The African slaves brought some of their culture with them. In Brazil, you can still see things influenced by the African culture like Candomble, a polytheistic religion, and Capoeira, a martial art.
Candomble is a polytheistic religion that is influenced by African religions and Christianity. Polytheistic means that it has many gods. One of the places it has been practiced is Salvador, Brazil. Before slavery was abolished in 1885, slaves were not allowed to practice Candomble, so they disguised it as the Catholic religion. In Brazil the Catholic priests let the Africans talk about the Bible in their native language, but the priests had no idea what the Africans were saying. This allowed them to secretly honor the African gods, called orishas.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
Over two million people claim to practice Candomble today. The places where Condomble is practiced are called terreiros. They have both inside and outside spaces. When visiting the torreiros you must wear clean, white clothes. Ceremonies are led by priestesses who are called “Mothers of the Holy One”. Apart from leading the ceremonies, they also have to train future priestesses. People go to the torreiro to get their fortunes told. In Candomble, they use divination by reading seashells. People also go to the torreiros for weeks or even months to clean themselves of the dirtiness of the world and to get possessed by orishas. In some of the ceremonies, people sing chants and dance. At the end of the songs, someone will get possessed by one of the orishas. That person dances, and the others sing the chants in reverse order to get the orisha out.
There are many orishas including Ogun, lord of fire, hunting, iron, politics and war. He is usually seen with tobacco and rum and a saber or a machete. Ogun is associated with St. George. Other orishas are Aganjo, god of essential growth, Eninle, god of healing and abundance, and Iemanja, goddess of the sea.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
On February 2nd, 2009, I saw a Candomble celebration. The people were honoring Iemanja, goddess of the ocean and beauty. Iemanja is associated with Our Lady of Seafaring, a manifestation of the Virgin Mary, and both are celebrated on this day. A villager from Arraial D’Ajuda, the town in Brazil where we live, had built a small boat with a miniature sculpture of Iamanja in it. The boat was blue with white stripes. Some of the people held the boat and brought it down to fisherman’s beach. There was a huge crowd following the boat to the beach.
We collected flowers along the way because the legend is if you give Iamanja a flower, she will grant you a wish. When we got to the beach, people were crowded in a thick circle. I weaved my way through the circle to see what was going on. A priest was singing chants and throwing perfume on everyone. A few minutes later, people piled beauty products, flowers, and pieces of paper with wishes on them onto the small boat. A few people floated alongside the boat when someone put it into the sea. The people brought it to a small fisherman’s boat. The fisherman brought the boat out to sea and let it go for Iamanja. As the fisherman’s boat disappeared over the horizon, people lit candles and I built castles with sand and candles on the beach.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
Capoeira
Capoeira is an African martial art brought to Brazil by African slaves. Brazilian slave owners did not allow martial arts, so the Africans disguised capoeira as a dance. Capoeira is now a world-wide sport. It can be found all over the world, however it has changed. In the 19th century people used sharp objects like razor blades in capoeira. That is no longer practiced. In Brazil today, capoeira is considered self-defense, while in other places it is considered a sport.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
Music is essential to capoeira. If the music is slow, the dancers move slowly; if the music is rapid, the dancers move fast. The most important instruments are the drum and the berimbau. The berimbau is a sort of wooden bow strung with wire or string. The berimbau has a cup-like gourd at the bottom for resonance. It is considered the oldest string instrument in the world.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
On the first day of my capoeira lessons, I met my teacher. What was striking about him was his hair- he had a dyed yellow Mohawk. My classroom has photos on the walls of people doing flips. There are also windows all around, and when I do my class, people are looking in from the street. The floor has wooden boards, and there is a wall with mirrors on it. Our teacher turns up music very loud. I just copy my teacher because the music is turned up so loud I cannot hear him. Another factor is that he speaks Portuguese and my Portuguese is limited.
In my first class there were eight people. In the first half hour we did stretching exercises. In the remaining thirty minutes I learned three kicks. On one your opponent ducks as you swing your leg past him/her. When I was dodging a kick from my teacher I stood up a little too early and he almost kicked me. In another one, you turn your waist, bring one knee as high as you can, straighten that leg, bring your leg back to the knee position (like hitting your knee with a hammer), and drop it. The third one was the same as the second one, except you don’t turn. You also do a balancing move where you put your left leg back, right leg In front, and your left arm covering your face. Then you put your left leg up, your right leg back and your right arm in front of your face.
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| From The Big Field Trip – Brazil, January/February, 2009 |
Once, the whole class was doing that exercise in the same rhythm. It felt like I was a wave in an ocean, except when I looked in the mirror and saw that I was one step out of sync.
I sit on the beach sipping my marcuya (passion fruit juice) and watch 2 people practice capoeira and the sound of crashing waves ringing in my ears.
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