Ilê Axê Opó Afonjá, under the direction of Ti’Joaquim. When he died the leadership of the house went to Aninha (Eugênia Ana Santos) who ran the house until 1938. Today Opó Afonjá is led by the famous high priestess Stella de Oxóssi. The leaders of Ilê Maroialaji also came from the Casa Branca Candomblé18. Now known as Terreiro Alaketu, the current leader is the renowned priestess Olga de Alaketu. 18

SILVEIRA, Renato da. O candomblé da Barroquinha: processo de constituição do primeiro terreiro baiano de ketu. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006. 55


Candomblé Nations in Bahia The primary difference among Candomblé nations is related to the deities and the objects worshiped. Ketu/Nagô nation practitioners worship orishas. Those from the Angola-Congo nation call their gods inkinsses or inquices. While those of the Jeje nation worship voduns. The difference regarding these divinities however is a controversial issue. Some scholars defend the idea that the gods of each nation have different characteristics making it impossible to match them. For other scholars, however, there is no difference except for the distinct names used by each nation. Another difference is the variety of language/dialect used by each nation. The followers of the Angola-Congo nation sing in a mixture of Kimbundo and Kikongo, the only two languages of Bantu origin that have survived in Brazil. The followers of Ketu/Nago sing in Yoruba while Jeje nation followers sing in the Ewê language. The nations are also distinguishable by the rhythm of the drums, by the names each nation gives to these instruments, and also by how they are played. Within the Angola-Congo nation, however, a great variety of rhythms exists. Some high priests and priestesses say that there are three rhythms: congo de ouro, barravento and cabula (also called angola munjolo). Others say there are four rhythmic styles: cabula, barravento, rebate and arrebate, all played with the hands. In the two nations of Sudanese origin the rhythms are: ijexá, igbin, aguerê, bravum, opanijé, alujá, adahun and avunha, among others. The denominations of the drums for the Jejes and Ketu/Nagô are: rum (big), rumpi (medium) and lé (small). The rum has a low register; the rumpi, a medium register; and the lé a sharp register. In the two Sudanese nations, the drums are played with the help of sticks (called aguidavis). The Angolas generically call their drums ngoma, drum in Kimbundo. Yet, they distinguish the size of the instrument using the names: ngoma txina (big); ngoma mukundu (medium) and ngoma kasumbi (small). In Ketu/Nagô nation Candomblé houses, the drum players are called ogans alabês. In the Jeje nation, they are known as runtôs, while those from the Angola-Congo nation go by the name xicaringomes. In Ketu-Nagô, the ritual of invoking the orishas is called xirê (to play a game). In the Angola nation this ritual is called jamberesu.

Ketu-Nagô Nation In Yoruba mythology the supreme god is Olorum, also called Olodumaré. As the creator of all things, he does not accept offerings, because all that exists and can be offered already belongs to him. Olorum created the world, all the waters and lands. He created plants and animals of all colors and sizes. He also created the deities or orishas. One day Olorum ordered that his son Oxalá create man. Oxalá created man from iron and then from wood, but both were too rigid. 56


He created man from rock, but he was too cold. He tried water, but the being never achieved a definitive shape. He tried fire, but the creature was consumed in flames. He made a being of air, which once completed, returned to what it always was, simply air. He also tried using oil and wine, but without success. Saddened by his unsuccessful attempts, Oxalá sat by the riverside, when Naná appeared and asked him why he was so worried. Oxalá told her. Naná dove down to the depths of the river and from there she gave him mud. Then Oxalá created man and realized he was flexible and could move his eyes, arms, legs and therefore blew life into him. For this reason, Oxalá is considered the most important orisha of the African pantheon. Language: Yoruba Main Orishas • Oxalá – identified with peace and serenity; • Iemanjá – goddess of the sea and fertility; • Oxum – goddess of fresh water, gold, the cowry shell oracle and love; • Ogum – the god of war, metal and technology; • Oxóssi – the hunter god associated with prosperity • Ossain – the god of leaves and ritual cleansing; • Xangô – the god of fire, thunder and justice; • Iansã – the goddess of the winds, lightning and storms; • Ibeji – the twin orishas; • Exu – the messenger god, guardian of temples and crossroads; • Omolu /Obaluaiyê – god of cures and diseases. • Oxumaré – god of rain and rainbows.

The Ossain House, at Terreiro Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, in the neighborhood of Retiro, Salvador 57


The Gantois House of Worship also known as Terreiro Ilê Iyá Omi Axé Yamassê, in the neighborhood of Federação, Salvador

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Hierarchy • Iyalorixá or Babalorixá: literally, mother or father of the orishas, high priestess or priest, also known as mother or father of-the-saints; • Iyakekerê or Babakekerê: literally, small mother or father, the second highest ranking priestess or priest; • Iyalaxé: woman responsible for taking care of ritual objects; • Agibonã: literally, nursery mother in charge of supervising initiation rituals; • Egbomi: practitioners who have been initiated for more than seven years; • Iyabassê: woman in charge of preparing sacred dishes; • Iaô: new initiate or practitioner in the process of initiation; • Abian: a pre-initiate; • Axogun: in charge of animal sacrifices; • Alagbê: in charge of percussion instruments, rhythms and ritual chants; • Ogan: drummers and an honorary title given to male initiates whose services to the house of worship are considered exemplary. • Ekedi: Ekedi: female initiate who takes care of practitioners in a religious trance.


Main rituals • Animal sacrifice • Funerary Axexê • Olubajé • Padê for Exu • Sassayin • Ipeté for Oxum Well-known Houses of Worship

• Offerings • Waters of Oxalá • Initiation

• Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká (Terreiro da Casa Branca) • Ilê Iyá Omi Axé Yamassê (Terreiro do Gantois) • Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá House of Worship • Ilê Axé Opô Aganjú House of Worship

Ijexá Nation Ijexá nation Candomblé originated from the religious practices of slaves arriving from Ilesha, today a region of Nigeria. Although a very reduced number of Ijexá Candomblé houses currently exist in the pure version, the rituals of this nation have been incorporated into those of the Ketu/Nagô nation. Currently, ijexá is more widely known as the main rhythm of afoxês. In Ketu/Nago nation Candomblé houses, ijexá is essentially a rhythm played for orishas such as Oxum, Ossain, Ogum, Logum-Edé, Exu, Obá and Oxalá. The rhythm is soft with a marked beat and tempo, both in sound and dance. On the drums, ijexá is played with the hands. Aguidavis or sticks are not used in this rhythm, which is always accompanied by the gã or agogô to mark the beat. The Afoxê Filhos de Gandhy is probably the most traditional Brazilian group that has preserved this rhythm.

Jeje Nation In Jeje mythology (Fon/Ewê), Mawu, a female deity, is the supreme being, creator of the heavens and the earth. She commands the universe with the help of Lissá, her male counterpart. The voduns are the children and descendents of both. The double divinity Mawu-Lissa is called Dadá Segbô or Great Father Vital Spirit. Sé-medô is the Principle of Existence and Gbé-dotó, the Creator of Life. Mawu represents the night, moon, earth and everything subterranean. From her first pregnancy, Dadá Segbô gave birth to the Sakpatá twins: Da Zodji and Nyohwe Ananu. From her second pregnancy Sô was born, who was both male and female, like its parent. In her third, Dadá Segbô gave birth to the twins Agbê and Naeté. The fourth produced Agué and the fifth Gu, who were male. From the sixth came Djó, the atmosphere, that did not have a defined gender, and from the seventh, came the youngest Legbá. After creating Ayìkúngban, the world, Mawu, gave her domain to the Sakpatá twins, due to the fact that Sô, for being so similar to its parent, remained in the heavens to reign over the elements and the weather. Agbê and Naeté were granted the domain of Hu, the ocean, that refreshed the earth. Agué was put in charge of the plants and animals living on earth. Gu, whose body was made 59


Flower vase offering at Mãe Wilma’s Terreiro, in the municipality of Nazaré

of rock and had a blade instead of a head, was given the ability to help men dominate the world created by Mawu and guarantee success and happiness in their cities, crafts and technologies. Djó was made responsible for separating the heavens and the earth, and for giving invisibility costumes to his brothers. Legbá, the youngest and most pampered remained with Mawu, sitting at her feet. Mawu taught each child a different language, to be used in each of their domains. Djó was given the task of teaching the language of men. But after they learned the new language they all forgot the language of Mawu, with the exception of Legbá who was never far from its parent. Thus, all the voduns and all of humanity have to go to Legbá to communicate with Mawu. It is in this context that Legbá is considered to be in all places at once, exchanging messages between those created and their Creator. In Africa, voduns are grouped in families led by a head vodun who represents an element or natural or cultural phenomenon. There are four main families. The Ji-vodun, or “high voduns”, led by Sô, with the cardinal form being known as Heviossô. The Ayi-vodun, which are the voduns of the earth, led by Sakpatá. The Tô-vodun, which are voduns associated with specific place or location. The Henu-vodun are the voduns worshiped by certain clans, who believe themselves to be their direct descendents. In Bahia, Dahomean legend tells that Candomblé of this nation was established by a woman from the Mahi ethnic group, named Ludovina Pessoa, who was chosen by the voduns to found three temples: one for Dan, the Kwe Ceja Hundê, later known as Seja Hundé and Roça do Ventura, in the municipalities of Cachoeira and São Félix. The second was for Heviossô, the Zoogodô Bogum Malê Rundó, better known as Terreiro do Bogum, in Salvador. The third was in honor of Ajunsun, which for unknown reasons was never built. Later, other Candomblé houses were established in the Recôncavo. A particularity of Jeje Candomblé is its relationship with the element water. Generally, Jeje houses are located near the source of a river or lagoon. Language: Fon or Ewê Main voduns • Mawu – supreme goddess; • Lissá – responsible for the creation of the universe; • Sakpatá – vodun of diseases, especially smallpox; • Gu – vodun of war, metal and technology; • Agué – hunter vodun, protector of forests; • Heviossô – commander of thunder and lightning; • Dan – vodun of wealth, represented by the rainbow serpent; • Agbê – vodun of the seas; • Aziri – vodun of fresh water; • Fa – vodun of clairvoyance and destiny; • Legbá – messenger vodun, also associated with sexuality.

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Hierarchy • Gaiaku/Doné: high priestess of Jeje houses of worship; • Mejitó/Doté/humbono: high priest of Jeje houses of worship; • Babakon: a priest dedicated to Fa, the vodun of clairvoyance; • Vodunsi: a practitioner who has been initiated for more than one year; • Kajekaji: a practitioner who has not yet completed the series of initiation ceremonies; • Pejigan: practitioner in charge of the house of worship’s Peji; • Abajigan: a caretaker of the house of worship. Main rituals • Sé de Lissá • Tobossi • Hoho • Azonwánadó • Gbesén • Olugbajé Well-known Houses of Worship

• Olisá • Azonsú • Agangatolú

• Zoogodô Bogum Malê Rundó (Bogum House of Worship) • Seja Hundé (Roça do Ventura House of Worship) Municipalities of Cachoeira-São Félix; • Cacunda de Yayá House of Worship; • Pó Zerrem (Pau Zerrem) House of Worship – no longer active.

Ceremony at a Candomblé house of worship

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Celebration of the granting of protected status to the Gantois House of Worship, the Ilê Iyá Omi Axé Yamassê, in the neighborhood of Federação, Salvador

Angola Nation In the mythology of the ethnic groups speaking Kimbundo, originally from the coastal region of Angola, the supreme god and creator is Nzambi or Nzambi Mpungu, known as Zambi or Zambiapungo in Brazil. He is above everyone and everything. Some Bantu peoples call god Sukula while others prefer Kalunga. Additional names are also used to refer to this god. The religious practices worshipping Nzambi do not use specific forms or altars. Only in extreme cases do they pray to and invoke Nzambi, usually outside their villages, near riversides, under trees, or around fires. He has no physical representation, since the Bantu conceive him as uncreated. Therefore, to make a physical representation of him would be sacrilegious. At the end of all rituals, Nzambi is praised because he is the beginning and end of all things. Language: Kimbundo / Kicongo Main Inquices • Aluvaiá/Nzila: an intermediary between human beings and other inquices; • Gangazumba: associated with eclipses and wetlands; • Kianda: sirens living in salt waters; • Katendê: lord of the leaves, guardian of the secrets of medicinal herbs; • Nzazi: the lightning bolt, meting out justice to human beings;

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• Kaviungo: inquice of smallpox, skin diseases, health and death; • Matamba: female warrior, commander of the dead; • Dandalunda: female entity associated with fertility and the moon. Hierarchy • Mametu/ tatetu nkisi: high priestess of Angola houses of worship; • Mamateo/tata de inquice: high priest of Angola houses of worship; • Tata kambundu: responsible for highly select functions, similar to the Ogans of the Ketu nation; • Tata utala: person in charge of altars; • Tata pokó: responsible for sacrifices to Nkosi; • Tata kivonda: in charge of sacrifices to other deities; • Vumbi: responsible for funerary rites; • Tata kisaba: responsible for harvesting sacred leaves. Main rituals • Massangá: freshwater baptism ritual; • Nkudiá Mutuè: spiritual strengthening ritual; • Nguecè Kamuxi Muvu: ritual celebrating one year of initiation; • Nguecè Katàtu Muvu: ritual celebrating three years of initiation; • Nguecè Katuno Muvu: ritual celebrating five years of initiation; • Nguecè Kassambá Muvu: ritual celebrating seven years of initiation. Well-known Houses of Worship • Bate-Folha House of Worship • Unzó Kuna Nkici Tumbensi Malawla House of Worship

• Tumbensi House of Worship • Tumba Junçara House of Worship in the municipality of Santo Amaro

Caboclo Nation In this nation, Caboclo worship is of fundamental importance. Caboclos are indigenous spirits. African slaves considered them true Brazilian ancestors, and therefore worthy of being worshipped in the new lands to which they were confined during slavery. Caboclo Candomblé is a modality of the Angola nation, focused exclusively on indigenous ancestor worship. This type of Candomblé has strong links to the history of Bahia especially with regard to Bahian Independence Day, which is celebrated on July 2. For Bahians, Caboclos are entities considered both heroic and divine, symbolizing the possession of the land or the owners of the land. This variation of Candomblé is considered an authentic Brazilian religion, especially in Salvador. A peculiarity of Caboclo Candomblé is that the deities do not speak in African tongues, preferring local languages. They bring messages from their 63


ancestors, especially from dear ones recently departed. They counsel those in need, showing them new paths. They recommend cleansing rituals using sacred plants and suggest offerings be given to resolve problems. The attire and sacred objects of these spirits also originate from Brazilian culture. Besides feathers and plumes, they use leather hats and other elements characteristic of the first inhabitants of Brazil. Offerings to Caboclos are bountiful and varied, including a wide variety of fruits, vegetables, roots and even sweets. Pumpkins are considered indispensable, and are filled with tobacco and honey. Yet offerings such as roosters, sheep, turkeys or any other bird are also much appreciated. Jurema is their sacred drink, considered the nectar of the gods, and is enjoyed by both the spirits and all others present. Language: Portuguese Main Deities • Sultan of the Forest Caboclo • Boiadeiro Caboclo Caboclo Guarany of Oxóssi Candomblé House of Worship, in the Municipality of Cachoeira, Bahian Recôncavo

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• Seven Arrows Caboclo • Golden Plume Caboclo


Hierarchy • High priestess/priest of the houses of worship The Most Well-Known Houses • Sultan of the Forest Caboclo House of Worship • Boiadeiro Caboclo House of Worship • Oxalá House of Worship • Golden Plume Caboclo House of Worship

The Society of Eguns The Eguns or Egungun Society is a male brotherhood whose main focus is to worship the deceased, ancestral spirits of important individuals. They also aim to preserve and guarantee the continuity of the evolution of African civilization in Brazil. Originally from the Oyo Kingdom, in present day Nigeria, this practice was brought to Brazil at the beginning of the 19th century. The religious rituals are carried out in houses separate from those in which the deities reside. A very closed society, the religion could almost be considered secret. The first historic record of this society dates from the beginning of the 20th century in a remark made by Nina Rodrigues19. According to this scholar, only blacks from Africa who had come to Brazil as slaves kept the memories that the souls “constituted a freemasonry in which women could not take part and in which souls manifested themselves and walked through the city at will”20 The Eguns Society is exclusively for men. The highest position of the house is the Alápini, who is helped by the ojés. All members of the Eguns are called mariwô. Egun houses have the following basic characteristics: • a public space, that can be visited by anyone, located within the barracão, where the rituals take place; • a part of this space reserved for specific religious practices, where only initiates can enter. It is the place where the Eguns are called on to publicly manifest themselves; • an open area, situated between the barracão and the Ilê Igbalé or Ilê Awô (house of secrets), where a mound of earth is prepared and consecrated, the place where Onilé is seated; • a private space where only the highest level of initiates is allowed to enter, the Ilê Awô. All the ancestor spirits are seated in this area, which also houses the ritual instruments and vestments, such as the Isan, pronounced (ishan), long rods which are used by the Ojés to invoke and control the Egunguns.

