Within / Without

Sunday 05.08.07

Salvador is home to many churches, many of them designed in the Baroque fashion, which was very popular at the time of building. The churches, usually ornate on the outside, contain even more detailed structures on their often-gilded interior. We visited two of Salvador's most famous churches today. The first, Igreja da Ordem Terciera de São Francisco, has a beautiful sandstone façade. Igreja Nossa Senhor do Bonfim, a church with an impressive gilded interior stands north of the city centre, the most famous in Salvador for its ability to heal invalids and the sick. In an antechamber off to the side of the hall is a shrine of sorts dedicated to the healed ones, apparently numbering in their hundreds. From the roof hangs more than a hundred plastic body parts and the walls are covered in photos.

Out on the street about midnight, a middle-aged man tows a bag of empty cans. Desperate with hunger, he loiters outside a restaurant begging for the people inside to give him money. The manager confronts him and forces him away, while a policeman hearing the commotion watches the pair from a distance. The defeated beggar slumps against a wall on the opposite side of the road and begins to cry; the manager turns on his heels to return to work. A few minutes pass, and a wandering pastry salesman approaches and offers bread for free to the starving man. The man hungrily takes a couple of rolls, and the salesman walks away. What must it be like to have nothing, to be desperate, destitute or derelict? How must a person feel not knowing when they will next eat? Shelter, another of humanity's basic needs, is also taken completely for granted. Buildings cease being a sanctuary to the homeless, and become a barrier between them and society, a barrier that becomes higher, wider and thicker with time and neglect.

Northeastern Brasil is home to many unique dishes, among them Carne do Sol (meat of the Sun) - dried and salted beef; Acaraje - fritters made from brown beans and shrimp fried in palm oil (served by women in Bahian dress); and Moqueca - a Bahian seafood stew containing coconut milk and palm oil.

I spent a decent amount of my time in Salvador up rickety flights of stairs trying to find a decent Candomblé ceremony to attend. Finally, on Tuesday night i was picked up in a van and taken to a Terreiro in a poorer neighbourhood. On the way we learned how the ritual worked. The particular ceremony we were attending was in celebration of the Orixá of nature and the forest. The religion of Candomblé came across with the African slaves, and is distantly related to Voodoo. The Orixás are the spirits, or saints of the religion, based on the archetypes, and part of the ritual involves going into a trance to invoke the Orixá.

The Terreiro was simple, indistinguishable from the concrete dwellings that surrounded it, and the ceremony conducted in the front room. Several people were dancing in a circle, while others were drumming or singing. Most were wearing white. Little by little, the dancing and singing became more intense and after a while, a few members stumbled, caught in a trance by the hypnotic music. Presently a figure previously sitting in the corner on a throne of sorts got up and started singing and staggering around. This was the Babalorixá, in this case the father of the household. The ritual was only just beginning.

The entranced members retired, and during a short break, the floor was covered in leaves. They returned having dressed up a little in what appeared to be women's clothing, while wielding leafy branches and smoking cigars to ward off the bad spirits. The Babalorixá took centre stage, and singing and rhythmical drumming filled the room. We clapped our hands to the music as it rose and fell in tone, while increasing steadily in tempo. It was intoxicating, the atmosphere thick with emotion and cigar-smoke, singing, laughing and drumming into an incredible crescendo. Nothing seemed to exist beyond the immediate space, while the Babalorixá pulled out some wild dance moves, the likes of which haven't been seen since the heydays of Rave. Now the old man retired into another room, and the next entranced member stepped up for the same ritual. Soon, i was invited into another room to be granted 3 wishes and blessed by the Babalorixá, which involved being brushed by a leafy branch and a popcorn shower.

Back in the Pelourinho, a street festival held every Terça-Feira (Tuesday) was in full swing. The ever-present drums of the Pelourinho were even more frantic than usual. There was a hedonistic edge to it all, and of course the beggars and thieves were making the most of the situation. Police were stationed everywhere as usual, but now wearing helmets for protection. The Caipirinhas were to once again prove my undoing, possibly because my Chakras were now aligned to the spirits, but probably because each plastic cup-full was about 60% cane spirit, 40% lime and sugar.

Capoeira is another of Bahia's many charms, invented by African slaves for self-defence. Disguised within dance, Capoeira survived through the times of slavery despite prohibition, and finally in the 1930's developed into the form seen today, usually performed in a circle of drummers, strummers and clappers. Singing also accompanies the music, and the strumming refers to the playing of a one-string instrument called a Berimbau, which has the appearance of a coconut stuck to an archery bow. Wednesday night i left Salvador behind, on a plane to São Paulo, the second largest city in Latin America and by my reckoning, the 5th largest in the world.