The state of Bahia and its capital, Salvador, are very important centers of study of the immense African Diaspora to the New World. For over 350 years the negreiros ( slave ships ) brought their human cargo from Africa to work in the plantations and mines of Brazil. They came from Guinea, Angola, the Congo and finally from Yorubá speaking West Africa.
The main port of departure for this latter cycle was Ouidah in the People's Republic of Benin (ex-Dahomey). The ships left laden for the treacherous Atlantic crossing to Bahia, and for those who survived, the grueling work of the mines and plantations that stoked the Portuguese economy. A bi-lateral trading in slaves arose due to the very high value placed on a third grade tobacco, prohibited for sale in Europe, but much sought after by those dealing in slaves in West Africa. Slaves from West Africa were traded for tobacco and aguardente (sugar-cane rum) from Bahia. It is mainly for this reason that such a strong Yorubá influence is so evident in Bahia. In no other part of Brazil is this influence so strongly felt. Although other influences are found, ( Bantu's from Angola, Gêges from Benin, and so on ), the over-riding influence is that of the Nagô's from Nigeria.
In Bahia, Africa abounds. Salvador is the most African of the Brazilian cities with up to 80% of its population of over 2 million people having African origins. The local cuisine, music and dance forms and its extremely vibrant visual arts traditions are all testament to this permeating African influence.
A stroll though the historical Pelourinho section of Salvador bears this out. Baiana's, local women dressed in traditional costumes sell a wide variety of food on street corners from their tray full of Bahia's delicacies. The acarajé or bean dumpling fried in the dendê (palm oil) is also to be found on the West Africa by the name acará.. On the sidewalks and in the ateliers artists can be seen working on their canvases in bright bold colors similar to Haitian art. Somebody plays the berimbau, a bowed instrument that forms the rhythm for the mesmerizing capoeira dance/martial art, somebody else is practicing intricate percussion exercises. The omnipresent radio plays the latest in Bahian music fused with African polyrhythms. The buildings may be European but the rest is Africa.
Once the center of the slave trade, today the Pelourinho is the nucleus of the Black Movement in Bahia with different organizations working in cultural and social areas.
CANDOMBLÉ
The most deeply felt African influence is the Candomblé, the worshipping of the ancestral spirits or orixá's. The orixá 's can be thought of as an enlarged family with a common background that encapsulates the living and the dead. The orixá is a deified ancestor who, when alive, established links which guaranteed him or her control over certain natural forces, e.g. thunder, the winds or the sea; or which allowed him or her the possibility to exercise certain activities such as hunting or working with metals; or somebody who learnt the properties of plants and how to use these properties. This power ( or AXÉ, pronounced ah-shay ) of the ancestral orixá would have, after death, the power to incarnate itself in one of his or her descendants through the sacred rhythms, dances and songs of the Candomblé.
A popular greeting in Bahia is Axé!, a kind of "may the force be with you!" and this Axé is the driving force of Salvador and Bahia.
Originally the slave masters permitted the practice of the Candomblé. The masters thought that the dances and songs of the Candomblé were nothing more than entertainment, nostalgia almost, as the slaves remembered their ancestors. They were allowed to gather in batuques playing the drums and the sacred songs of the orixá's. When the slave masters began to distrust these gatherings as possible means of organizing revolts they began to prohibit these meetings. The slaves, who often accompanied the masters to church, would choose different Catholic saints to represent the deities from Africa. It was at this point that the phenomenon of syncretism appeared in Brazil.
There were always tangible connections between the saints chosen and the orixá represented. In Bahia, Saint George , who slew the dragon, was adopted to represent Oxossi, the orixá of the forest and the hunt. Saint Anthony, who was given an honorary rank in the Portuguese army, was chosen to represent Ogum, the orixá of iron and anybody who used this metal as part of their work, and so on through the pantheon.
THE SISTERHOOD OF THE BOA MORTE
One of the oldest examples of this phenomenon of syncretism is the Sisterhood of the Boa Morte (Good Death ) in Cachoeira, 120 km's. from Salvador. This is a society of women which had it's beginnings in the senzalas ( slaves quarters) where slaves would gather to discuss the news about abolition and pray for the slaves killed in the liberation movement. Once freed, ex-slaves would often form religious associations, sisterhoods and brotherhoods, often using the Catholic church as a vehicle but these associations were really cultural centers whose aims were to free other slaves from captivity and to preserve the traditions handed down verbally from generation to generation. This was the case of the Sisterhood of the Boa Morte. Their aim was to help newly freed slaves to survive in a world where there was no longer a master with his whips and chains.
Reminiscent of secret female societies in Africa, the Sisterhood of the Boa Morte worship the iyá's, the female spirits of the dead. A "good death" ( or Boa Morte ) was seen as being a proper passage from the material to the spiritual world , no longer a slave. The Boa Morte festival takes place in Cachoeira every August and is deeply syncretised with the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. It is perhaps the most important festival in the African Heritage calendar in Bahia and is a living document of African culture and Diaspora to the New World.
FESTIVAL OF THE BOA MORTE SCHEDULE
Friday
17.00 Ceremony begins at the premises of the Sisterhoood of the Boa Morte (Good Death) with a torchlit procession through the streets of Cachoeira as the Sisters, dressed in white, carry the prone figure of Nsa. Senhora da Boa Morte. The Sisters later offer a dinner in their premises. Pax's may or may not wish to partake in this meal but it is interesting to see.
Saturday
18.00 Religious ceremony in the premises of the Sisterhood follwed by another street procession, this time the Sisters in solemn black clothes, once again carrying the prone figure of Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte through the streets of Cachoeira.
Sunday
10.00 Religious ceremony in the Mass followed by procession through the streets of the town with the upright figure of N.S. das Glórias (Assumption). The Sisters are dressed in their full gala clothes of black, white and red. This is the highlight of the celebrations.
The Sisters later have their traditional Samba de Roda, a spinning samba only found in the Cachoeira region. This begins late afternoon and continues until early evening.
Dates are confirmed 03 months before the celebrations begin, when the Sisters consult with the orixás for their permission to proceed with the celebrations.