NINA RODRIGUES, O animismo fetichista dos negros baianos. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1935. 20 RODRIGUES, 1935 apud BASTIDE, 2001. 19

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In Brazil, the most well-known Egungun House of Worship is on Itaparica Island, known as Mocambo. It was founded around 1830 by an African named Marcos-the-Elder, with the “elder” added to differentiate him from his son. Legend has it that this African bought his freedom and returned to Africa with his son, Marcos Teodoro Pimentel, later known as Uncle Marcos. They both stayed in Africa for many years, perfecting their liturgical knowledge. When they returned to Bahia, they brought with them the seat of Baba Olukotun, considered the Olori Egun, the primordial ancestor of the Nagô nation. Around 1850, Uncle Marcos founded Terreiro de Tuntun in a village on Itaparica Island where many African descendents resided. He became the Alápini, Ipekun Ojé, the high priest of the Egungun Society. Uncle Marcos died in 1935, and with his death, Terreiro de Tuntun ceased to exist. However, this traditional form of worship was maintained by his nephew, Arsênio Ferreira dos Santos, who migrated to Rio de Janeiro taking the seat of Baba Olukotun to the Municipality of São Gonçalo. When Arsênio passed away, the seat of the Baba Olukotun was brought back to Bahia by the current Alápini, Deoscoredes dos Santos, known as Mestre Didi Asipá, president of Ilê Asipá Cultural and Religious Society. Mestre Didi was initiated in the worship rituals of the Egungun by Marcos and Arsênio. Language: Yoruba Main Egun Houses of Worship • Ilê Baba Olokotun – on Itaparica Island • Ilê Asipá Cultural and Religious Society Hierarchy Egungun houses have a patriarchal hierarchy, and only men can be initiated in the position of Ojés or Babá Ojé, as they are called. This hierarchy is very rigid despite the fact that positions for women do exist. However, they can never be initiated as Ojés. Male: Alápini (supreme priest; chief of the alagbás), Alagbá (chief of one house), Atokun (Egun guide), Ojê agbá (elder ojê), Ojê (initiate who has completed all rites), Amuixan (initiate who has not completed all rites), Alagbé (drummer). Some Oiê of the ojê agbá: baxorun, ojê ladê, exorun, faboun, ojé labi, alaran, ojenira, akere, ogogo, olopondá. Female: Iyalode (in charge of the women), iyá egbé (leader of all the women), iyá monde (in charge of the ató and who can speak with the Babás), iyá erelu (head of the singers), erelu (singer), iya agan (recruits and teaches the ató), ató (Egun worshipper). Other Oie: iyale alabá, iyá kekere, iyá monyoyó, iyá elemaxó, iyá moro. 66


Religious Syncretism Religious syncretism can be defined as the fusion of two or more religious belief systems. In Brazil, most notably in Bahia, it served as a refuge for blacks who were able to disguise and practice their faith, which was prohibited at the time. Candomblé practitioners pretended to worship Catholic saints, but in reality they were venerating their own entities. The association of an orisha with a Catholic saint was a strategy used by slaves to maintain their beliefs and rituals. They fooled their masters into believing that their devotion was to the Catholic saints. Religious syncretism is one of the most intriguing aspects of Candomblé as it is characterized by the mixing of different ethnic and cultural features. The centuries-old churches of Bahia bear witness to the power of Catholicism, brought by the Portuguese and imposed on the indigenous population as well as on African slaves. Africans brought the practice of orisha worship with them. These gods are considered spirits of nature that come from the fundamental elements: earth, water, fire and air. The fusion of religions, such as the one between Candomblé and Catholicism, is common in Bahia, particularly in the capital, Salvador.

Religious items: Candomblé bead necklaces, as well as statues of Catholic saints

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Some examples of religious syncretism between Catholic saints and Candomblé orishas: • Oxalá – Our Lord of Bonfim • Ogum – Saint Anthony • Yemanjá – Several Our Ladies • Oxóssi – Saint George • Oxum – Several Our Ladies • Naná Buruku – Saint Ana • Omolu – Saint Lazarus/Saint Roque • Xangô – Saint Jerome • Iansã – Saint Barbara

Symbols of African Religiosity Cowry Shell Oracle The cowry shell oracle is one of the divinatory arts used in African matrix religions. There are various methods of throwing the shells, but the most common consist of casting sixteen shells on a previously prepared table and analyzing the configurations they form. The diviner, generally a high priest or priestess, first prays and greets all the orishas. During the casting of the shells he/she talks to the divinities and asks them questions. It is deemed that the divinities affect the way that the shells fall on the table, and in this way respond to the queries. In Brazil, cowry shell divination is done with small shells found on the beach. The word cowry comes from the African word cawri, which were used as money or currency. The practice of shell divination in the Yoruba language is known as merindelogun.

Figa An object made of diverse materials and in various sizes, it is shaped like a closed fist with the thumb between the index and middle fingers. Of African origin, it is said to ward off bad spirits, and can also be worn as jewelry or used as a decorative item at home, work or other locations.

Bonfim Ribbons Ribbons dedicated to Catholic saints are common in Brazil. Those dedicated to Senhor do Bonfim are of special significance as they are used as amulets. Their specific length is known as the “measurement of Bonfim.” Symbols of Catholicism, they were incorporated into African matrix religions as a result of Bahia’s deeply rooted syncretism. According to tradition, they are tied around the wrist with three knots, each corresponding to a wish or request for protection from the saints. Legend has it that the ribbons cannot be removed or the wishes will not come true. They have to fall off on their own. They can also be used in a variety of other manners, such as in cars, homes or purses, among other options.

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The Meaning of Aro or Ring In Candomblé, the ring represents the union of all good energies, while the chain symbolizes faith.

Pemba Powder Efun is the Jeje-Nagô name given to various types of powder used in AfroBrazilian rituals. It is more commonly known by Candomblé followers and laypeople simply as pemba, of Angola nation origin. Efun or pemba powder is made from limestone, and can be found in nature in several colors. Sometimes called tabatinga, it is used on the bodies of Candomblé practitioners, especially during initiation, when they are painted with dye made from the powder. The ritual is called efun fun meaning white powder.

Spiritual Necklaces Made of beads representing the colors of specific orishas, these necklaces are used by Candomblé followers for protection and as a focal point for spirit forces. The multi-colored necklaces can represent orishas from any nation. Also known as guides, use of these necklaces follows a strict hierarchy. Additionally, they are widely used as amulets, even by non-initiates. Preferentially worn around the neck or carried in a purse or pocket, their main function is to ask for protection from the corresponding orisha.

Patuás Patuás are amulets often worn by Candomblé followers. Made of a small piece of cloth, they correspond to a specific Candomblé deity. Herbs and other substances attributed to the orisha are placed inside the cloth. After sewing up the edges, the cloth is embroidered with the name of the divinity. Individuals can carry the patuá specific to their orisha in a pocket, wallet or purse to obtain protection and luck from the orisha. In the Egungun Society amulets are called breves. The Mandinga ethnic group were Muslims of African origin, who carried on their chest a cord with a piece of leather with inscriptions from the Koran. Other ethnic groups called this object patuá.

Patuás, figas and Candomblé orisha necklaces

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Religious and Popular Festivals In Bahia, African matrix culture developed in parallel to that of European origin. Folk festivals, as they are known today, resulted from religious syncretism, mixing sacred and profane elements. As Africans did not have access to the places where Europeans held their religious festivals, they occupied the streets close to where their masters were gathered. This led to the proliferation of cultural manifestations from diverse African origins, some examples include capoeira, maculelê and samba-de-roda. Even today, thousands of people take to the streets to celebrate patron saints’ days, both Eurpoean African. In a series of folk festivals, Bahians manifest their faith, from celebrations of Candomblé orishas, when the drums echo throughout the houses of worship so the initiates can dance. This faith is also manifest in Catholic religious festivals, which have evolved to include samba-de-roda, and where stands sell drinks and a variety of local dishes. This series of festivities begins on December 4, with the Santa Bárbara Festival and reaches a peak during the Bonfim Festival, Yemanjá Festival and Carnival. In the interior of the state, African influences are evident in festivities that occur in a wide range of municipalities.

Sisterhood of Good Death Festival, in the City of Cachoeira. To the side, the Procession of the Sisters and below, Worship of Our Lady of Good Death

The Good Death Festival The Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death was established nearly 150 years ago, in the slave quarters where blacks were housed near the sugarcane mills. It was made up exclusively of black women whose mission was to manumit the slaves or to help them escape to free areas such as the Malaquias Quilombo in Terra Vermelha, a rural zone outside of the city of Cachoeira. After the abolition of slavery, the sisterhood allied itself with the Catholic Church and founded the association that currently functions in four 18th-century manor homes, restored by the Institute of Artistic and Cultural Heritage—IPAC. 71


The power of these women is always a reason for joy and celebration. The Good Death festival takes place in the month of August in the city of Cachoeira located in the Bahian Recôncavo. The celebrations last for five days. On the first, the sisters leave the headquarters in a procession to the Our Lady of Ajuda Church to collect the coffin of Our Lady. They then walk one block to their destination, the chapel of the Sisterhood’s new headquarters, where a mass is held in memory of deceased sisters. Afterwards a white supper is served including bread, wine and seafood. Masses, confessions, sentinels and street processions take place, as well as presentations of samba-de-roda and capoeira.

Congada Members of the Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death, in the City of Cachoeira, Bahia

A mixture of African heritage with touches of Portuguese culture, Congada represents the crowning of the kings of Congo, who parade in masks, dressed in ornamental attire with gold and diamonds, surrounded by dancing warriors. Its origins date back to 1482, in the Congo, one of the most important African empires of all time. Although powerful, the empire collapsed when faced with the might of Portuguese squadrons fighting a territorial war. During Congada, African people, with renewed strength and faith, are given the title of King of the Congo in memory of this hard fought battle. It has been present in Brazil since colonial times when the parades of Congos were the main attraction at celebrations organized by slave brotherhoods, with a symbolic crowning of African or African-descended kings and queens. Reminiscent of African rituals, this folk manifestation became part of Portuguese Congadas, celebrations in honor of Our Lady of Oporto. The first official presentation on Bahian soil was on June 6, 1760, in the Council Palace of the City of Salvador, during the wedding festivities of Dona Maria I to Dom Pedro III. This tradition continues in full force in the City of Juazeiro, with adaptations that differentiate it from traditional formats. On the last Sunday of October, chants are intoned in honor of the Virgin of the Rosary.

Lindro Amor Lindro Amor was a way of collecting funds to carry out festivals in honor of Our Lady of Purificação, São Cosme and São Damião. The procession, made up of men, women and children, visits houses praying for health and prosperity for their owners, professing a hope for better times to come, and in turn receive alms from the household as a symbol of their devotion. Women wearing round print skirts and straw hats decorated with colorful ribbons always parade in the middle. They dance and sing while the men follow behind wearing white pants playing tambourines, violas and accordions. Children parade first to liven up the procession. They carry an empty box with a statue of the saints, where coins are deposited. The money collected will 72


be used to make the caruru okra stew on the following Saturdays, until the end of October. The tradition dates back to the time of slavery, when the masters allowed their slaves to organize and participate in certain festivities. Over time, Lindro Amor, originating from the Portuguese expression Lindo Amor, or beautiful love, took on religious connotations associated with processions and alms collections, done normally prior to carurus offered to both saints and orishas. In the case of Our Lady of Purificação, a crown is carried on a tray decorated with flowers, next to a flag, while participants sing accompanied by tambourines and drums. Conde, Candeias, Santo Amaro, Sao Francisco de Conde and São Sebastião do Passé are well-known for this cultural manifestation.

Nego Fugido This cultural manifestation has been maintained for over a century by the inhabitants of Acupe, a district of the municipality of Santo Amaro da Purificação, in the Bahian Recôncavo. Every year an attempted slave escape is reenacted. The escapee is then captured and tied up, but finally manages to buy his manumission. The participants portraying the black characters, when not running or fighting, maintain a slow dance step to rhythms that researchers say are associated to Candomblé. The reenactment retells the stories of runaway slaves who were pursued into the woods. To hide from the slave hunters, they camouflaged themselves using banana leaves. This unique cultural manifestation has been maintained since the 19th century and originated from African slaves of Nagô origin. In reality, it is a recreation of struggles of black resistance against the slave regime.

Nego Fugido, a cultural manifestation from the Acupe district in the Municipality of Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahian Recôncavo


Zambiapunga Zambiapunga, an African cultural manifestation, is a procession of masked men, dressed in colorful clothing made with silk and paper who parade through the streets at dawn, dancing and awakening the city with echoing sounds of metal hoes banging, drumming, cuícas and giant shells used as percussion instruments. In honor of the supreme god of Angola Candomblé, it was initially a ceremony to ward off bad spirits. Using masks, this cultural manifestation was brought to Bahia by Bantus from the Congo-Angola region, who came to work on sugarcane and dendê palm plantations in the Bahian Recôncavo and on the southern coast of Bahia. It is not by chance that this region concentrates a wide variety of folk customs, especially the cities of Nilo Peçanha, Valença, Taperoá and Cairu. In Nilo Peçanha, where the tradition is strongest, the festival takes place normally at dawn on November 1, All Saints’ Day, the eve of the day of the dead.

Bembé do Mercado

Below, Bembé do Mercado Festival, in Santo Amaro da Purificação and Zambiapunga, in Nilo Peçanha

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To commemorate the abolition of slavery, the Bembé Festival has taken place on May 13, in the municipality of Santo Amaro da Purificação, in the Bahian Recôncavo, since 1889. Organized by fishermen and fishmongers from the Municipal Market, the festivities bring together samba-de-roda, afoxé, maculelê and capoeira groups, as well as representatives of the region’s Candomblé houses to honor the orishas of the waters, rivers, lakes, and rain, Oxum and Yemanjá. For three days, the square in front of the Municipal Market is transformed with stands and tents filled with people who come to participate in this festival of art and ancestral religion. The term bembé is of Yoruba origin, meaning to beat the drum. This festival is considered one of the most genuine folk expressions of recognition and affirmation of African culture in Brazil. This is due to the fact that this celebration has taken place in public since the era when it was prohibited by law to drum for the orishas.




African Matrix Culture Bahia, the homeland of diversity, the stage of many great political and cultural events, presents its tourism itineraries as veritable journeys through the history of Brazil. From its centuries-old churches to regional crafts, from its diverse belief systems to local folk myths and rites, the state offers an incredible array of tourismrelated African matrix attractions. These diverse folk expressions are tangible proof of the mystical realms inhabited by the Bahian people. Samba circles, capoeira, afoxé and many other manifestations bear witness to faith and religious expression. Taken as a whole, these elements constitute a mosaic of African belief systems that have become uniquely Bahian.

The Language According to ethno-linguist, Yeda Pessoa de Castro, the Bantu influence on Brazilian Portuguese is more profound for three reasons. This ethnic group has been in Brazil for a longer period, their numbers were great and the population was geographically dispersed throughout Brazilian territory. Bantu contributions or Bantuisms, African words that have become part of the lexicon of Brazilian Portuguese, are generally associated with the slavery regime. Some examples: senzala (slave quarters), mucama (mammy), banguê (bhang), quilombo (escaped slave community). These expressions have been completely integrated into the Brazilian Portuguese linguistic system as borne out by the creation of derivatives from Bantu roots, such as esmolambado (ragged), dengoso (namby-pamby), sambista (samba dancer and/or singer), xingamento (swearing), mangação (making fun of), molequeira (mischievous behavior), caculinha (youngest child) and quilombola (maroon). In some cases, the Bantu word has substituted the equivalent word in Portuguese: caçula for benjamim (youngest child), corcunda for giba (humpback), moringa for bilha (jug), molambo for trapo (rag), xingar for insultar (to insult), cochilar for dormitar (to nap), dendê for oleo de palma (palm oil), bunda for nádegas (buttocks), marimbondo for vespa (wasp), carimbo for sinete (seal), 77


Atabaque drums and rhythm variations

cachaça for aguardente (cane liquor). Many of these words are well documented in Brazilian literature dating as far back as the 17th century, for example the satirical poetry of Gregório de Matos e Guerra (1633-1696).

Music The contribution of Africans in the formation of Brazilian popular music is unquestionable. In Bahia, African cultural heritage is the registered trademark of several rhythms and styles, from batucada and roots samba to afoxé, sambareggae and the so-called new Bahian music, or Axé music.

Drumming For many years, all manner of African cultural manifestations were referred to as batucada (drumbeat) or batuque (drumming). In Brazil, musical expressions through African instruments, dances and chants have taken on different regional or national connotations. Batuque is a term that has existed since colonial times in Brazil, because it was not deemed necessary to understand the many African musical manifestations. The use of batucada continues this line of thinking and does not capture the rich and diverse musicality of many African instruments. This includes instruments and the manner in which they are played, such as cuíca, tambourine, atabaque, agogô, reco-reco, banjo, berimbau and ganzá instruments, as well as the ilu, batá, afoxê rhythms, among others. Dance styles also reveal the musical richness of Africa: samba and it variants, lundu, passo, jongo, caxambu, tambor-de-crioula, including numerous ritual dances of Candomblé, Xangô and Mina, as well as drums and processions in which it is possible to include Congada, ternos-de-congos, and many others.

Samba Research on this topic indicates that term samba may be a distortion of semba, a word of African origin from the region of Angola and Congo, meaning umbigada (touching of navels), batuque or the umbigada dance. This festive rhythm was brought to Brazil by slaves who came from that region and here it became a means of expressing the suffering experienced by those kept in captivity and in the slave quarters. The story of samba is directly related to the narrative of the cultural formation 78


of the Bahian people. During colonial times, samba was enriched with handclapping and instruments, such as the viola, guitar, triangle, cuíca and tambourine. The rhythm evolved mainly in the Bahian Recôncavo, especially in the sugarcane mills, where the majority of slaves from Angola were taken. There it transformed into what today is known as samba-de-roda, which is danced in a circle. Starting in 1860 as a consequence of the abolition of slavery and the end of the Canudos War, there was a great migratory movement of blacks and mixedrace peoples from several parts of Brazil, especially from Bahia to Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, who went in search of work and better living conditions. The majority of these migrants settled in outlying areas, more specifically in Morro da Conceição, Pedra do Sal, Praça Mauá, Praça XI, Cidade Nova, Saúde and in the port region. Many Bahian women, descendents of slaves, settled in these neighborhoods. They opened small bars and restaurants, often in their own homes and became known as “Bahian Aunties” or “Samba Aunties.” At these aunties’ houses, Bahians would gather to eat, drink and sing. The most famous of these was Tia Ciata, one of the individuals responsible for the founding of Carioca samba, in Rio de Janeiro. At her house, several songs were composed and sung, such as the famed samba tune, “Pelo Telefone,” (By Phone), recorded by the Bahian Ernesto Joaquim Maria dos Santos, nicknamed Donga, which some historians have mistakenly considered the first samba song ever recorded. In reality, the first samba tune recorded was “Isto é bom,” (This is Good) by Xisto Bahia. The mistake was due to the fact that Donga’s song’s subtitle specifically mentioned samba, whereas Xisto Bahia’s did not. Associated with the origins of samba as it is manifested today, Tia Ciata, also known as Assiata, influenced, along with another Bahian, Hilário Jovino Ferreira, known as Lalau de Ouro, the genre of samba music that was evolving in Rio de Janeiro and their famous Carnival. In 1872, Lalau de Ouro moved to Rio de Janeiro where he founded numerous nightspots and carnival blocos. Initiated in a Candomblé house in Bahia, Tia Ciata was known in Rio as Mãe Pequena, from João Alaba’s Candomblé house, which Hilario Jovino was also known to frequent. A wonderful cook, she attracted many famous people such as composers Pixinguinha, Donga, Heitor dos Prazeres, João da Baiana, Sinhô and Mauro de Almeida. Tia Ciata’s terreiro was considered the headquarters of samba. Later, she took her tray full of African delicacies to the Penha Festival, a traditional Portuguese pilgrimage. Members of samba’s Velha Guarda, or Old Guard, followed her, and from there they released their new Carnival songs. Journalists were also known to attend the samba sessions at Penha. This led to a mixing of people from different neighborhoods and social classes, reducing the distance between poor and rich areas. Given the popularity of the new genre, it was natural that, at the end of the 1920s, samba schools emerged. The first one is believed to be Deixa Eu Falar (Let Me Talk), founded in the neighborhood of Estácio from the network of social contacts created at Tia Ciata’s house.

