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| Masked Booby leading the way |
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| Salvador's Artisan Market |
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| One of the hundreds of churches |
The large Bay of Todos Los Santos to the South and the
Atlantic Ocean to the East enclose the Peninsular of Itapagipana. Salvador,
specifically the historic centre of Pelhourino, nestles at the edge of the Bay.
One of the oldest cities of Brazil, it is also the one that
has the closest present day connection to the influence of African culture.
Almost all citizens can trace their heritage back to one of the hundreds of
thousands of mostly Nigerian slaves, which were brought here to work mines,
forests and sugar cane fields.
Salvador was owned, occupied, fought over, lost and regained
by various colonial powers, gave birth to a number of fugitive slave towns in
its environs, and was the first official Capital of Brazil.
The name Brazil hails from the original trading goods
exploited here: Brazil wood. Indigenous people used
the wood to extract unique
red colouring to decorate their skin. Explorers soon realized that the die
would serve a demanding market in Europe. As the colour was close to the hue of
burning embers, braza, the name ‘Braz-il’ soon came into use.
The paint trade lasted until the Chinese developed a cheaper
version of it, then sugar cane came into its own. The town was rich. When sugar
tanked, it slowly fell into ruins. Luckily, colonial architecture was saved
from ultimate destruction, when Salvador was declared a Unesco World Heritage
Site, which caused massive efforts at renovation and reconstruction.
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| Children enjoying a fresh fruit snack |
Pelhourine, meaning ‘pillory’, is presently a visual
delight. It definitely was not so for the original slaves, who were tied to
whipping post (pillories) to be punished for real or imagined offences against
the laws of the times.
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| Old photo of slave |
Dozens if not hundreds of monasteries, churches, chapels etc.
rise above the colourful houses along undulating streets, still offering a cobble
stoned obstacle course. African rhythms fill the streets, where Salvadorians
perform impromptu percussion concerts in the shade. The heat is stifling…
It is claimed by the locals, that Salvadorians founded New
York, USA. They say, that Dutch and Dutch Jewish people arrived here (when
Salvador was temporarily non Portuguese) and settled and started lively
commerce. However, the pesky Portuguese re-conquered the place, and the Dutch
and Jewish population fled for friendlier shores one year after their arrival –
heading north to the other American Continent to found New Amsterdam, today
called New York.
Salvador’s alleys and streets lived through a period of
seediness, making it famous for high crime rates and an aura of decay. My visit
found something altogether different: shops filled with art work and artisan
product, pure cotton clothing, lace, musical instruments…and a healthy line up
of art schools.
Rounding things out pleasantly for a visitor, there were dozens
of inviting street side cafes, bistros and restaurants, offering a plethora of
seafood as well as local meaning African inspired) specialties. The beer was
good, too.
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| At the edge of the Favela, Slum |
Although the regular Salvadorians wore ‘international
fashion’, meaning jeans and t-shirts, many black women wore historic outfits,
consisting of hooped skirts and flouncy blouses, topped with a turban.
Allegedly and historically the hooped skirts served to hide
socially unacceptable pregnancies, caused by slave owners having a little aside
with an unwilling but attractive ‘property’. Slave trade in Brazil out-ranked
any other slave trade in the world, importing more than 90 percent of Africans,
sequestered under atrocious circumstances, transported in murderous conditions,
and then sold inhumanely to planters, to live a life of misery and
hopelessness. Only late 1860 (???) slave trade was abolished in Brazil. Many
slaves fled into the jungle to start small settlements, which were vigorously
persecuted by the owners. Some fugitive villages held out against the
Portuguese for years, one of which defended by a well-educated black slave
teenager, called Zumbi. Zumbi defended his home village in the jungle for about
16 years, when he was finally defeated and executed. The date of his death has
been declared National Day of Black Consciousness in Brazil. His statue stands
in one of the squares of Pelhourinho.
Traces of past wealth of the church and all its
manifestations are evident in the many churches. The Church dedicated to San
Francisco is one of the most notable, with an interior totally covered in gold
leaf – kilos and kilos and kilos of it.
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| Weighted down by Gold Leaf |
Evening in Salvador – despite all the social and municipal
improvements of Historic Salvador, the City feels intimidating at night. Most
streets are pitch dark and deserted. At the square, and especially in the time
to ramp up for Carnival, crowds of local Africans spill from the bars into the
street and enjoy their leisure time, accompanied with the appropriate local
libations and ear splitting drumming, which evoke images of the darkest and
most fearsome Africa.
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| Resting at the Cathedral's Entrance |
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| Waiting for the Drumming to Start |
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| Caporeia dancers |
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| Street corner drumming band |
I visited a local Folkloric performance in a restaurant
(buffet dinner), which was incongruously called Coliseo, O Sabor da Roma Negro.
Candomble sacred dances, enhanced with strobe lights, filled the evening,
giving homage to a whole line up of ancient African Animistic Gods, such as
Ogum, God of War; Iansa, Goddess of Lightning and Oxum, Queen of the Sweet
Waters.
Samba of course is a must have number, it originates as a
dance where women took the initiative to choose a partner. Capoeira was danced
as well, which is half martial art and half dance, which involves a lot of
potentially fatal legwork, and hardly any arm movements. It is said, that
manacled slaves could not use their chained arms but in defense, and developing
their legs as weapons of attack. Today it is a ritual dance that is performed
to an irresistible rhythm played by atabaqhe drums and berimbaus.
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| Salvadorena |
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| Artist of all stripes exhibit and sell their wares |
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| One of the main Plazas of Salvador |
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| Woven Cane and thread |
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| Ladies with hoop skirts resting in the shade |
A somewhat bizarre combination, high tech lighting and
ancient rituals in a Roman inspired venue – Brazil!
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| San Francisco Cathedral by night |
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| Men dressed as women dancing Candomble dance |
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| African instruments provide background music |
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| Off Into the Sunset again |
