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Festa Junina- São João/St. John Festival

Festa Junina continues with the celebration of São João (Saint John the Baptist) on June 24 all the way until June 29 with the celebration of São Pedro (Saint Peter). It is a state holiday throughout Bahia and, typically, baianos travel to the rural small towns for festivities as it is a celebration of  the countryside with forró (country style music), quadrilha dancing (similar to square dancing), and bonfires lit for the summer solstice (“winter” in Brazil). The most popular celebrations are in the Recôncavo cities of Cachoeira, Santo Amaro, and Santo Antonio de Jesus. Orixá Xangô, the deity of fire and thunder, is syncretized with Saints John and Peter and is celebrated with the jumping of the bonfires and venerated for peace and justice.

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Celebrations of Santo Antônio and Ogum

Festa Junina (June Festival) starts off with the celebration of Saint Anthony that commences on June 11 until June 13 when Bahians celebrate at the Santo Antônio Place at the far end of the Pelourinho neighborhood. This saint became very popular to women because he is considered to be be the “matchmaker” patron saint between men and women. People attend church services, follow street processions, and distribute bread to the poor. Around Santo Antônio Place, vendors sell typical Bahian food and musical performers add to the celebration. In Bahia, Saint Anthony is syncretized with the orixá Ogum, the orixá of iron, metalwork, technology, and war and also known as the one who clears pathways and removes obstacles. On this day feijoada, the favorite dish of Ogum, is offered with other offerings to ask for another year of protection against the ills of the world and to remove all obstacles along life’s paths.  Ogum is respectfully greeted with shouts of “Ogunhê!”

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YEMANJÁ: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil

The film Yemanjá: Wisdom from the African Heart of Brazil discusses Candomblé as a nature-based religion and examines its political nature as a religion of resistance against racism and religious discrimination.  Yemanjá also voices concerns about ecological and environmental issues that Candomblé practitioners face with regard to access to and the preservation of sacred natural spaces, and problematizes Bahia’s world famous annual Yemanjá festival. Ile Oxumare (shown in the film) and others have been vocal about offerings being biodegradable and encouraging more awareness of waste. The film also illustrates the role of a terreiro in the community and how the women that operate them serve as spiritual and community leaders.

(photo by Gerald Lee Hoffman)

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Bembê do Mercado and the Abolition of Slavery

On May 13, 1888, the Lei Áurea (Golden Law) was signed by Princess Isabela of Brazil which finally abolished slavery in Brazil, making Brazil the last nation in the western hemisphere to free its enslaved people.

In Santo Amaro, a Bahian Recôncavo town, Bembê do Mercado is a festival that commemorates this event every May 13. Candomblé rites are practiced under a barracão (a big tent) with religious icons and symbols set up in front of the town’s mercado (market). Musical shows, capoeira, samba de roda and maculelê are some of the highlights of the celebration. Nego Fugido, a reenactment of a slave escape attempt that resulted in recapture and the purchase of manumission, takes place in the streets. At the end of the celebrations, a fireworks display is followed by a ritual offering to Iemanjá at nearby Itapema Beach.

It should also be noted that many other Afro-Brazilians do not commemorate this day and have branded it as the Day of “Falsa Abolição” (False Abolition) because the law did nothing to guarantee a better life for the hundreds of thousands of slaves in Brazil, like providing education, land, or monetary grants, which effectively kept them from advancing and participating equally in Brazilian society. Afro-Brazilians fought for their freedom, and continue to fight to this day, for political, social, and economic justice.