Samba-de-roda group, Ganhadeiras de Itapuã

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Samba-reggae Samba-reggae, also called samba-reggaeton, was created in Bahia in the 1980s. It is a fusion of traditional samba rhythms together with Jamaican reggae by Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. Created by maestro Neguinho do Samba, it was introduced into Salvador’s Carnival by the Afro bloco Olodum. This rhythm is based on percussion, with emphasis on drums, atabaques, tambourines, electric guitar or viola instead of the mandolin and other instruments characteristic of Latin music, which had been influenced by merengue music.

Axé music Considered the most Bahian of contemporary musical rhythms, Axé music, or simply Bahian music, is, in reality, an incredible mixture of seemingly distinct musical elements such as salsa, samba, reggae and rock. The name was invented by journalist and music critic Hagamenon Brito in 1987. He combined a term used to describe Bahian music that he considered banal, with an English word for bands with international aspirations. Although it had a negative connotation, it grew and prospered, marking a new phase in Bahia’s Carnival and the state’s entry into the Brazilian music market. Some of the first songs in this genre date from 1985, including Fricote and Nega do Cabelo Duro, by Luiz Caldas.

Musical Instruments Without a doubt, drums are the basis of all African rhythms produced in Brazil. The berimbau, which became popular thanks to capoeira, has become a symbol of Bahian culture, representing the mixed identity of the Bahian people. Along with the agogô, these instruments refer to the unmistakable form of black culture produced in Bahia.

Drums The drum is a general name that is given to various percussion instruments in which an animal skin or membrane is used to produce sound. Generally, there are one or two layers of leather on top of wooden structures, which function as resonance chambers. Brought to Brazil by Africans, the most commonly used drums in Bahia, both in popular music and religious ceremonies are atabaques: rum, rumpi and lé. Conventionally, atabaques are made of wood and iron hoops, usually with slats held in place by nails and glue. In reality, they are tapered resonance boxes. There are also atabaques whose body is made from a single piece of wood that is hollowed out by fire. The music made by these three atabaque drums is based on profound knowledge of polyrhythms called toques, or beats. Each beat is performed the 80


three drums accompanied by an agogô or gã, a percussion instrument made of two iron bells, similar to a shaker, or afoxê. The beats are an integral part of Candomblé religious celebration, with specific names for these polyrhythmic beats, which also help identify specific Candomblé nations.

Berimbau Without a doubt, the berimbau was introduced into Bahia by slaves from Angola. Today, this instrument is associated with capoeira, martial art and dance. The berimbau can be played alone or in groups, creating what are known as berimbau beats. During the period of repression, when capoeira was still prohibited, capoeiristas invented a beat called cavalaria, or cavalry, reminiscent of the sound of horses’ hooves. It was played as a warning that the martial art should be camouflaged as a dance. Other traditional beats exist, such as big São Bento, little São Bento and Santa Maria Iuna, among others. The instrument is made of a wooden arc approximately 1.2 meters in length, strung with a steel wire from its extremities. A gourd, which functions as a resonance box, is fixed to one of the extremities. The berimbau player uses a pebble or a coin (doubloon), a stick and the caxixi to produce sounds. Other percussion instruments such as the caxixi rattle or shaker are almost always associated with the berimbau.

Agogô The agogô is a metal instrument used in Candomblé, capoeira and samba. It was introduced by Africans known as Ijexás, from the Ilesa region, now part of Nigeria. It is made of two pieces of iron, one shorter than the other and two different sized hollow cones without a base and tin sheets connected by the vertices. The name comes from akoko, a Nagô word that means clock or time, similar to the sound extracted from a metallic instrument. To create sound, the instrument is struck with a wooden or metal stick on the tip of either iron bells. The sound is caused by the vibration of the body of the instrument itself. It is an essential element of the famed afoxê rhythm called ijexá.

Capoeira Having triumphed over persecution and overcome past prejudices, capoeira has come to represent one of the main symbols of Brazilian culture. In July 2008, this martial art was granted much-deserved public recognition when it was declared Immaterial Brazilian Cultural Heritage, the 14th cultural asset in Brazil to receive this honor from the National Institute of Historic and Artistic heritage—IPHAN and the Ministry of Culture. The occupation of capoeira mestre was also included in the Book of Knowledge and the capoeira circle was included in the Forms of Expression Book. 81


International Meeting of Capoeira and Cultural Manifestations at Santo Antonio Fort, in Salvador

Capoeira arrived in Brazil in the 16th century brought by slaves from the Bantu ethnic group. It is a symbol of resistance by African people and its roots are probably from slave battles. Capoeira is a dialogue of bodies and the winner is the one who does not obtain a response from his or her partner. In a show of friendship, inside the capoeira circle, two capoeristas bless themselves at the foot of the berimbau and begin a slow dance of corporal questions and answers. This goes on until a third enters the play and so on successively until all have participated. A basic element of Angola capoeira, malice or mandinga, can make it very dangerous. The movements flow back and forth in an attempt to deceive the opponent. This is a difference between capoeira and other martial arts, as it is a characteristic that is not only learned by practice. Capoeira has three styles that are differentiated in movements and accompanying musical rhythm. Aside from the Angola version, another variation is called regional capoeira. This style is characterized by the mixture of Angola capoeira malice with fast movements, accompanied by the sound of the berimbau. The strikes are fast and dry and acrobatic stunts are not employed. This distinguishes it from Angola capoeira where the principal elements are a slow musical rhythm, low-thrown strikes, close to the ground and plenty of malice. The third type is contemporary capoeira, which combines elements from both styles, and is most commonly practiced today.

Capoeira Fort Reopened in 2007, the Santo Antonio AlĂŠm do Carmo Fort now houses the Capoeira Fort, whose objective is to become a Center for Research and History of Capoeira in Bahia. This 17th-century building has been completely restored and now boasts its original architectural traits, before it was converted into a jail in 1950. The Capoeira Fort has six activity rooms, as well as a large open-air stage with a complete infrastructure including dressing rooms, documentation center, reading room, library, video library and screening room, instrument 82


workshop, snack bar, memorial, auditorium, reception area, storage warehouse, exhibit space, gift shop and lockers.

Afoxê The carnival bloco Afoxê Filhos de Gandhy, or Sons of Gandhi, brings together thousands of men who parade in white with blue detailed attire from head to toe, including a turban bearing the bloco’s symbol and bead necklaces in the same colors. It is one of Salvador’s most traditional Carnival groups and always parades on Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, drawing crowds attracted by the African chants. The word afoxê means divination, prophecy or prediction of the future. This popular manifestation is characterized primarily by the central figure of the babalawô or baba-oni-awô – the father that knows the future. It originated in Candomblé terreiros, especially those associated with Efan, a nation dedicated to worshipping Oxum. The afoxê still symbolizes the noblest aspects of African culture. The chants in honor of Oxum and Oxalá, played to the ijexá rhythm, are accompanied by gourds, agogôs and atabaques, reminiscent of chants sung in Candomblé houses by high priests and priestesses moved by religious faith.

The Baiana do Acarajé The most important symbol of Bahia, Baianas do Acarajé are integral parts of the mystical landscapes of this land. Generous matriarchs, offering many delicacies, as well as the famed acarajé bean fritter, they also sell abará, coconut pralines and tapioca treats. Part of the urban landscape, especially in Salvador, Baianas are working women struggling to provide for their families. The social and cultural framework they represent is manifest in their attire, ethical behavior and by the delicacies they offer, elements relating to Candomblé houses of worship. In the daily lives of thousands of individuals, the Baiana is identified as a synthesis of all that is African.

The Craft The origin of Baianas dates back to the colonial period, when certain black women were allowed to work and earn money. They would walk the streets of the city with trays balanced on their heads, selling food. These African women were the first Baianas. Whether free women or slaves who were allowed to work for money, they sold tapioca flat bread, couscous, croquettes and other Afro-Bahian culinary delicacies. STheir attire was impeccable, with long wide blouses, white skirts, turbans and embroidered cloth called pano-da-costa. They adorned themselves with earrings, bracelets, trinkets and necklaces in the colors of the orishas.

The Baiana do Acarajé and her delicacies


In typical Baiana attire baroque elements can be found: petticoats and wide starched skirts, which gave the wearer a round appearance. Over the skirts, they wear a long wide blouse, with an undershirt or camisole, pano-da-costa and a turban on the head. Their outfits are further completed by assorted jewelry and Moorish-style leather slippers.

Clothing Their attire is a good example of the meeting of west and east, esthetics from 18th-century Europe and Islamic people in Europe and Africa. In this way, their style has been incorporated into the Brazilian identity, a trademark of women of African descendent. This is the Baiana in all her dynamic wealth, one of the most Brazilian symbols. Head Wraps A head covered with fabric of a variety of formats, textures and designs is an important element in the identity of a Baiana, depending on social, religious and ethnic connotations, among others. The turban used in Bahia is without a doubt Afro-Islamic, a way to protect the head from the sun in the desert or in other hot, dry areas characteristic of the African continent. Whether the head wrap is tied in such a manner as to have “ears” or not is of symbolic importance. Also significant is the use of certain herbs and white starched cloth, detailed with embroidery on the tips, completely plain and discreet, or striped, with different colors, in brocade, silk, lamê, among others fabrics. The head wrap protects the ori – head, for Candomblé initiates. The decision to wear a head wrap or not also has its own meaning. Being without a head wrap in special religious moments can help establish direct contact with the sacred. Baiana in Pelorinho Square, Historic District, Salvador

Pano-da-Costa Pano-da-costa or alaká cloth is a type of textile made on a loom. Traditionally, it is made by men, according to African custom, specifically in West Africa, in a region that was known as the Slave Coast until the 19th century. Thus the name, “cloth from the coast” refers to fabric made and exported from the African coast. Its use is still fundamental in the composition of different feminine garments. The cloth is made in strips that are then sewn together, following set colors and patterns, usually striped, but also in other geometric motifs. In 2001, the Ilê Axê Opó Afonjá Candomblé community, in Salvador, created the Alaká house, a workshop to produce pano-da-costa.

Public Markets Surplus production of perishable goods was the primary stimulus for the creation of public markets. To not waste perishable products, merchants would sell them at much lower prices in places with a heavy flow of street traffic. Over the years, it became clear that these markets also had the potential to 84


commercialize products from other locations, making them more visible to the public, thereby generating more demand. With the concept, “the leftovers of some are the orders of others,” these markets promoted the exchange of goods, initially among groups. In Brazil, popular markets located in open spaces, usually on streets or in squares, were called fairs and arose from the natural need of producers and merchants to have a space where their products could be displayed. These fairs also benefited consumers as they could find in one location all the foodstuffs and other products they needed.

Sao Joaquim Market / Água de Meninos In Bahia, Sao Joaquim Market is the most representative of this type of commerce. Declared an immaterial cultural asset, Sao Joaquim Market reflects the history of Salvador. Contrary to the apparent comfort and refinement of supermarket chains, public markets are chaotic. Sellers and buyers interact on a very personal level, which enriches their social relations. This highly diverse market, with a complex, labyrinthine design, has been the setting for books and films, as well as being an inspiration to the arts, from Jorge Amado’s novel “Captains of the Sands” to the film “A Grande Feira” or “The Big Fair” by Roberto Pires and more recent film production in the Lower City by Sérgio Machado. Based on its similarity with São Paulo Market in Luanda, Angola, the Maianga production company created the project, titled “Here and There” in 2006. This exhibit by photographer and cultural producer, Sérgio Guerra, showcased 438 photographs that captured the images of merchants, foods and traditions that were surprisingly similar despite being separated by the Atlantic Ocean. The fair was established in the 1930s. At the time, it moved from place to place in the area around the 7th warehouse at the Docks, in the Comércio neighborhood and was known as the 7th Fair. When the modernization project of Salvador’s port was implemented, the merchants occupied an area just down from the docks, under the new name Água de Meninos Fair. In the 1960s, soon after the military coup of 1964, two fires, whose causes were never determined, destroyed a large number of the stalls and many people were injured. After these incidents, the market began to operate at the São Joaquim inlet, on Avenida Frederico Pontes, where it stands until today. Since that time, it has been known as São Joaquim Market, as it is located directly across from São Joaquim Orphans Convent. Covering an area of over 34,000 square meters, spread out over 10 blocks and 22 streets, the market boasts a great variety of stands selling foodstuffs, ceramic crafts, religious articles, herbs for cleansing baths, as well as amulets and other products brought from the Recôncavo by truck, boat or sailboat. The arrival of sailboats adds a pleasant visual component to the market experience. The ambience of São Joaquim Market is reminiscent of Brazil’s colonial period, during which Bahia’s mixed race population was formed from both rich and poor,

Religious, musical and food products sold at public markets

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black and white. These elements are key to Brazil’s national identity, and especially to Bahia’s, with its social problems, culture and folklore. A unique cultural reference for Salvador, the market has also become an important tourist attraction, particularly because of the presence of African matrix cultural elements. The social contradictions of the city are evident there. Both the positive and negative aspects of the largest city in Bahia are present at the fair, which supplies a large portion of Salvador’s lower income population. The fair is also a good option for residents from higher social classes in the Upper City, who are attracted by products that cannot be found elsewhere.

Mercado Modelo

Mercado Modelo, the most traditional craft market, in Salvador

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Declared a protected site in 1966 by the Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage—IPHAN, the Mercado Modelo is Salvador’s most traditional craft market and one of its main tourism attractions. It is also a place for locals and visitors to mingle, as well as a space for artistic and cultural expression. Founded as a foodstuff distribution center, it brought together merchants, fishermen, sailors, saveiristas, civil servants, bank workers and the general population. Located on Cayru Square, its first building was inaugurated in 1919, across from the boat ramp, with its façade facing the Lacerda Elevator. Its history, however, was marked by a number of great fires. The first took place in 1922 and almost completely destroyed the structure, while in the second, only 26 years later, it was partially damaged. During reconstruction work, commercial activities were transferred to other locations. One of these was the building across from the old Água de Meninos Fair at the so-called Public Market, out of which it operated for a period of two years. In 1971, the Mercado Modelo was moved to the old Customs House building, that 13 years later suffered a devastating third fire. The building was seriously damaged and needed to be completely rebuilt. The new building was raised in the same location and inaugurated in 1984. The new market was restored so as to incorporate the original architectural design, although some modifications were necessary, such as the use of cast concrete, colonial tile roofing, modernized equipment and services. The market and its underground area are traditional symbols of Bahia’s history and culture, attracting visitors from around the world who come to buy souvenirs. A wide variety of craft items is available: clothing; hammocks; traditional musical instruments; wood carvings, the majority of which reflect Bahia’s African heritage; lace and hand-woven baskets from Tide Island; embroidery and tresses; jewelry and adornments; decorative and utilitarian objects; leather, iron and ceramic items; the famous cloth dolls dressed as Baianas; necklaces and other religious articles associated with Candomblé. Semi-precious stones, engravings and naïve paintings, traditional beverages, such as the famous cachaça and herb infusions and a variety of appetizers can also be found.


Around the market, Baianas offer acarajés and abarás, black-eyed pea fritters and cakes, on their large wooden trays, while small local restaurants prepare regional Bahian cuisine. Capoeira circles accompanied by the sounds of the berimbau round out the offerings and reaffirm the cultural spirit of the Mercado Modelo.

Dance Above all else, African matrix dance plays a role in the process of communication, in both religious and socio-cultural realms. Within this context, dance always reflects traditions from a given source. One of the best examples of this enormous wealth of creativity and inspiration is Bahia’s famed Balé Folclórico. Established in 1988, the group is internationally recognized for its uniqueness. It professionally presents a range of subjective expressions of the divine and feminine universes, as seen through African eyes. The group represents specific traditional aspects from the ballet’s native land, inherited from their ancestors and adapted to daily life in Bahia.

Maculelê The highlight of popular festivities celebrating the February 2nd feast day of the patron saint of Santo Amaro, Our Lady of Purificação, maculelê is a group dance with intense dramatic expression, in which only men participate, beating sticks to the rhythm of atabaques against a backdrop of chants sung in African dialects or local vernacular. This “dance with clubs” is of African-indigenous origin. It was brought by slaves and mixed with marked characteristics from indigenous culture, which came directly from the sugarcane fields to the city. Pairs of agile and strong men dance while striking wood sticks or machetes at the end of each phrase sung by the chorus. The group leader, who carries a larger wooden baton, initiates the choreography by beating on the sticks of the other participants, who quickly defend themselves, forming an “X” where the two wooden or metal objects meet. Some groups use fire torches or burning embers, taken from the bonfire that is in the middle of the circle of dancers. The date of the presentation varies, but the exhibit always takes place during the Festival of Our Lady of Purificação and Bembé do Mercado, which is celebrated in May to commemorate the abolition of slavery. This tradition has been maintained for more than a century in the City of Santo Amaro, in the Bahian Recôncavo.

Samba-de-roda Accompanied by atabaques, shakers, reco-recos, violas and guitars, the soloist begins the chant, and then the chorus is sung by the dancing group. Linked to orisha and caboclo worship, capoeira and food prepared with dendê oil, samba-de-roda was first registered in 1860, as a means of preserving the culture 87


of enslaved blacks. Aside from the spoken and sung language, Portuguese influences are evident in the viola and tambourine. This tradition from the Bahian Recôncavo received official recognition from UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2005. Present in the work of the renowned Bahian composers Dorival Caymmi, João Gilberto and Caetano Veloso, it is a mixture of music, dance, poetry and celebration, with two main stylistic variations: samba chula and samba corrido. Chula is a type of poetry, recited by a soloist while the rest of the group listens attentively, giving themselves over to the enchantment of the dance only after the recitation has ended. Then, one at a time, each participant enters the middle of the circle to the sound of the drum beat and hand clapping. At this point, the music takes over while the two soloists and the chorus take turns singing. This style of samba is also known as umbigada, because as each participant leaves the circle, he/she invites another to dance by “touching the navel”. This typical cultural manifestation from the Recôncavo can be found in the cities of Cipó, Candeias and Cachoeira, especially during the June festivities and the Good Death Festival. In São Félix, Muritiba, Conceição do Almeida and Santo Amaro, samba-de-roda is the highlight of the Festival of Our Lady of Purificação. Sao Francisco do Conde, Feira de Santana, Itacaré and Conceição do Almeida celebrate roots samba during the July 2nd Independence Day commemorations.

