Salvador - a night of Candomble

This entry may be a little hard to explain...

Candomble is a type of religion/spirituality that occurs throughout Bahia. Last night we went to a ceremony in one of the Favellas here. We were accompanied by a tour guy from the favella and a motley collection of 7 other travellers. Being a bit sceptical that we may be visting a 'show' put on for the benefits of us tourists soon disappeared when we arrived at a small house where it seemed the entire local community were crammed, and a scattering of us tourists.

I was seated with the women and Dan the men. There was lots of drumming and singing (some cracking tunes infact) and several people went into a trance assisted by the lead guy who shook bells at them and an older lady whose job it was to make sure their cigars stayed lit throughout. Those in the trance disappeared upstairs and returned some time later in different dress. They wandered though the audience to more singing and drumming then stood in a line whilst everyone went up individually and were 'cleansed' of evil that inflitrates all of us. I declined to go up as not having the first idea what was going on at the time I felt it could have been a bit superficial and tokenistic to try to somehow take part. Everyone who was there, young and old took part with many people being profoundly affected by the experience.

From doing some research and visiting a couple of local musems it appears that these ceremonies happen sproadically throughout the year and at specific houses. As many of the people in Salvador have their roots in slavery, their ancestory is largely unknown. The homes in which these ceremonies take place are grouped into areas where people belive their ancestors were from e.g. areas of West Africa. The guys who go into the trance-like state connect with these ancestors and thus connect them with the people attending.

As well as having religious and spiritual roots, Candomble appears to also have a role in connecting communities together and in providing ancestory and roots that were taken when people were enslaved.

One of the local colleges with the local community has mapped back ancestory where it can and tried to put names and faces to the ancestory of some of these houses.

As I say, hard to explain, but a fascinating and moving experience.

Salvador

Dan introducing the shin kick into Caipoiera