Crafts Natural raw materials such as clay, wood, fibers, gourds, shells, seeds and skins, among others, are the starting point for a vast and rich process to create a wide range of objects used for work, body adornment, religion and cooking, as well as during festivals and other group activities. Pottery, natural fibers, weavings, metals, engravings on a variety of materials, embroidery and cloth patchworks, as well as many other handcrafts, bear witness to techniques of African descent. Pottery from Maragojipinho, Rio Real and Nagê

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Black Aesthetics One of the most important ways to manifest beauty and identity for many African peoples is through distinct hairstyles. Each has a name, shape and style requiring different skills, materials and adornments, such as animal and plant oils, clay, fibers, shells, feathers, fabrics, recycled plastics and metal. Some hairstyles are veritable sculptures displayed on the head, with matching accessories, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and make-up. Throughout the history of African descendents, hair has represented an ancestral link with African peoples, as well as an aesthetic and cultural energy. The valuing and acceptance of hair as an ethno-racial distinction are elements vital to the process of achieving cultural and civic rights. Black esthetics are, originally, ritualistic. Black fashion is a testament to what


is beautiful in blacks, their lifestyles reflected in clothing, braiding, hairstyles and the confection of accessories such as handbags and shoes. At present, several businesses in Bahia produce textiles, clothing and accessories based on elements of African culture. The garments are often true works of art, such as designs by artists Goya Lopes and Marcia Ganem, and by students from Projeto Axé.

African Matrix Gastronomy The most typical Bahian cuisine is of African origin and was inherited from Sudanese civilizations. However, a range of dishes with origins in Bantu civilizations can be found in the Bahian Recôncavo, such as maniçoba. Slaves from Islamic civilizations have also left their mark in local delicacies, for example Haussa rice. The most distinctive ingredient in Afro-Bahian cuisine is dendê palm oil. Mixed with other herbs and spices, such as ginger, peanuts and cashews and cooked in coconut milk, it is transformed into dishes that are essential elements of Bahia’s African culture.

Dendê Dendê palm oil is living memory, action, production, creation and recreation of African heritage, incorporated and transformed, particularly in Bahia. Within this context, the dendê fruit has become a hallmark identifying the origin of the cuisine.

Afro-Bahian Cuisine

Moqueca stews, acarajé and tapioca treats, traditional Bahian delicacies

Bahian cuisine is a key element of the state’s culture, with symbolic dishes such as acarajé, vatapá, caruru, coconut pralines and quindin custards, which have achieved international fame, gaining admirers from all over the world. It is also a testament to the preservation of African cultural influences in Brazil. Bahian gastronomy and its trademark recipes began to develop in the 16th century when African slaves were brought to work in the kitchens of the manor homes. There, they began to mix new European ingredients, such as sugar, salt, garlic and lime, as well as beef and chicken with bananas, peanuts, cassava, beans and corn, which were already in common use by the indigenous population. They adapted the foods of the orishas to new ingredients and techniques, producing the highly esteemed dishes of today. The most authentic Bahian cuisine comes from the Recôncavo and other coastal regions. Practically everything is of African origin, which is apparent from the strong spices and use of dendê oil, coconut milk, ginger, hot chilies and many other ingredients, not commonly used in other Brazilian states.

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Quilombo Communities The terms quilombo or mocambo refer to communities descending from escaped slaves or black rural communities, whose original inhabitants were brought to Brazil during the colonial period. They resisted or rebelled against the slavery regime, establishing independent territories, where freedom and communal work represented symbols of autonomy, resistance and opposition to the slave labor regime. The historic quilombos, such as Palmares, despite symbolizing people of African descent’s struggle for recognition, are often the only ones remembered. In reality, scholars believe that each quilombo has a unique story to tell. Some were great centers of resistance, but there were others who remained within the mainstream social and economic context of a region. Many of these groups were not persecuted and survive until today. The communities that have descended from quilombos are generally located in rural areas, with a majority of their inhabitants of African descent. Their main socioeconomic activities are subsistence agriculture, mining, gathering, fishing, hunting, ranching and craft production. Manufacturing of manioc flour, vegetable oils and other perishable goods using traditional methods is also a good example.

Main Quilombos in Bahia The most important communities descending from quilombos in Bahia are located in the All Saints’ Bay, Chapada Diamantina and Dendê Coast tourism regions. These communities already benefit from tourism, with existing tour itineraries that include incoming services, accommodations and meals.

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The Bahian quilombos were quite similar to the Quilombo do Buraco do Tatu, in the State of Minas Gerais, whose dwellings have been preserved until today

All Saints’ Bay • Cachoeira Cabolé Calemba Cambongo Velho Caonge Dendê Engenho da Ponte Engenho da Praia Engenho da Vitória Imbiara Tombo Santiago do Iguape

• Santo Amaro Barro Vermelho Caeira Subaé São Braz • São Félix Oiteiro Redondo Quilombo • Maragojipe Pinho

Chapada Diamantina • Lençóis Lençóis Rio Santo Antônio Remanso

• Rio de Contas Barra Bananal Riacho de Pedras

Costa do Dendê • Camamu Águas Vermelhas Burudanga Coduru Garcia Jaqueira Orojó Pimenteira Pinaré Sorojó Ponte Nova

• Maraú Empata Viagem Piracanga Torrinha Boité Terra Seca


Slave Rebellions Several slave rebellions took place in Bahia in the nineteenth century, with the Búzios Revolt and the Malês Revolt being the two most important and well known. The stage for these uprisings was the Salvador’s Historic District, where vestiges of the resistance can still be identified.

The Búzios Revolt The Búzios Revolt was also known as the Bahian Insurrection, Tailors’ Conspiracy, First Brazilian Social Revolution and Mulattos’ Sedition. This revolutionary movement took place on August 12, 1798 and was one of the most important anti-colonial protests of the end of the eighteenth century, and perhaps the most remarkable, due to its social aspects and advanced level of political planning, as observed by historian Luiz Henrique Dias Tavares21. The movement unfolded under the influence of the philosophy of The Enlightenment, shortly after the French Revolution. The political conception of this movement advocated the principles of the modern republic, according to the precept that “all are equal under the law, and power is derived from the people”. Unlike the Minas Insurrection that took place years before, the main objective of the Búzios Revolt was to end slavery and form a populist union. Its leaders, formed of common people such as craftsmen, tailors, shoemakers, freed slaves and slaves, united with doctors, lawyers, teachers and even members of the clergy to demand an end to slavery and high taxes, and fight for equal wages for freed slaves and other laborers, as well as for Brazil’s independence from Portugal. The rallying words of the cause were liberty and equality. A bold and modern uprising, according to historian Kátia Matoso, this popular revolt intimidated both the Portuguese rulers and local elites by its size and organization, which had on the front lines young Afro-descendants challenging local authorities. Two factors were fundamental for this populist union: slavery and the inhumane 21

TAVARES, Luiz Henrique Dias. História da Bahia. Salvador: Edufba, 2004. 93


conditions to which slaves were submitted; and, the high taxes collected by the Portuguese Crown, which kept small shopkeepers and tradesmen, such as shoemakers and tailors, marginalized from the formal economic system.

The Malês Revolt

Engraving by Rugendas: Negro in the Pelourinho. Below, cover of pamphlet commemorating the 170th Anniversary of the Malês Revolt

The uprising known as the Malês Revolt was the last in a series of slave rebellions that took place in Bahia in the nineteenth century. The insurrection took place in Salvador, on the night of 24-25 of January 1835, and remains an important reference for Bahians of African descendant until today. OSlaves who practiced Islam were the principal participants of this revolt. They took to the streets, and for more than three hours confronted soldiers and armed civilians. Known as Malês, the rebels sought to free the slaves and put an end to Catholicism, which was imposed on Africans from the moment they landed in Brazil; as well as seize the assets of European descendants and Mulattos in order to establish an Islamic republic in Bahia. Despite its brief duration, the Malês Revolt was the most serious uprising of urban slaves to take place in the Americas. According to historian João Reis, approximately 600 slaves took part in the conflict, which represented nearly one percent of the population, at the time numbering around 65,500 inhabitants. Of this total, 70 died while fighting, and more than 500—a conservative estimate—were sentenced to death, prison, whipping and deportation. For an idea of the dimensions of this movement, if a rebellion of the same proportion were to take place today in Salvador, more than 31,000 people would suffer the punishment dealt to the rebels. The Malês uprising caused national repercussions. In Rio de Janeiro, the news set off an uproar, and fearing that the Bahian example would be followed, authorities in Rio began to clamp down and more closely guard slaves. The Bahian rebellion also served to revive debates in the National Parliament over slavery and slave trade. In all of Brazil, slaves from Bahia became notorious for insurrection well before the beginning of these protest movements. Although common occurrences in earlier times, rebellions became more frequent starting at the beginning of the 19th century. The main factors underlying the revolts and subversive movements include an increase in the number of newly-arrived African slaves, the intensification of labor carried out by slaves, and a divisive atmosphere between sectors of the free population. 22

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REIS, João José. Rebelião Escrava no Brasil. A história do levante dos Malês (1835). São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1986.


Heroic Resistance The history of Bahia’s population of African descent was not built solely upon customs and traditions brought from Africa by slaves. It is symbiotically linked to the fight against slavery, as well as to movements of cultural resistance. Among the many individuals, both men and women, who took part in these struggles and resistance movements, some stand out as true heroes, becoming symbols and examples to be followed by new generations.

Luiza Mahin It is not known if Luiza Mahin came from Africa as a slave or born in Salvador. The only documented proof of her existence is a letter from her son, saying the she had come from the Mina Coast with other slaves. She belonged to the Mahin tribe of the Jeje nation. She became free around 1812 and made her home headquarters for slave uprisings that shook Bahia in the first three decades of the nineteenth century. At the time of the revolt of 1830, she was pregnant with her son, Luiz Gama, how later became a poet and one of the greatest abolitionists in all of Brazil. Luiza Mahin played an active role in the MalĂŞs Revolt of 1835, and her leadership in this uprising unsettled the Portuguese troops. Her history remains alive in the popular imagination. Popular legend has it that Luiza, taking advantage of her position as a sweet maker, sent messages written in Arabic to other rebels by way of notes sent by young boys. If the slaves had been victorious, Luiza Mahin would have been crowned queen of the Rebellious Bahia. The leaders of the revolt were persecuted and brutally punished, but Luiza managed to escape to Rio de Janeiro, where she continued to fight for the liberty of her people. There she was imprisoned, and possibly deported to Africa.

Luiz Gama The son of Luiza Mahin, from whom he inherited his proud character, Luiz Gama denounced slavery with competence and conviction. He alone was responsible for freeing more than 500 slaves through the courts of law. His father, from an illustrious Bahian family, met his ruin with gambling and sold his own son into

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slavery in 1840, when Luiz was just ten years old. Luiz Gama had the dignity to never reveal the name of his progenitor. Shipped to Rio de Janeiro with dozens of other slaves, he was sold to a slave trader in São Paulo. He traveled on foot from Santos to Campinas, where he was given refuge by a plantation owner despite having come from Bahia, the province with a bad reputation at the time, for having become the stage for a succession of slave rebellions. Taught to read by a young friend at the age of seventeen, Luiz Gama immediately became impassioned by books, a fervor that followed him to his death. At eighteen, he escaped captivity and enlisted as a soldier in the Navy. Six years later, by then with the rank of platoon corporal, he defied an officer who had insulted him and was imprisoned and taken before the War Board, which expelled him from the ranks of the Navy. He returned to São Paulo, where he began working in a notary office, and later for the governor of the Province of São Paulo. At this point, he decided to study law so that he could defend the life and liberty of the immense population of Negro slaves in the courts of law, but was driven out by the student body of the law school when he tried to enroll. As his only option, he practiced law without a degree until the end of his life, in 1882.

Zeferina Zeferina was the leader of Quilombo do Urubu, a runaway slave settlement located between São Bartolomeu Park and Cabula, on the outskirts of Salvador. Imprisoned by the troops of Governor Conde dos Arcos, she was taken to Praça da Sé in chains, “to serve as an example.” She went with her head held high. Once there, she declared where she had come from and announced her intention to liberate her people. Her saga remains in the popular imagination, principally around the docks of Bahia. She lived in the nineteenth century.

Maria Filipa Born on Itaparica, the largest island in All Saints’ Bay, directly across from Salvador, Maria Filipa was a noteworthy leader in the struggles for the independence of Brazil and Bahia in 1822. She commanded dozens of men and women, Africans and Native Brazilians, in the burning of 42 war ships that were anchored at Convento Beach, poised to attack Salvador. Her actions were vital to Bahia’s independence. In her biography, a legendary story mentions that she used branches of stinging nettle to beat back Portuguese guards Araújo Mendes and Guimarães das Uvas.

Manoel Faustino, João de Deus, Luís G. das Virgens and Lucas Dantas Leaders of the Tailors’ Conspiracy, known also as the Búzios Revolt, Bahian Conspiracy and Bahian Insurrection, these brave men were tailors, apprentices and militants who fought for the independence of Brazil and the abolition of slavery. They were hanged in the public square and their bodies displayed to discourage insurgency. (See tourism itineraries). 96


Ahuna, Pacífico Licutan, Luís Sanim, Manoel Calafate, Dandará Leaders of the Malês Revolt, these revolutionaries were Muslim slaves who had been granted freedom, known in Bahia as Malês. They sought to free the slaves and put an end to Catholicism, the religion imposed on Africans from the moment they arrived in Brazil, as well as seize the assets of European descendants and Mulattos in order to establish an Islamic republic in Bahia. They were imprisoned and some were executed. Only Ahuna escaped, but it is uncertain where he fled.

André Rebouças A militant activist for the abolitionist cause, André Rebouças was the founder of the Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society. His father was the son of a freed slave. Born in Bahia, Rebouças was educated in Rio de Janeiro and became one of the greatest engineers in Brazil at the time. He lived between 1838 and 1898.

Gaiaku Luiza Luiza Franquelina da Rocha, more commonly known as Gaiaku Luiza, is considered one of the most important Jeje Candomblé high priestesses in Bahia. She was born on August 25, 1909, in Cachoeira, a city of the Bahian Recôncavo. Great-granddaughter of an African, she was born into and raised in the Candomblé tradition, living on the compound of Roça do Ventura House of Worship. She lived in close contact with her elder aunts of Candomblé, who taught her the age-old traditions of this religion. In 1937, Gaiaku Luiza was initiated into the Ketu nation. Shortly thereafter, she was inducted again into the Jeje Candomblé and become one of the promulgators of the rituals of this religious tradition.

Mãe Menininha do Gantois

One of the most important mother-of-the-saints in Brazil, Maria Escolástica Conceição Nazaré, better known as Mãe Menininha do Gantois, was one of the greatest defenders of the preservation of Afro-Bahian religions, especially the houses that were founded during the time of slavery, such as that of Engenho Velho and Casa Branca. Mãe Menininha was born on February 10, 1894 and became Iyalorixá, or high priestess, in 1922, under the reign of Oxum. She died at the age of 92, 74 years after being inducted into the religion. Considered by many an extraordinary religious leader, she was admired for her serenity and wisdom. Revered by important figures in artistic and political circles, Mãe Menininha was immortalized in song by Dorival Caymmi, with his piece “Oração à Mãe Menininha,” whom he refers to as “the mother of sweetness” and “the most beautiful Oxum;” glorifying her with subtle verses, such as: “Olorum who sent this daughter of Oxum to take care of us and watch over everything.” 97


Mãe Aninha Mãe Aninha, born Eugênia Anna dos Santos, founded in 1910 Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, today one of the country’s most important Candomblé houses of worship. She was the daughter of Africans, descendants of Gruncis, a nation whose rituals differ somewhat from the Ketu nation. Because of her social activism and the respect she earned from influential members of Bahian society, this high priestess played a fundamental role in securing the decree that granted freedom for the practice of African religions, signed by then-president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930s. Mãe Aninha was a daughter of Xangô, initiated in the Bamboxê House of Worship. Her importance is recognized in the history of culture and religion in Bahia. The high priestess was also a pioneer in the Lavagem of Bonfim—the ceremonial washing of the steps of Bonfim Church—where she led her daughters-of-the-saints in pilgrimage, with brooms and perfumed water for the cleansing ritual. In 1936, Mãe Aninha created the set of twelve Obas de Xangô, six on the right and six on the left, responsible for preserving and caring for the temple. Mãe Aninha’s dream to create a school where children would have the opportunity to learn the Yoruba language was realized by Mãe Stella de Oxóssi in 1987.

Mãe Stella de Oxóssi Maria Stella de Azevedo Santos, known as Mãe Stella de Oxóssi, Iyá Odé Kayode, was born in Salvador on May 2, 1925. She is one of Candomblé’s principal high priestesses, responsible for the preservation of this African religion throughout Brazil. Mãe Stella de Oxóssi is the priestess of Terreiro Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá, founded in 1910, and declared a Brazilian National Historic Heritage site. This religious institution is located in the neighborhood of São Gonçalo do Retiro, in Salvador, and includes an elementary school for 300 children from the surrounding community. In addition to traditional subjects, African culture is a mandatory part of the curriculum. The terreiro also runs cultural and career training programs for 150 adolescents. When she became leader of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá (House where Xangô is Lord), succeeding Mãe Ondina, Mãe Stella was the youngest Iyalorixá, or high priestess, in Bahia. Moreover, the ascension of Mãe Stella marked another important fact: the continuity of the matriarchal tradition in Opô Afonjá. As well as ruling over the religious duties of the compound, home to more than 50 families, Mãe Stella established several socio-cultural projects, such as the Eugênia Anna dos Santos (Iyá Oba Biyi) School, named for the founder of Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá.

Mestre Bimba Manuel dos Reis Machado, or Mestre Bimba, is credited with the legalization of Capoeira in Brazil. Mestre Bimba brought about a transformation of capoeira 98


from an outlawed fight to an art form recognized throughout the world. He introduced a new form of capoeira, called regional capoeira, which differs from Angola capoeira in the smooth fluidity of its movements, among other aspects. In August 1936, after defeating six soldiers with the secret moves of capoeira, Bimba was invited by the chief of police to work as a patrolman in the neighborhood of Vila América. Bimba refused, because he did not abide by the aggressive tactics of the State of Bahia police. For this and other anecdotes, Mestre Bimba is a legend, who was respected even by his enemies. There are no accounts of Bimba losing a confrontation. He fought with sly and quick movements. Many say that Mestre Bimba was the capoeira god in flesh and blood. The magic of his capoeira began when, with pebble and stick in his hands, he played the berimbau in a distinctive way that no one has been able to imitate, even today. Bimba was also known as Três Pancadas, or Three Blows, because it is reputed that no one withstood more than three of his moves during a fight.

Mestre Pastinha Vicente Joaquim Ferreira Pastinha, better known as Mestre Pastinha, was one of the principal capoeira masters in its history. Born in 1889, they say that he did not learn capoeira in school, but by chance. After all, destiny was responsible for the initiation of the young Pastinha in the sport, when he was just a boy. He was a staunch defender of the most traditional capoeira style— Angola Capoeira. Mestre Pastinha stands out for his role in teaching the art of capoeira. Over the years, his greatest attribute was shown to be his talent as a scholar on the art of capoeira and his aptitude for communication. The originality of his educational methods and the representation of the sport as an artistic expression formed a school that gave equal weight to the physical and mental effort required for talent to expand in creativity, and these teachings are now followed all over Brazil. Mestre Pastinha was the greatest proponent of Angola capoeira, the most tradition style of this sport in Brazil.

Mário Gusmão Mário Gusmão is considered the greatest contemporary actor of African descent in Bahia. In addition to roles in dozens of plays, he has performed in sixteen films, and acted in soap operas and series on Brazilian television, as well as taken part in numerous dance shows. According to Clyde Morgan, this multifaceted talent makes him an archetype and icon for the Afro-Bahian population and a larger-than-life figure for all those who fight for racial equality in Bahia. Mário Gusmão was born in 1928 in the City of Cachoeira, on the day that the drums in Bahia’s Candomblé houses beat for Ogum. He was an employee of the Lemos Brito Penitentiary for 23 years, but his artistic spirit led him to the Federal University of Bahia Theater School, from which he earned a degree in 1960. Since then, he has dedicated himself wholly to culture and the dramatic arts. 99



African Culture and Tourism Movements of cultural resistance of people of African descent in Bahia began gathering force in the 1940s and 1950s with the artistic production of Dorival Caymmi and Jorge Amado. The day-to-day way of life of their communities and the cultural universe of their African heritage were featured and highlighted in the works of these two artists. Both Caymmi’s music and the literary works of Jorge Amado bring together a great symbolic arsenal on the culture and the very being of the Bahian people. Actually, the works form a symbolic mold that originated a set of representations of Bahia and the culture of its people, where African heritage is given prime importance. Until today, these elements permeate the imagined universe of Bahia’s celebrated cultural differentiation. According to anthropologist Goli Guerreiro23, beginning in the 1960s, the cultural production of Bahian artists, brimming with references to Candomblé and miscegenation, occupied an important place in the national imagination and played a decisive role in the increase of tourism to the state. Bahia began to be viewed as a “mythical enchanted wellspring,” observes the anthropologist. In this context, Bahia offered the exoticism of a religion anchored in the tradition of African people, which defied Western rationality. The invention of this syncretic religion was the inspirational fount for artists such as Carybé, Calazans Neto, Mário Cravo and Carlos Bastos, who contributed to legitimizing the distinctiveness of Bahian culture. It was by no mere coincidence that French photographer Pierre Verger and visual artist Carybé decided to come to Bahia, after reading the novels of Jorge Amado. The presence of artists and intellectuals in the realm of tourism was introduced by writer and journalist Vasconcelos Maia, who in 1960 became the director of the first official government tourism board. In addition to investing in infrastructure, he wagered on Bahia’s cultural characteristics to develop a marketing strategy for tourism 23

GUERREIRO, Goli. A cidade imaginada: Salvador sob o olhar do turismo. Revista Unifacs, v. 1, no 11, 2005 Disponível em: http://www.revistas.unifacs.br/index.php/rgb/article/ viewArticle/192. Acesso em 10 maio. 2009.

Yemanjá Festival in the neighborhood of Rio Vermelho, Salvador, that takes place on February 2 101


Since then, culture has been the dominant theme of tourism in Bahia. Vasconcelos Maia organized courses for groups of guides, in which they were taught themes such as history, art, folklore, imagery and Candomblé by renowned scholars and specialists. Additionally, it was common practice for artists such as Caymmi, Jorge Amado, Mário Cravo and Carybé to receive groups of tourists in their homes. According to historian Cid Teixeira, the collaboration of famous artists and intellectuals in tourism activities was a great triumph of Vasconcelos Maia, who drank from the well of inspiration of a movement of great cultural effervescence in Bahia.

Intellectuals and Interpreters of the African Soul in Bahia

Carnival in Pelourinho, Historic District of Salvador

While African-influenced culture gained visibility through the works of the aforementioned artists, anthropological studies began to be undertaken, both within and beyond universities. In the first half of the twentieth century, aspects of this virtually invisible culture were the object of investigation by researchers such as Nina Rodrigues and Edison Carneiro. Beginning in the 1960s, African-inspired culture became the focal point for several researchers, such as anthropologist Vivaldo da Costa Lima, and attracted the attention of scholars from abroad, such as French sociologist Roger Bastide. The fieldwork conducted by Costa Lima in Africa gained greater dimension with Pierre Verger, the French photographer who became an ethnologist, and who decided to go straight to the source, the African continent, and primarily the Republic of Benin, the origin of the last contingents of slaves sent to Bahia. Since these early studies, various works have been dedicated to this theme.

Nina Rodrigues Medical doctor, ethnologist and professor at the Bahia School of Medicine, Maranhão-born Raimundo Nina Rodrigues was the first scholar to consider the situation of Brazil’s population of African descent as a social problem, and a question of prime importance for understanding the racial formation of the Brazilian population. Although carried out through a nationalist, scientific, and even racist perspective, his studies, dating from the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, gained special importance for using as subjects, in the author’s own words, “the last Africans in Bahia.” His contributions are found in the books O animismo fetichista dos Negros Baianos, 1900 and Os Africanos no Brasil, 1905.

Artur Ramos

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Medical doctor, anthropologist and folklorist, born in the state of Alagoas, Artur Ramos is the author of important works on Afro-Brazilian ethnography, especially in the area of religious groups. He graduated in 1926 from the Federal University of Bahia Medical School, and taught clinical psychiatry. In 1934,vhe published O negro brasileiro, in which he examines religious practices and Afro-Brazilian culture. One year later, he published O folclore negro do Brasil. Shortly thereafter, he undertook studies based on his travels throughout the American continent and published As culturas negras do Novo Mundo. All of his works were based on his conviction that


to understand the diverse Afro-American cultural expressions, one must analyze where they occur, and then look for their roots on the African continent.

Milton Santos Professor Milton Santos, geographer and creative thinker, was awarded honorary doctoral degrees by 12 respected universities outside of Brazil. He first graduated in law from the Federal University of Bahia in 1948, and taught in Ilhéus and Salvador. In 1958, he returned to Brazil after earning a doctorate in geography from the University of Strasbourg in France. He became a full professor at the University of São Paulo, and was the first non-Anglo-Saxon scholar to be awarded the Vautrin Lud Prize, considered the Nobel Prize of geography. Under the military dictatorship, he was imprisoned and sent into exile. From 1964 to 1977, he taught at several universities outside of Brazil. He published over 40 books, among them: O povoamento da Bahia O futuro da geografia, Zona do cacau, Por uma outra globalização and Território e sociedade no século XXI.

Edison Carneiro Edison Carneiro was an ethnologist, historian and folklorist, as well as one of the greatest scholars on the origins and influences of Brazilians of African descent. He graduated in legal sciences from the Bahia College of Law in 1936, and began his career as a writer and researcher, even joining the Academia dos Rebeldes, a group of irreverent young writers founded by Jorge Amado and others. In 1939, he established residency in Rio de Janeiro, where he penned important works such as: Negros Bantus, 1937, O quilombo dos Palmares, 1947, Candomblés da Bahia, 1948, Folclore no Brasil, 1963 and Religiões negras, 1966.

Vivaldo da Costa Lima Vivaldo da Costa Lima is Professor Emeritus at the Federal University of Bahia, where he taught several disciplines in anthropology, and served as coordinator of sociological and anthropological research for its Afro- Studies Center (CEAO). Additionally, he was visiting professor of Brazilian Studies at universities in Ibadan, Nigeria and Ghana. For many years, he was the director of IPAC—the Artistic and Cultural Patrimony Institute of Bahia. Presently, he is dedicated to studying the anthropology of food in Brazil. He has published several books on African matrix culture, such as A família de santo nos Candomblés Jejes-Nagôs da Bahia, 1977,Encontro de nações de Candomblé, 1984, and Cosme e Damião: o culto aos santos gêmeos no Brasil e na África, 2005.

Roger Bastide French sociologist Roger Bastide is credited with conferring upon Candomblé the sociological status of religion. In his seminal study O Candomblé da Bahia, as religiões africanas no Brasil e imagens do Nordeste místico em Preto e Branco, Bastide developed the theory that Candomblé is a recreation in Brazil of a symbolic Africa, that can ease the suffering of African descendants in a Caucasian society. For Bastide, Candomblé houses of worship function as a

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means for Bahians of African descent to transport themselves to Africa and to a family that cannot be recreated in African molds.

Pierre Verger Pierre Verger landed in Bahia in 1946 and was swiftly seduced by Salvador’s welcoming hospitality and cultural wealth. Despite his nomadic lifestyle, he chose Bahia as his sanctuary. It was in Africa, in 1953, however, that his rebirth took place, when he was baptized with the name Fatumbi, or “reborn by the grace of Ifá.” In addition to his religious initiation, Verger began at this time a new trade, that of researcher. The French Institute of Black Africa (IFAN), not content with the 2,000 negatives he presented as a result of his photographic investigation, asked that he write about what he had witnessed. Against his will, Verger complied. Later he became enthralled with the universe of research and continued his studies for the remainder of his life. Among his principal works are: Notícias da Bahia –1850, Oxóssi, o caçador, Lendas dos Orixás, 1981, Orixás–deuses iorubás na África e no Novo Mundo, Lendas africanas dos Orixás, As sobrevivências das tradições religiosas africanas nas Caraíbas e na América Latina, Culturas africanas, Ewé: o uso das plantas na sociedade iorubá and Fluxo e refluxo do tráfico de escravos entre o Golfo do Benin e a Baía de Todos os Santos dos séculos XVII a XIX.

Júlio Braga A graduate of the College of Philosophy and Human Sciences with a doctorate in anthropology, presently Júlio Braga is a professor at the Bahia State University in Feira de Santana. His studies focus on the anthropology of Afro-Brazilian populations. He has published several books, among them: Candomblé, tradição e mudança, A cadeira de Ogã e outros ensaios, Fuxico de Candomblé, Na gamela do feitiço: repressão e resistência nos candomblé da Bahia, Ancestralidade afrobrasileira, A Sociedade Protetora dos Desvalidos: uma irmandade de cor and O jogo de búzios: um estudo da adivinhação no Candomblé.

Jéferson Bacelar A graduate of social sciences, Jéferson Bacelar is a professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA) and the coordinator of the exchange program between UFBA and the Council on International Educational Exchange. He also serves as assistant treasurer of the Brazilian Anthropology Association. His principal works include: Mário Gusmão: um príncipe negro na terra dos dragões da maldade, A hierarquia das raças: negros e brancos em Salvador and Faces da tradição afro-brasileira.

Jaime Sodré A professional designer, with a doctoral degree in social history, researcher Jaime Sodré is a specialist in Candomblé of the Jeje nation and percussion music. An activist in the Black Movement in Bahia, Sodré has published hundreds of articles in journals and specialized periodicals, and acted frequently as an advocate on behalf of groups, institutions and governmental agencies. 104


Antonio Risério Writer, poet, essayist, historian and anthropologist, Antonio Risério delved into the universe of anthropological research, with an emphasis on defining aspects of Bahian culture. Among his many achievements, he contributed to the project establishing the Museum of Portuguese Language in São Paulo; he has written screenplays for film and television; and, he has authored various compositions that have been recorded by icons of Brazilian Popular Music. Books he has written include: Carnaval ijexá, Caymmi: uma utopia de lugar, Textos e tribos, Avant-garde na Bahia, Oriki Orixá and Uma história da cidade da Bahia. One of his most recent books, A utopia brasileira e os movimentos negros, examines the racial issue in Brazil; more specifically, the importation of North American racial political sympathies to Brazil. He develops panoramas of Brazilian cultural aspects; for example, tracing an interesting description of the history of Candomblé in Brazil from the first main houses of worship in Salvador to its golden era, when it was adopted by the Brazilian artistic and intellectual elite in the 1960s and 1970s. His academic curiosity and insightfulness make Antonio Risério one of the most important intellectuals in Bahia dealing with the question of race.

João Reis Historian and sociologist, João Reis is full professor in the History Department at the Federal University of Bahia. He has conducted research in the areas of social history and the culture of slavery, slave resistance, social movements, attitudes in facing death and other related topics. He has published several books, including: A morte é uma festa: ritos fúnebres e revolta popular no Brasil do século XIX, Rebelião escrava no Brasil: a história do Levante dos Malês em 1835, Domingos Sodré, um sacerdote africano: escravidão, liberdade e candomblé na Bahia do século XIX, Negociação e conflito: resistência negra no Brasil escravista and Escravidão e invenção da liberdade.

Renato da Silveira Designer, visual artist and anthropologist, Renato da Silveira is a professor at UFBA, and a member of the graduate studies department of the Schools of Communication and History, where he conducts research on slavery and the invention of freedom. Among his works are: A força e a doçura da força: estruturas e dinamismo afrobrasileiro em Salvador da Bahia, Os selvagens e a massa: papel do racismo científico na montagem da hegemonia ocidental and O candomblé da Barroquinha: processo de constituição do primeiro terreiro baiano de ketu.

Luis Nicolau Parés Born in Barcelona, Spain, Luis Nicolau Parés has lived in Salvador since 1998. He is a professor in the anthropology department in the School of Philosophy and Human Sciences at UFBA, where he investigates African and Afro-Brazilian religions. He is the author of numerous articles and book chapters on the topic, and recently published A formação do candomblé: história e ritual da nação Jeje na Bahia. 105



Cultural Resistance Marked by generalized contestation and questioning, the year 1968 signaled a turning point throughout the globe that transformed the modern era. The entire world exploded in 1968: demonstrations and protest marches erupted on all corners and continents. Defiance was the prevailing mood. On the waves of this new order, the United States witnessed the rise of the Black Power Movement and the struggle against racism, whose greatest leader, Martin Luther King, was assassinated that very year. The seed planted by the African American leader, however, extrapolated the racial question and gave rise to the formation of diverse movements advocating civil rights for minorities. In contrast to the previous revolutionary decade, the 1970s were characterized by the incorporation of the new values and by the experimentation of this cultural aftermath. Precisely in this context Bahia experienced a rekindling of the struggle for cultural resistance first undertaken by people of African descent, and a legitimate outgrowth of the movement that unfolded in the United States, beginning in 1954 with Rosa Parks, and carried forth subsequently by the Black Panthers and the messages of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, as well as Jamaicans Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff. Contrary to the direction of the racial movement in the United States, where people of African descent strove to be recognized as Americans; the movement that arose in Bahia took on a new feature, based on the reaffirmation of ancestrality. An emphasis was placed on the strength of traditions brought from Africa by forefathers, which in Brazil had been maintained with great difficulty, undercover, and often times veiled from public sight. In Brazil, Black Awareness social movements aspired to promote AfroBrazilian pride and dignity by redeeming ancestral history, defending fundamental rights and exacting reparations for injustices suffered since the time of slavery. Broader than a political and cultural movement, the organized struggles always maintained a social component and a common focal point: providing opportunities to new generations.

Black Beauty Pageant, at IlĂŞ AiyĂŞ 107


Afrocentrism in the School Curricula One of the triumphs of these movements was the inclusion of the history of Africa and Afro-descendants in Salvador’s municipal school curriculum, beginning in the 1990s. This achievement was extended to all Brazil in 2003 when the National Congress approved Law 10.639/03 that determined a change in elementary and high school curricula to incorporate content related to AfroBrazilian resistance and culture, and the role of African descendants in the formation of Brazilian society. Afro-Bahian culture was born and nurtured in slave quarters, quilombos and Candomblé houses of worship. The practice of African religions is a natural consequence of a city so strongly influenced by this ancestrality. Nevertheless, the day-to-day reality of children and adolescents of African descent does not always reflect these victories. The predominance of Catholicism over other religions impedes the practice of Candomblé. The heroes in Bahian and Brazilian history have always been white. The human body used for illustration in science classes typically displays Caucasian features. These factors act together in alienating from school children and youths of African descent who do not see themselves represented in that biased universe.

Cultural Groups Mobilized by their cultural heritage, Afro-Brazilian children, adolescents and youths began to develop artistic talents and other forms of awareness that before had been limited to the state’s folkloric scenario. Energized and instructed by the methodologies of art-education being used by cultural groups such as Olodum, Ilê Aiyê, and Malê Debalê, among others, thousands of young people of African descent have been given new opportunities, and transformed the traditions of their ancestors into multiple forms of pure art.

Olodum Cultural Group Founded in 1979 as an Africa-inspired Carnival group in Pelourinho, the heart of Salvador’s Historic District, Olodum presently operates as a nongovernmental organization recognized by the state government as entity of the public interest. After its Carnival launch in 1980, the group reached the size of 2,000 members and began to showcase historic themes and those relating to Afro-Brazilian culture. Recorded in 1987, Olodum’s first disc was an overwhelming success and propelled them toward international recognition as the country’s most important Afro-Brazilian percussion group. In the 1990s, they lent their unique blend of rhythms, including African drumming, reggae, samba and Latin rhythms, to renowned artists like Paul Simon, Wayne Shorter, Michael Jackson, Jimmy Cliff and Herbie Hancock. In addition to artistic success, Olodum led and took part in social movements against racism and for civil and human rights, maintaining a significant social project through the Olodum School. Founded in 1983, with the Drumbeat 108


Project, the school offers educational support to children and youth. Currently serving nearly 400 boys and girls of African descent, whose work goes beyond the training of new artists in the cultural scene of Bahia and Brazil. The goal, in fact, aims at training students for the labor market, particularly in the artistic field, using African and Afro-Brazilian culture as a tool for the construction of a new concept of education and citizenship. Olodum’s pedagogical project is based on the interethnic theory of professor and sociologist Manoel de Almeida, an educator and militant in the Black Movement. The fundamentals of interethnic pedagogy are founded on the promotion of the culture of people of African descent to raise the self-esteem of different groups of a multi-cultural and diversified society, in such a way that teaching and learning interact under egalitarian conditions. Among the classes offered, the Percussion Workshop, with practical and theoretical lessons, is a showcase of the work carried out by Olodum School. It offers a concrete possibility for the integration and social advancement of the students, who besides acquiring skills and knowledge in the classroom, have been given the opportunity to travel to different places and learn about different cultures. Those who look at the workshops as purely fun and recreation are soundly mistaken. Among other content, the students learn the written system of staffs and notes used to graphically represent music so that they can read sheet music anywhere in the world. The school has already trained over 1,000 students to enter the artistic market. The selection process for choosing students takes into consideration academic performance in formal schooling, among other criteria.

The drums of Olodum in Pelourinho, Historic District of Salvador

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Parade of the Afro Bloco Ilê Aiyê during Carnival in Salvador

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Ilê Aiyê Cultural Association Ilê Aiyê was the first Afro Carnival group founded in Brazil, established in 1974, in Curuzu-Liberdade, a neighborhood of 600,000 inhabitants—the largest concentration of people of African descent in Brazil. Ilê Aiyê’s main actions promote the preservation, enrichment and development of Afro-Brazilian culture. Since its beginnings, the group has paid tribute to the people, cultures and countries of Africa, as well as Brazilian anti-slavery resistance movements, which have contributed to a process of strengthening the formation of the ethnic identity and self-esteem of Brazilian of African descent. With these actions, Ilê Aiyê has popularized African history, forging a link with the history of the Negro in Brazil. Ilê Aiyê is the only Afro Carnival group that does not allow nonblacks to participate in its Carnival parade. Ilê’s visual richness and complex and compelling musicality has attracted thousands of fans from around the world. With 3,000 members, today Ilê Aiyê is a valued asset of Bahian culture, and a hallmark in the process of re-Africanizing the greatest popular festival in Bahia. Like Olodum, the Ilê Aiyê Cultural Association develops social projects aimed at social inclusion for people of African descent, totaling six different projects.


Mãe Hilda Literacy School Based on the Candomblé teachings of the Jeje-Nagô nation, and led by Mãe Hilda dos Santos, the pedagogical project of this literacy school is modeled after art-education. In this vein, the musicians of the Ilê group progress beyond a simple “sing to motivate” to a “lesson” of the day, which is studied in an interdisciplinary manner. EBand’Erê School of Percussion, Song, Dance and Citizenship Founded at the end of the 1980s to renew the ranks of musicians of Band’Aiyê, in 1995 it became a school for integral education and citizenship. Divided into four groups of twenty-five participants, children and adolescents are taught AfroBrazilian history, interpretation and languages, musical rhythms, singing, dance and personal health and hygiene.

Young Americans visit the Ilê Aiyê Cultural Association

Pedagogical Extension Project Ilê Aiyê’s Pedagogical Extension Project (PEP) was created in 1995 with the objective of systematizing and expanding educational actions, initially in the schools of Liberdade, implemented by the Ilê Cultural Association since its founding. To put these measures in place, Ilê Aiyê has sought partnerships with several institutions that have supported and accompanied the group’s actions. In the public schools, courses are offered in which professors, supervisors and educational leaders learn about Afro-Brazilian history and culture, in addition to developing critical thinking when dealing with themes of particular interest to the Afro-Brazilian community. Training is provided by educators from PEP. Ilê Aiyê Vocational School Through a range of vocational courses, the school aims to provide occupational training for people of African descent. Many workshops are offered, including courses in cooking, African esthetics, manufacturing of percussion instruments, sewing and alterations, as well as shoe and handbag production. Senzala do Barro Preto Located in the neighborhood of Liberdade/Curuzu in Salvador, this space is dedicated to showcasing and preserving black culture, as well as being a cultural center for the local community. The Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center covers an area of 4,500 square meters, divided into eight floors. Still under construction, this building is where rehearsals of the Band’Aiyê musical group are held, as well as a range of workshops including dance, percussion, painting, silk-screening, shoemaking and wardrobe and accessory design, as well as educational training, especially in cultural activities and formal elementary education. The Mãe Hilda School provides specialized educational activities for children, adolescents and adults, offering a recording studio, library and video library, computer lab and an auditorium. 111


Carlinhos Brown and Candyall Ghetto Square

Performer and cultural advocate Carlinhos Brown

The effervescent creativity that singer and composer Carlinhos Brown reveals in his music extends to the social projects he has undertaken in the neighborhood of Candeal. This region, where Carlinhos was born and grew up, has been home to free blacks since the 18th century. Today some of the artist’s social projects are located here, promoting a network of solidarity reinforced by musicality and culture – a vibrant example of sustainable community development. Candeal has become a breeding ground for innovative musical production, gaining notoriety for consolidating music as a lifestyle choice, and generating work opportunities for local youth. Community participation, in conjunction with public and private institutions, has transformed the stereotypical image of Brazilian slums known as favelas, and made the neighborhood a model of community development, achieving national and international recognition as recipients of several social awards. Brown, the creator of several of Salvador’s most interesting and innovative cultural attractions, such as the Rhythm Museum, Candyall Ghetto Square, Citódio Ilha dos Sapos, Candombléss, Zárabes and Timbalada, is also involved with similarly creative social projects, through the Practatum Social Action Association (APAS). Set up by Brown in an effort to develop projects based on a three-pronged philosophical approach, “education and culture, social mobilization and urbanization,” the non-profit private capital civil partnership aims to improve the quality of life of local residents through community development and educational and cultural programs. APAS’s social initiatives focus on generating job opportunities for young people from Candeal and widening their horizons. Some highlights of the association’s projects include: Pracatum Music School, the Tá Rebocado Housing Improvement Scheme, Pracatum Fashion, Pracatum English Course, Virgem da Almudena Nursery School, Menino é Bom, Grupo Pracatum, Ebanóises, Hip Hop Roots and Candombléss.

Muzenza The Afro bloco Muzenza was established in May 1981 in the neighborhood of Liberdade, inspired by the Jamaican reggae music of Bob Marley. Muzenza is a Bantu word of Kimbundo-Kicongo origin, used in Angola nation Candomblé to designate pre-initiates and recent initiates, and is also the name of one of the drum rhythms. The meaning of the word is the same as iyawô in Ketu nation Candomblé. Muzenza began as a Carnival group showcasing percussion-heavy reggae. Little by little, it became one of the Carnival blocos playing the greatest variety of rhythms in Salvador. In 1988, they released their first album, Muzenza do Reggae, on the Continental label. Today, besides its status as one of the most well-known Afro blocos in Salvador, Muzenza carries out socio-educational projects for communities of African descent, focusing on professional training through design, painting, dance and musical instrument production workshops. 112


Os Negões The Afro bloco Os Negões was established by a group of activists, artists and athletes, who participated in several of Salvador’s open-air festivals, but who during Carnival were dispersed among the city’s many different Afro blocos. To maintain their unity during Salvador’s famed pre-Lenten celebrations, they established Os Negões de 1.80m, made up exclusively of black men over six feet tall. In 1995, women and shorter men were allowed to participate in the bloco. In 2000, the Black Entities Forum was established in conjunction with Ilê Aiyê, Muzenza and Malê de Balê. The bloco offers university entrance exam preparation courses in partnership with the State University of Bahia and runs a project to train female ex-convicts. In addition, they direct the Capoeira and Citizenship Project, whose main goal is to teach young people and adults how to read and write, as well as offering dance and percussion workshops.

Cortejo Afro Literally the African Cortege, this bloco was established on July 2, 1998, Bahian Independence Day, by a community from the Ilê Axé Oyá Candomblé House of Worship in the neighborhood of Pirajá. Their objective was to showcase all the authenticity and power of Bahia’s Africa-based culture in Salvador’s Carnival, with the inspiration and spiritual guidance of high priestess Mãe Santinha, one of the most respected mothers-of-the-saints in Bahia. The bloco parades with exuberant costumes, dancing in intricate choreography with movements inspired by Afro-Bahian culture. Conceived by visual artist and designer Alberto Pitta, Cortejo has become one of the most creative Afro blocos in Bahia, breathing new life into traditional Carnival colors, sounds and rhythms. This was the inspiration for the predominance of white on white, light blue and silver, the colors of Oxalá. The large hats used in the forward wing reflect visual elements from the kingdoms of African tribes, especially Benin and Côte d’Ivoire, among other African countries. It is important to mention that the local community produces all of Cortejo Afro’s costumes and accessories. Cortejo Afro parading in Salvador’s Carnival. To the side, the Filhos de Gandhy procession in Campo Grande

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Filhos de Gandhy Literally the Sons of Gandhi, this Afoxé-style Carnival group is the city’s oldest. It was founded in 1949 by a group of dockworkers from the Port of Salvador, who, for lack of financial means, decided to make their own Carnival costumes out of white sheets. Old tea barrels and leather were used to make the drums that accompanied the procession. The name of this Afoxé was suggested by Durval Marques da Silva, known as Vavá Madeira, who created this Carnival group inspired by the life of pacifist leader Mahatma Gandhi. They did, however, change the spelling from “i” to “y” to avoid possible problems from the use of the name of such an important world figure. Until today, Filhos de Gandhy maintain the traditions of ijexá, both in the rhythms and the costumes.

Filhos do Congo Ijexá is also the rhythm of the Afoxé Filhos do Congo. Its current structure dates from 1979 but its origins can be traced back to the 19th century, an association called Congos d’África. The group was founded by a babalorixá named Rodrigo from the neighborhood of Engenho Velho da Federação. Like other afoxés, they paraded through the streets going from house to house. The route ran through the neighborhoods of Baixa dos Sapateiros and Barroquinha. For several years, this afoxé did not participate in Carnival. In the 1940s, it became active again under the direction of Rodrigo’s son, Salvador, with the name Filhos do Congo. Yet this arrangement was short-lived. In 1979, Nadinho do Congo, unaware of the group’s history, decided to found an afoxé using the same name. Years later, through descendents of the original babalorixá, he discovered the true background of this afoxé. Today, Filhos do Congo parades with an average of 700 members. The director, Nadinho do Congo, is also the president of the Association of Afoxés, made up of eight different groups that during Carnival, parade on the Batatinha Circuit in Salvador’s Historic District. It is also active in social projects offering workshops on crafts, handbag and clothing production.

Ara Ketu One of the most traditional of Salvador’s Carnival blocos, Ara Ketu, meaning the People of Ketu, was established in March 1980, in the neighborhood of Periperi on the outskirts of the city. The idea of setting up a bloco came from a group of revelers who also wanted to parade during Carnival. The choice of the name and the theme for the costumes and music was centered on the preservation and dissemination of Afro-Bahian culture. Ara Ketu has always practiced an anti-racial policy, not discriminating on the basis of the color, sex or religion of its associates. Since its founding, the bloco has paraded through the streets of Salvador with themes alluding to Africa-based culture and its influence in Bahia. The bloco also promotes social equality through the Ara Ketu Institute, founded 114



in 1997, which is currently working with 320 underprivileged young people from the suburbs of Salvador. The main focus is children’s education through sport and professional training for adolescents through the “I Want To Work” program.

Malê Debalê References to social struggles for the advancement of people of African descent are a trademark of the Afro bloco Malê Debalê, as does their name that pays tribute to the Malês Revolt, an uprising of black Muslims, which took place in Salvador in 1835. This bloco is considered the largest Afro ballet in the world, as up to 2,000 dancers participate simultaneously in their performances. The group was founded 30 years ago in the neighborhood of Itapuã, in a community located near Abaeté Lagoon. They also carry out important social work, specifically at a school for nearly 400 students. Afro Bloco Malê Debalê in Salvador’s Carnival

Capoeira Mangangá Cultural Association The first artist to include capoeira in musical performances was the singer, composer, cultural producer and capoeira master Antônio Carlos Gomes Conceição, known as Tonho Matéria, ex-vocalist of Olodum and Araketu. He began to work at the age of eight, helping his mother sell acarajé. In 1976, at age 12, he decided he wanted to be a capoerista because at Salvador’s many open-


air festivals, he had the chance to see many capoeira circles. Tonho’s childhood passion for capoeira became a reality for more than 400 children and adolescents from underprivileged neighborhoods who benefit from the social work that the now famous singer and composer Tonho Matéria carries out through the Mangangá Association. Initially restricted to the neighborhood where its founder was born, today it has branch offices in districts such as IAPI, Sete de Abril, Águas Claras, Castelo Branco, STIEP, Nova Brasília and Caixa d’Água, in Salvador, and also in the municipalities of São Roque do Paraguaçu, Lauro de Freitas and Simões Filho.

Event promoted by the Capoeira Mangangá Cultural Association

Projeto Axé Although not part of the cultural resistance movements of people of African descent, Projeto Axé, founded in 1990 by the Italian Cesare La Rocca, has made an outstanding contribution to raising the self-esteem of young black people in Salvador. With a focus on art-education, the project is based on the philosophy that art is not an instrument for education, but rather education itself. The project created the role of street educator who constantly motivates young people to build and continually renew their lives, in which they not only recognize themselves as citizens, but also as human beings free to pursue their full potential. With its headquarters in the Pelourinho, the project always focuses on the real life experiences of these young people of African descent, even in their sense of esthetics. 117



African Heritage Tourism in Bahia Salvador is the most African city outside of Africa, with at least 80% of its population of African descent. Cuisine, religion, culture, music, dance and art from African peoples are hallmarks of Bahian culture. A series of actions is being carried out to develop African heritage tourism including the formatting of attractions and the creation of specific circuits and itineraries with content suitable to this tourism sector. Visits to CandomblĂŠ houses of worship will be included in these itineraries with a focus on the preservation of religious heritage and respect for tradition. Additionally, the Secretariat of Tourism has put together an African Heritage Events Calendar, which can serve as a guide for those visiting Bahia who wish to consult a comprehensive daily schedule with useful information throughout the year.

Tourism Circuits Tourism circuits are generally understood as a group of municipalities within the same tourism region possessing natural and cultural attractions as well as access and service infrastructure. They must also have a similar theme and organize themselves to receive tourists who come to their territories to visit several destinations in the region. The word circuit is French in origin and is commonly used to define a specific tourism itinerary or tour. The tour or circuit can then be set up and planned to promote the integration of a range of attractions within a specific region, and consequently lengthen the stay of visitors. To be considered a circuit, the tour must cover a specific geographic area characterized by the predominance of certain cultural, historic and natural elements of interest to travelers in order to increase the number of visitors and lengthen their stay, with the final result of generating jobs and income for the local population.

Bonfim Festival in Salvador 119


São Francisco Church in Salvador’s Historic District

Taking into account the great diversity of African heritage tourism attractions in Salvador, spread out over wide geographic areas, the Secretariat of Tourism of the State of Bahia—SETUR has proposed the creation of three tourism circuits so that visitors can better take advantage of all the potential this segment has to offer. Besides Salvador, SETUR is setting up tourism circuits in the Chapada Diamantina and Dendê Coast tourism regions, as well as in the Bahian Recôncavo where the municipalities of Cachoeira, Santo Amaro, São Félix, Maragojipe and Nazaré are located. These areas have been strongly influenced by African matrix elements since their founding. In Bahia, the formatting of other theme circuits in the Chapada Diamantina and Jiquiriçá Valley tourism regions has already involved municipal governments and local tourism professionals to create itineraries and sell theme package tours. In Salvador, the creation of these circuits comes as a response to requests from entities representing this segment of the population who view African heritage tourism as a way of extending tourism-related economic benefits to people of African descent. The preliminary studies carried out by SETUR suggest the creation of three African heritage tourism circuits in Salvador: the Old City-Pelourinho-Lower City, the neighborhoods of Curuzu and Liberdade, and the outlying region served by the commuter train system called Subúrbio Ferroviário, or the Railroad Suburbs.


In the area around All Saints’ Bay, SETUR has proposed the establishment of two theme circuits: religious and quilombo. The first covers African matrix religions, religious syncretism and cultural heritage. The second focuses on communities descending from escaped slaves, quilombos, and symbolic elements dating from the slave regime. For the Chapada Diamantina and Dendê Coast, SETUR has proposed the formation of two circuits relating to quilombo communities, each one targeting the individual characteristics of the region and of the communities to be visited. It is worthwhile to point out that many of these communities are already aware of their substantial tourism potential. In some, it is possible to find tourism infrastructure ranging from incoming services to accommodations and regional cuisine.

Salvador As previously stated, the Bahian capital is the most African city outside of Africa. It is logical, therefore, that the main African heritage tourism attractions would be concentrated there, whether it be festivals, dance, religion, music, gastronomy or even the lifestyles of its communities. Old City – Pelourinho – Lower City Circuit A range of attractions can be found in this part of the city, with a variety of themes: religious, churches and Candomblé houses of worship; architectural, the collection of colonial buildings known as the Pelourinho; cultural, the Mercado Modelo and São Joaquim markets offering handcrafts and local Afro-Bahian cuisine. This area also offers visitors other cultural and historic attractions, such as shows, the headquarters of Olodum and its school, folk manifestations, such as capoeira, as well as sites where the leaders of African rebellions were killed and exposed to public humiliation. Curuzu – Liberdade Circuit The neighborhood of Liberdade is home to a population of over 600,000 people, the majority of African descent. It is here, more specifically in the district known as Curuzu, that the headquarters of Ilê Aiyê and its Cultural Center are located. Within this universe, the lifestyles of communities of African descent and African matrix culture are symbolically represented to the greatest extent possible, ranging from festivals, music, dance, African esthetics, religiosity and cuisine to the social work carried out by Ilê Aiyê. Railroad Suburbs Circuit This circuit covers an area with which even many local inhabitants in Salvador are unfamiliar. Besides its great natural beauty, this circuit is home to the highest concentration of Candomblé houses of worship in the city. With a distinct culture, the lifestyles of African communities here are truly authentic. Even typical Bahian 121


cuisine has a unique local twist, especially in seafood dishes and other regional fare, such as sarapatel, pork tripe stew, rabada, oxtail stew and buchada, mutton tripe stew.

The Bahian Recôncavo The municipalities located in the area around All Saints’ Bay, known collectively as the Recôncavo, have been strongly influenced by African culture, mainly people of Bantu origin, who were brought to work in the sugar mills and cane fields. The region has a great tourism potential and is also particularly attractive to those interested in African heritage. Religious Circuit On this circuit, the most well-known element is the Irmandade da Boa Morte or Sisterhood of Good Death, in Cachoeira. The religious festivities organized by this sisterhood, their unique attire and rituals are of great interest to African heritage tourism visitors. Together with the great diversity of Candomblé houses of worship located throughout the region, the sisterhood in and of itself is responsible for increasing the number of visitors and lengthening their stay in the region. Quilombo Circuit Communities descending from quilombos can still be found throughout the Recôncavo, for example Dendê, Engenho da Ponte, Calembá, São Tiago do Iguape and Caonge. The lifestyle of slaves in these municipalities is apparent in the old sugar mills, many of which are quite well preserved. At the Wanderley de Pinho Museum, or Museum of the Recôncavo, housed in an old sugar mill, some elements from slave culture during the colonial period are on display, including tools used as instruments of torture. The festivals, music, dances and cuisine of the Recôncavo reflect cultural aspects that are quite different from those found in Salvador.

Chapada Diamantina Visits to the villages of Bananal and Barra, in the municipality of Rio de Contas, are included in this circuit. Descending from quilombos, they are inhabited today by people predominantly of African descent who have kept alive traditions of African origin. The Chapada Diamantina Quilombo Circuit includes the communities of Rio Santo Antônio and Remanso, in the municipality of Lençóis, and those of Barra, Bananal and Riacho das Pedras, in the municipality of Rio de Contas.

Dendê Coast

The City of Camamu, on the Dendê Coast 122

Local folk manifestations, such as Zambiapunga, are representative of this region’s African culture. The production of dendê and its derivatives are symbols associated with Afro-Bahian cuisine. On the Dendê Coast, the Quilombo Circuit passes through the municipalities of Maraú and Camamu, specifically the communities of Empata Viagem, Piracanga, Torrinha, Boité, Terra Seca, Águas Vermelhas, Burudanga, Coduru, Garcia, Jaqueira and Orojó, among others.


Existing and Proposed Itineraries In each of the circuits that have been proposed by SETUR, itineraries already exist that are being offered by travel agencies. Herein, we propose the creation of additional tours and we suggest that these new itineraries should be developed based on the potential highlighted in this publication.

Existing Itineraries 1. Afro-Bahia: Cultural resistance – “Viver Afro” in Salvador (itinerary sold by the Cultour travel agency)

In Bahia, Friday is a day when many people wear white clothing. Discovering the origin of this and other customs is the objective of this itinerary. Diverse cultures and peoples from Mother Africa have profoundly influenced the culture of the state in a range of expressions, including music, gastronomy and religiosity. We will discover who the Africans brought here were and their traditions from the motherland. We will analyze as well the social dynamics of life in colonial times and the role of urban slaves. Their free movement in the streets of the city gave the impression of a “false freedom,” in comparison with plantation slaves. This pseudo-freedom allowed them to organize religious brotherhoods and sisterhoods that, at face value, were Catholic in origin, yet in reality served to

Baianas in Pelourinho Square, Salvador’s Historic District, in front of the City Museum and the House of Jorge Amado Foundation


worship African deities, which allowed them to eventually build their own church. The faithful from these associations played a very important social role in aiding those still enslaved. Within this context, free blacks set up the first civilian society to provide retirement funds and credit to marginalized blacks, an entity that provides assistance to those in need until today. The majority of urban slaves worked selling local delicacies. The most famous of these were the Baianas do acarajé, who are still guardians of the secrets of these “balls of fire.” After more than 500 years, Bahia’s population of African descent still preserves their own cultural traditions. The African experience still echoes in the daily lives of Bahians of all races, yet it is within the predominantly black neighborhoods that this is most apparent.

Acarajés. Below, sculpture from the Afro-Brazilian Museum collection, Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador’s Historic District

Theme Itinerary Mother Africa • Afro-Brazilian Museum The Faithful • Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks Church • Brotherhood of the Rosary of Black Men Faith Among Men • Society for the Protection of Invalids The Secret of the “Balls of Fire” • The Baianas Memorial Viver Afro • The streets and inhabitants of an urban quilombo community • Wa-jeun (lunch with samba de viola) • Candomblé House of Worship (capoeira presentation) 2. Paths of the Orishas (itineraries sold by the Afrotours travel agency) The itineraries offered by Afrotours are known as Paths of the Orishas and cover historic and Afro-religious social elements, including sightseeing of the city’s main tourism attractions with day visits to some Afro-religious houses of worship. In addition, the agency offers the possibility of participating in a religious ceremony in the evening. • Path of Xangô Visit to the Ilê Axé Opô Afonjá House of Worship to participate in a small ceremony, in which the deity’s favorite food, amalá, plays a central role. According to this terreiro’s calendar of events, this ceremony is held every Wednesday morning. Visits to the library, museum and community school are also included.

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• Path of Oxalá A tour of the main, centrally located Candomblé houses of worship in Salvador, Casa Branca, Ilê Axé Oxumaré and Gantois, to see their museums and social projects and experience firsthand the power of this religion of African origin. The tour can be scheduled any afternoon throughout the week.

Offerings to Yemanjá on the 2nd of February, during the festival in her honor

• Path of Oxum In this panoramic tour of the outskirts of Salvador, the agency presents a firsthand view of the city’s outlying areas, focusing on the distance from the center of the city to reveal the distinct vibe and atmosphere, not offered in regular tours. It begins at São Joaquim Market and continues to the neighborhood of Ribeira, for a visit to Bonfim Church. • Path of Yemanjá Sightseeing of all the beaches, lakes and lagoons located along Salvador’s 20-km Coastal Road: Barra, Rio Vermelho, Abaeté Lagoon and Itapuã, this tour also discusses the history of areas such as Jardim de Alá, Itapuã Beach, the festivities celebrated in each place, parks and all the energy of Bahia, a land of sea and water.

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• Path of Ogun Tour through the UNESCO World Heritage site, including visits to the Mercado Modelo, Lacerda Elevator and Pelourinho, all the way to Santo Antônio Além do Carmo, with a stop at Our Lady of the Blacks Church. • Path of Omolu This tour takes place every Monday, with a visit to São Lázaro Church and the main historic and geographic attractions in the neighborhood of Barra, and ends in Rio Vermelho where visitors can sample the most famous acarajés in Bahia. • Pathway to All Saints’ Bay Options to visit Bahia’s coastal regions, including the Coconut Coast, the Dendê Coast, the Cocoa Coast, the Discovery Coast, the Whale Coast and, of course, a schooner trip through All Saints’ Bay.

Suggested itineraries The great diversity of African heritage tourism attractions in Salvador allows for the creation of innovative, specific itineraries. We suggest that the information presented below on elements of Bahia’s African cultural matrix be used in this process.

To the side, view of All Saints’ Bay and São Marcelo Fort. Below, view of beach at Morro de São Paulo

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1. Axé of the Recôncavo (theme approaches) (Proposed by Lúcia Aquino and Regina de Almeida Sousa24)

• Paths of Ogum content: Departure from Salvador – Brazilian colonization – History of the favelas – Abolitionist movement – Slave trade – Solidification of a religion – Religion in art and literature. • Under the protection of São Mauro and the Orishas content: Historic City of Santo Amaro – Religious syncretism – the Manor Home and Slave Quarters. • Ialaxê Market Fair content: Santo Antônio Market – Afro-Brazilian religious elements and symbols. • The way up to the Ilê content: VVisit to Ilê Axé Oju Onirê House of Worship – Relationship between a terreiro in an urban setting and the city – Babalorixá Pai Pote –Ilê Axé Omi Oromi Oxum House of Worship – Located on the road leaving Santo Amaro, going towards Cachoeira – Babalorixá Pai Jorge.

Cigar factory in the town of São Félix, Bahian Recôncavo

• The House of the Iabás content: The City of Cachoeira – A short walking tour focusing on civilian and religious architecture. • Axé Cuisine content: Lunch stop • An Encounter with Oxum content: Riverfront tour with visits to the city’s galleries and museums. • People of Axé content: Sisterhood of Good Death – Visits to houses of worship representing the Jeje, Nagô and Angola nations. • A Relaxing Evening content: Overnight stay – A stroll along the riverfront – Dinner

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AQUINO, Lúcia; SOUSA, Regina A. Caminhos do Recôncavo: Proposição de novos roteiros histórico-culturais para o Recôncavo Baiano. Salvador: Unifacs, 2009.


• The Path of Man content: Ponte D. Pedro II – Fábrica de charutos – Ligação Maragojipe – Povoados de Nagé e Coqueiros. • A Quarry: the Domain of Xangô content: Cachoeira da Jurema – Igreja de São Bartolomeu – Porto de Maragojipe. • Preparing the Amalá content: optional – stop for lunch • Leaving the Ilê content: End of tour – The construction of a mental map – participant evaluation feedback forms 2. Bahia of All Colors Itinerary (Suggested by SETUR’s African Heritage Tourism)

Dom Pedro II Bridge over the Paraguaçu River, connecting the Municipalities of Cachoeira and São Félix

Itinerary 1 – Historic District 9h – City tour of the Historic District / Pelourinho, Municipal Square where the old city fort was built, Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Fallen Cross Monument, Afro-Brazilian Museum, Terreiro de Jesus, São Francisco Church, stores and Afro-fashion design workshops on Rua das Laranjeiras. Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Abelardo Rodrigues Museum, House of Jorge Amado Foundation, 129


Unhão Manor Home, headquarters of the Modern Art Museum (MAM)

Santo Antônio Além do Carmo Fort, headquarters of the Capoeira Fort. Suggested lunch stop in the city center offering a wide range of traditional restaurants serving regional cuisine. Itinerary 2 – Railroad Suburbs 9h – Departure from Calçada Station for a train ride to Plataforma, passing by the area’s beautiful beach landscapes. Return by schooner to the neighborhood of Ribeira, with a stop for lunch at one of the many seaside restaurants. Itinerary 3 – Lower City 9h – Transfer to São Joaquim Market, with a continuation to Bonfim Church, Humaitá Point and Montserrat Fort. Stop for lunch at one of the area’s beach cabanas or restaurants specializing in seafood. After lunch, departure to Mercado Modelo with time for shopping. Sunset visit to the Unhão Manor Home, headquarters of Bahia’s Modern Art Musuem (MAM). Itinerary 4 – Federação 9h – Visit to São Lázaro Church in the neighborhood of Federação, home to many of Salvador’s most famous terreiros, such as Gantois and Casa Branca, the latter located on Avenida Vasco da Gama. Next, a stop at Tororó Dike, where giant statues of the orishas are on display, lunch at one of the many restaurants specializing in regional cuisine located around the lagoon.

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Itinerary 5 – Pelourinho Breakfast and guided tour of SENAC’s Bahian Gastronomy Museum in the Pelourinho. Stop for lunch in the Historic District, followed by schooner trip on All Saints’ Bay in the afternoon. Itinerary 6 – Recôncavo Option 1 7h – Departure from Salvador via ferryboat heading to Jaguaripe, Nazaré, Maragojipe, São Félix and Cachoeira, with visits to the region’s quilombo communities, the headquarters of the Sisterhood of Good Death, sugar mills and city tours to enjoy colonial architecture and other attractions. Return at 17h00 via the BR-324 highway. Option 2 Departure from Salvador, passing through Santo Amaro for a visit to the Open Market, and then the city of Cachoeira to see the headquarters of the Sisterhood of Good Death. Visit to the Candomblé house of worship led by Mãe Filhinha, member of the centuries-old Sisterhood of Our Lady of Good Death. Visit to Maragojipe and return to Salvador via the town of São Roque, Itaparica Island, and the ferryboat.


Recommendations Popcorn cleansing ritual on Mondays at São Lázaro Church. Samba-de-roda performance at the Mercado Modelo every Saturday from 17h to 19h. Ilê Aiyê rehearsal at Senzala do Barro Preto, every Sunday at 22h. Olodum rehearsal in Pelourinho, every Sunday at 20h. Visit to Pouso da Palavra, in Cachoeira, to buy souvenirs. Hair braiding at specialized salons.

Theme-related Content for Itinerary Development (SETUR proposals) Salvador Negra Cor (Historic District – cultural) Including elements and aspects of Bahia’s African culture found in the Old City, from Pelourinho and nearby churches to São Joaquim Market, Mercado Modelo and other attractions, such as Bar Cantina da Lua, a one-time hangout for Bohemians of African descent.

Hairstyles by Negra Jô, in the Pelourinho, and Baiana ready for the traditional popcorn cleansing in São Lázaro

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Pathways to the Suburbs Highlighting the natural beauty, lifestyles of suburban inhabitants and the area’s unique cuisine, the focus of tours in this area is a train ride leaving from the Calçaada Railway Station to the Itapagipe Peninsula, a territory occupied by the Tupinambá tribe in the 16th century. Today, the region is known for its great


ethnic diversity and cultural resistance. The beautiful shoreline can be appreciated throughout the journey. Passing through the stations of Santa Luzia, Lobato, Almeida Brandão, Itacaranha, Escada, Plataforma, Praia Grande, Periperi, Coutos and Paripe, it is easy to appreciate the appeal of this region much discussed in the novels by famed Bahian author Jorge Amado. The train tracks cover a distance of 15.2 km, connecting Calçada and Paripe Stations. Built in 1860 with only one track and steam locomotives, passengers and cargo were transported from Salvador’s main commercial district to outlying areas where today the neighborhoods of Plataforma and Paripe are located. The tour can be extended to São Tomé de Paripe, the most popular suburban beach, yet practically unknown to inhabitants of other parts of Salvador. The tropical waters at this beach are very shallow and maritime transport options are available here for visits to islands in All Saints’ Bay. The work of shell fisherwomen is also of interest. A good place to stop for lunch is Boca de Galinha restaurant in Plataforma, with its unique decoration and exotic Bahian cuisine. Cultural Resistance This aspect of Bahia’s Africa-based culture could also be the basis for one or more itineraries, covering the artistic and social work of Salvador’s main Afro blocos and artists such as Carlinhos Brown. The circuit could begin in the neighborhood of Liberdade, with a visit to the Ilê Aiyê Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, and continuing on to the neighborhood of Candeal to get to know the innovative artistic and social projects of Carlinhos Brown, for example Candyall Ghetto Square. Capoeira and the projects developed by the Capoeira Mangangá Association, led by Tonho Matéria, are other attractions that can be enjoyed in several locations throughout the city since Mangangá has branches in many of Salvador’s neighborhoods and on the North Coast. A visit to the Olodum School and participation in the bloco’s rehearsals, which take place Thursdays in the Pelourinho, could be the perfect touch to round out this type of itinerary. To full take advantage of the tourism-related potential of these peculiarities of Bahia’s Africa-based culture, each of the segments in question could be named based on themes relating to recurring identity issues of the work carried out by the four groups: Drums of Liberdade, Candyall Ghetto Square, In the Capoeira Circle and The Beating of the Drums. In the Pantheon of African Gods and Goddesses The concept of specific itineraries based on African matrix religiosity aims to increase visitors’ knowledge about the main elements of these belief systems, which would make it possible to visit Candomblé houses of worship from different nations: Ketu-Nagô, Jeje and Angola. In itineraries of this type, additional visits could be added for example to the Afro-Brazilian Museum and the Tororó Dike, where giant sculptures of African deities are on display. The itineraries could match the liturgical calendars of the different Candomblé houses, which would also make it possible for visitors to sample the sacred foods prepared as offerings to the deities. 133


Dendê oil, beans, corn, peanuts, dry shrimp, herbs and spices are among the many products sold at São Joaquim Market, in Salvador

Bahia’s African Cuisine Afro-Bahian cuisine constitutes a separate tourism attraction and can be included in any of the itineraries. However, African heritage-based gastronomic itineraries must include lesser-known elements and cover a greater diversity of local dishes. Before sampling these foods, a cooking class could be held on the preparation of these dishes with demonstrations of the spices and condiments used. Other itineraries could include sampling of sacred dishes at the Candomblé houses of worship themselves, where the offerings are prepared depending on the deity honored on that day of the week. The purchasing of specific ingredients, at the São Joaquim Market, for example, could add a greater diversity of exotic attractions to the itinerary. The handling of sacred leaves and plants by Candomblé practitioners is another component that could be highlighted on this type of itinerary. The medicinal and religious applications of herbs, their cultivation, harvesting and use are some aspects that could be explored on a visit to São Bartolomeu Park, for example. The Struggles for Freedom The sites of the main slave rebellions in Salvador are of great importance to visitors interested in African heritage. The stories of the two most significant uprisings, the Búzios and Malês Revolts, can be told at the actual sites where they began and were so violently put down. The itinerary could also include monuments where rebellion leaders were punished or hanged and publicly humiliated as an example to others. The two main routes shown on these maps could serve as a basis for the development of these itineraries. In addition to historic elements, itineraries such as these could cover visits to religious associations, such as the Society for the Protection of Invalids and the Brotherhood of the Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, as well as to other sites of significance to resistance movements and struggles for freedom. Malês Revolt– The number of people killed in this revolt totals more than 70, not counting those who died later. Some outstanding names deserve special

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mention here, such as Ahuna, Vitório Sule, Dassalu, Manoel Calafate, Nicobé, Flamé, Batanhos, Mama Adeluz and Combé, the majority of whom were slaves belonging to English residents living in the neighborhood of Vitória. The rebellion broke out in the heart of the Historic District, where today the Ladeira da Praça, City Hall and Mayor’s Office are located, as can be seen on the map.

Baía de Todos-os-Santos

Búzios Revolt – The following people were on the front line of this rebellion: the tailor João de Deus do Nascimento, the tailor apprentice, Manoel Faustino dos Santos, who was only 18 years old, and the soldiers Luís Gonzaga das Virgens and Lucas Dantas. Women also played an important role in this uprising, the most outstanding of whom are the freed slaves Ana Romana and Maria do Nascimento. Around one hundred people, including military personnel, clerics and public servants were accused. Of these, 47 were taken prisoner, yet only around 30 were officially charged. All pleaded innocent. Only four men openly declared themselves guilty. João de Deus, Manoel Faustino, Luís Gonzaga and Lucas Dantas were condemned to death by hanging and executed on November 8, 1799, in Piedade Square. Their bodies were then left exposed to public view to serve as examples to those who dared question the power of the Portuguese Crown. Lucas Dantas’ head was impaled on a post at Desterro Dike, currently Tororó Dike. Manuel Faustino’s head was left at the São Francisco Cross and that of João de Deus on Rua Direita do Palácio, the current Rua Chile. The head and hands of Luís Gonzaga das Virgens were nailed to the gallows that was erected on Piedade Square for the executions, as shown on the map.

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African Heritage Tourism Calendar january Festivals and Special Events • Mariners’ Procession – Neighborhood of Boa Viagem, Salvador (January 1) • Boa Viagem Festival – Salvador (January 1) • Mariners’ Procession – Municipality of Salinas da Margarida • Washing of the Beco in the Old Towne of the City of Itaparica – Itaparica Island • Celebration of the Three Kings – Neighborhood of Lapinha, Salvador (January 6) • Festival in Honor of Santo Antonio de Catejeró – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador • Bonfim Procession – Salvador • Fat Monday in the Neighborhood of Ribeira – Salvador • Olodum Music and Art Festival (Femadum) – Concha Acústica, Salvador • Washing of the Steps of Our Lady of Purificação Church – Municipality of Santo Amaro • Commemoration of the Malês Revolt – Itapuã, Salvador (January 25) • Didá Children’s Music Festival – Salvador • Summer Music Festival – Salvador • Queen of Ilê Aiyê Beauty Pageant – Neighborhood of Curuzu, Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Pelourinho – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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february Festivals and Special Events • Yemanjá Festival – Neighborhood of Rio Vermelho, Salvador (February 2) • Traditional AfroBrazilianPop Feijoada – Hotel Tropical da Bahia, Salvador • “Washing” of Gantois Square – from the Neighborhood of São Lázaro to Terreiro do Gantois Square, Salvador • Lavagem de Itapuã – open air festival in Itapuã, Salvador • Os Negões – FESTNEGÕES / Monte Belém Square – Avenida Vasco da Gama, Salvador • Traditional Sorriso da Dada Feijoada – Salvador • Carnival – Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

march Festivals and Special Events • Feijoada of Alaíde do Feijão – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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april Festivals and Special Events • Celebrations in Honor of São Benedito – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho • Caxixi Pottery Fair – Nazaré das Farinhas Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha and Special Guests – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador

may Festivals and Special Events • Bembé do Mercado Celebrations – Town of Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahian Recôncavo Fixed Events Mondays - Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays - Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays - African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays - Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays - Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays - Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays - Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays - Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays - Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays - Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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june Festivals and Special Events • 13-day Prayer Vigil to Santo Antônio – Church of Santo Antonio, Salvador • The June Festivities – Salvador and municipalities in the interior of the state • Os Negões June Parade – from Cosme de Farias to Vasco da Gama, Salvador • Independence of the City of Cachoeira, Bahia – (June 24 and 25) Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

july Festivals and Special Events • Celebrations of Bahian Independence Day (July 7) • Nego Fugido – Salvador • Marching Band of São Bartolomeu’s Feast Day – Municipality of Maragojipe • Nego Fugido – village of Acupe, Municipality Santo Amaro da Purificação Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays - Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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august (African Ancestrality Month) Festivals and Special Event • International Cultural Gathering and Exchange of Capoeira Mangangá – Salvador • Sacred Objects Fair – Municipal Square, Salvador • Marching Band Fair – Municipality of Maragojipe • Bahia African Diaspora Art and Culture Festival – Salvador • Commemoration of the Búzios Revolt – Salvador • Festival in honor of Our Lady of Good Death – City of Cachoeira • Festival in honor of São Roque / Omolu – Salvador • Azoany Parade – Pelourinho / Neighborhood of São Lázaro, Salvador • São Bartolomeu Festival – Municipality of Maragojipe • Bahian Folk Culture Day – Salvador • São Bartolomeu Celebrations – Municipality of Maragojipe • São Bartolomeu Procession – Municipality of Maragojipe Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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september Festivals and Special Events • Curuzu Festival / Bar Espaço R2, Curuzu – Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador • São Cosme and São Damião Festival / Ibeji Twins – Salvador / Bahian Recôncavo (Sept 27) • Lindro Amor Caruru Okra Stew – Municipality of São Francisco do Conde • The Seven Poets’ Caruru Okra Stew – City of Cachoeira • Mãe Preta Week – Afro Bloco Ilê Aiyê, Neighborhood of Curuzu, Salvador • Sacred Object Fair – Casa Branca Candomblé House of Worship, Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assuntos – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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october Festivals and Special Events • Our Lady of Aparecida Feast Day (October 12) • Festival in honor of Our Lady of the Rosary of Black Men – Pelourinho, Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

november (Black Awareness Month) Festivals and Special Events • Alaiandê Xirê – Pilão de Prata Candomblé House of Worship, Neighborhood of Boca do Rio, Salvador • Festival in honor of Our Lady of Ajuda – City of Cachoeira • Afro Bahia Film Festival – Salvador • Black Awareness Day (November 20) • Baiana’s Day – Historic District, Salvador (November 25) • Zumbi dos Palmares Race – Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church, Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha, Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador 143


december Festivals and Special Events • Samba Day – Historic District, Salvador (December 2) • Yansã / Oyá / Santa Bárbara Festival – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador (December 4) • Caruru Okra Stew in honor of Santa Bárbara / Yansã / Oyá – Santa Barbara Market – Baixa dos Sapateiros – Salvador • Samba Parade – from Campo Grande to Castro Alves Square, Salvador • Festival in honor of Our Lady of Conceição da Praia – Salvador (December 8) • Festival in honor of Santa Luzia – Pilar Square / Neighborhood of Comércio, Salvador (December 13) • Os Negões / FESTBLAC – Monte Belém Square, Avenida Vasco da Gama, Salvador Fixed Events Mondays – Performance by Cortejo Afro – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Mass at São Francisco Church – Terreiro de Jesus, Salvador Tuesdays – African Mass – Church of Our Lady of the Blacks, Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays of the Blessing (Terça da Bênção) – Pelourinho, Salvador Tuesdays – Blessing of the Arcanjo – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Wednesdays at Beco de Gal – Vasco da Gama (Tororó Dike), Salvador Thursdays on the Stairs of Passo Church, Performance by Tomalira – Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Banda Didá, female percussion band – Tereza Batista Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Fridays – Samba de Cozinha – Curuzu, Neighborhood of Liberdade, Salvador Saturdays – Rehearsal of Ilê Aiyê – Senzala do Barro Preto Cultural Center, Curuzu, Salvador Sundays – Olodum Rehearsal – Pedro Arcanjo Square, Pelourinho, Salvador Sundays – Show at Galpão Cheio de Assunto – Rua Djalma Dutra, nº 40, Salvador Sundays – Rehearsal of Afoxé Filhos do Congo – Neighborhood of Fazenda Grande, Salvador

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Testimonials “My flight back on my first of three trips to Bahia was seven of the longest hours of my life. I cried four times as if I would never see this incredible place again. Bahians welcomed me as a long lost relative and I felt as if I were coming home to a long lost family. Salvador is old, proud, and nothing short of mystical, memorable and magical [...] one of the most important cities in the African Diaspora for many reasons. The former Brazilian capital was also the main entry point for African slaves into the country thus establishing it as the epicenter for Afro-Brazilian culture. This is what made the connection so strong for me; Bahia struck at the core of my values giving them more meaning than ever before. [...] Everything in Salvador breathes Africa - be it food, clothing, festivals, religion and especially music. Again, I no doubt got the feeling of having been there before as if coming home after being away far too long. Even thinking about Salvador causes a strong daydream state for me where I can smell, hear and almost see clearly all of the wonderful things that make this place so dear to my heart”. N. Kozmo Miller Movie Producer – USA

“I first landed in Salvador Bahia in 1995. I could feel the breath of Africa all over my body as I walked my first beach in Bahia. Bahia gave me a rebirth of African heritage that I had never seen before [...] fresh fish came out of the ocean and was cooked right at my seat on the beach. Sizzling with spices, and the Brazilian martial artists training on that same beach. I got swooped up by the musical sounds of the Olodum tin drummers as we walked the night on the cobblestone streets of center city. I saw crafts being done that blew my mind. I had never been exposed to gems mined by Brazilians, […] spectacular. I saw firsthand shows and plays Brazilian style with colors of Carnival and mystic music everywhere. [...] I witnessed the festival of Boa Morte, and religious practices handed from generations of Africans in Brazil. The passions of life lived and enjoyed by Afro Brazilians is so strongly portrayed that you see in a small hillside restaurant, the food tasted to last a lifetime. [...] All this run by 102-yearold matron. That is why Bahia will always be in me”. Armenious Patterson, Jr Marketing Directore, Upscale Magazine

Barra Lighthouse, home to the Bahia Nautical Museum


“Tourists that travel with Diga Brazil enjoy the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia through the cuisine, arts, and people of Salvador. The unique culinary flavors of Salvador offer direct links to Bahia’s African roots. Our clients appreciate the passion for traditional foods that local chefs have. This commitment to culinary culture is clear when eating at restaurants such as “Point do Acarajé” or “Boca de Galinha”. The music and dancing that can be found in Salvador is beyond compare. Whether it is dancing with Ilê Aiyê in Liberdade or watching the spectacular Balé Folclorico da Bahia, our guests love participating in authentic Brazilian culture. The beaches of Bahia are some of the prettiest in Brazil. The mountains of Chapada Diamantina are some of the most beautiful in the country, but it is the people of Bahia that make our guests come back to Brazil year after year.

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When they are dancing samba in Pelourinho or walking with the Sisters of Good Death our guests feel like they are Baiano. Bahians offer a welcome that allow our guests to feel like family not tourists. With the support of the African Heritage Tourism Department of Bahia, Diga Brazil welcomes over 500 African Americans per year to Salvador Bahia. The African Heritage Tourism Department of Bahia has developed creative programs that deliver authentic Brazilian experiences to our clients. The unique food, culture and people of Bahia allow our guests to return to the USA with more than just a tan. They return knowing that, ‘Bahia é muito mais.’ – Bahia is much more’”. Chip Finney Diga Brazil Tourism Agency Director, Philadelphia – USA


“Few places have captivated me in the way Salvador, Bahia has. Months after my visit, I still pinch myself and wonder when I will be there again. [...] the soul and essence of Bahia lives with me every single day. [...] traveling to a place as magical as Bahia remains a highlight of my life. [...] There are no words, for example, to explain how connected I felt in Cachoeira, during the Boa Morte [...] Could I understand the words? No, I could not, but I knew the spirit. I had felt it as a child on Sundays during special ceremonies where that African life force somehow lived on. It shook me to my core as I heard the music and I knew that, as a child worshipping in rural Mississippi, I

Below, a representation of the orixás Oxum and Ogum. Next page: Pelourinho with its new lighting system

too had been bathed in that very spirit. [...]Strolling Pelourinho was so surreal. The sky didn’t even seem real. A friend who made this trip several years before me described the experience as “magical” and how else can you explain it? [...] From the architecture and the food, right down to the spirit of the people, Bahia is special. [...] I implore and challenge the powers that be to continue drawing the children of Africa specifically to the essence of their life force in this hemisphere. [...] Thank you so much for valuing and preserving the history”. Ronda Racha Penrice Writer – USA


“From the colonial streets of Pelourinho, to its coconutlaced coast, Bahia is a part of Brazil that can help link black Americans to their lost past. There was a certain familiarity in Bahia: the flavors of bobó de camarão and acarajé, to the wistful gazes of poorer Bahians holding the rope line, as their richer counterparts danced and marched with their favorite trio. We know those faces in the States, images that still belong to us. Deafening beats from Escola Olodum filled the air and tugged at my heart as I found a connection to history that for Americans has had been mostly left on other continents, in oceans and on slave ships. During Carnival, I learned to samba, and to prepare xinxim. But I also discovered more about myself. There are parts of Brazil that run deep within my heart and soul. Because I was often mistaken for a Brasileira, and asked by children if I was a Baiana, I felt as if Salvador welcomed me like a daughter”. Jamila Robinson Journalist from Atlanta, USA

“Salvador, Bahia, Brazil is a wealth of culture, art, inspiration, radiation and humanity. The beaches are beautiful. The spirituality is real. The positive feeling is in the air for any and all to enjoy - Brazilian or tourist it seems. The creativity is endless. It is apparent through the way sports are played (capoeira and soccer), the variety of businesses (Açai shops to shopping malls), home interiors or designs, individual dress or adornment and of course the food “gostoso.” Bahian culture is at the center of all of this and it is so tangible. Bahians of all walks of life understand that their state is “different” from others, not better, just extremely special. It’s a “Bahian thing,” which I would define as Bahian culture. I knew I wanted to return before I left. Thank you Bahia!” Brenton Lamar Redcross Cultural Producer – USA


“Bahia is one of the most wonderful places I have ever visited. From the beaches of Salvador to the City of Cachoeira, near Santo Amaro, there are beautiful sites to see and friendly Baianos to show you their country. Secretario Domingos Leonelli and Sr. Arquimimo interrupted their busy schedules to meet with me and make me feel to Salvador. It is the combination of kindness, culture, beauty, music and poetry that convinced me to record my next CD in Salvador singing in Portuguese, produced by my friend, Jota Velloso. Thank you Bahiatursa for revealing the beauty of Bahia to me and and making me feel at home”. Sincerely, Clifton Davis President, Clifton Davis Productions – USA American Actor and Producer


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FAUSTO, Boris. História da Brasil. São Paulo: Edusp, 2004.

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GUERREIRO, Goli. A cidade imaginada: Salvador sob o olhar do turismo. Revista Unifacs, v. 1, no 11, 2005. Disponível em: http://www.revistas.unifacs. br/index.php/rgb/article/ viewArticle/192. Acesso em 10 mai. 2009.

PRANDI, Reginaldo. Mitologia dos orixás. São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2007.

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______ . Encontro de nações de candomblé. Salvador: Ianamá - Centro de Estudos Afro-orientais (CEAO) Centro Editorial de Ensino (CED), 1984. LODY, Raul. Atlas Afrobrasileiro: Cultura Popular. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006. NINA RODRIGUES, Raimundo. O animismo fetichista dos negros baianos. Rio de Janeiro: Civilização Brasileira, 1935. PARÉS, Luis Nicolau. A formação do candomblé: história e ritual da nação jeje na Bahia. São Paulo, Unicamp, 2007.

REIS, João José. Rebelião Escrava no Brasil: a história do levante dos malês (1835). São Paulo: Brasiliense, 1986.

RISÉRIO, Antonio. A utopia brasileira e os movimentos negros. São Paulo: Ed. 34, 2007. ________ . Carnaval Ijexá. Salvador: Corrupio, 1981. ________ . Caymmi: Uma Utopia de Lugar. São Paulo: Perspectiva, 1993. ________ . Uma História da Cidade da Bahia. Rio de Janeiro: Versal Editores, 2004. SANTOS, Jocélio Teles dos (Coord.). Mapeamento dos terreiros de Salvador. Salvador: CEAO/Secretaria Municipal de Reparação de Salvador, 2008.

SANTOS, Maria Stella de Azevedo. Meu tempo é agora. São Paulo: Editora Oduduwa, 1993. SCHWARCZ, Lilia. Retrato em Branco e Preto. Jornais escravos e cidadãos em São Paulo no final do século XIX. São Paulo, Cia. das Letras, 1987. SILVEIRA, Renato da. O candomblé da Barroquinha: processo de constituição do primeiro terreiro de keto. Salvador: Edições Maianga, 2006. TAVARES, Luiz Henrique Dias. História da Bahia. Salvador: Edufba, 2004. VERGER, Pierre. Fluxo e Refluxo do tráfico de escravos entre o Golfo do Benin e a Baía de Todos os Santos: dos séculos XVII a XIX. Salvador: Corrupio, 2002. _________ . Ewe. O uso das plantas na sociedade iorubá. Salvador, Corrupio, 1995. _________ .Orixás. Deuses iorubás na África e no Novo Mundo. Salvador: Corrupio, 1992. _________ . Lendas Africanas dos Orixás. Salvador: Corrupio, 1997.


Image credits Photography:

Aristides Alves Pages 141 (left), 142 and 143 (photo below). Artur Ikishima Page 58. Cristina Calacio Pages 108 and 109. Jota Freitas Pages 24, 27, 29, 30, 36, 62, 70, 71, 72, 76, 84, 89 (photo above), 102, 122, 123, 124 (acarajé), 126, 129, 131, 137 (photo above), 138 (photo below), 139 (photo above), 140 (photo above), 144 (left), 145, 147, 148, 149 and 151. Santa Maria Fort, All Saints’ Bay, in Salvador

Kin Guerra Pages 8 and 9.

Ivan Baldivieso 146

139 (photo below), 140 (photo below), 141 (right).

Luciano Filho e Nelly Santos Pages 32, 43 (right), 44, 47, 49, 50, 52 and 61.

Rômulo Portela Page 116.

Marisa Vianna Pages 16, 20, 43 (left), 48, 69 (photo above), 88, 90 e 144 (right). Maurício Requião Page 73. Rita Barreto Pages 5, 12, 14, 40, 53, 57, 60, 64, 69 (photo below), 74, 75, 78, 79, 82, 83, 85, 86, 89 (photo below), 100, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 115, 118, 120, 125, 128, 132, 134, 136, 137 (photo below), 138 (photo above),

Sérgio Guerra Pages 35, 45 and 67. Bahiatursa archive Pages 6, 54, 117, 127, 130 and 143 (photo above). ILLUSTRATIONS:

Goya Lopes Pages 1 a 5.

Jota Cunha Pages 7, 11, 13, 17, 25, 31, 37, 68, 71, 77, 80, 81, 91, 93, 95, 101, 107 and 119.


Este livro foi editado em setembro de 2009 pela Solisluna Design e Editora para a Setur– Secretaria de Turismo da Bahia. Impressão em papel couché 150g/m2. Salvador, Bahia, Brasil.


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