Page 269 - The Secret Museum

I went over that evening with Graça. On the way there I passed a lake, filled with

huge sculptures of the Bahian orixás dancing on the water. When we arrived Gil was
in the shower. She was laughing from behind her shower curtain, saying how happy
she was and welcoming us to her home. We had coffee and sweetcorn cake and
talked in a mixture of Portuguese (her) and English (me) with a lot of help from
Graça. I marvelled over the beautiful white cloths she has been making since she was
12 years old. I was taken aback by the craftsmanship, the level of skill and the level

of dedication: for the most ornate piece of lace cloth, she told us she might work on it
every evening for two years. She loves her creations, and pointed out each of the
different stitches, each representing a different orixá.

Each month, Gil wraps herself in the white cloths she has handstitched and goes to
a Candomblé ceremony one and a half hours away by bus. During it, she becomes
possessed by the orixás, and people in the ceremony take care of her, taking off her
white clothes and dressing her in the clothes of the orixa who has inhabited her body.
Women are extremely important in Candomblé worship and often hold the highest

positions. Ceremonies are usually led by a woman, known as ‘mother of the saint’
and they are responsible for training future priestesses. During the ceremonial feasts,
food sacred to each orixá is served in large leaves. It is believed to have healing
powers.

Gil told me she always leaves an offering to Exu at the beginning of a party or
gathering. As we sat at her kitchen table, she pointed out the door into the street – ‘he
lives there, just there, outside my door.’ His spirit is all over Salvador de Bahia – as
are each of the orixás.

From the beginning of the slave trade, Christian slave owners and Church leaders
tried to convert the enslaved African people, to make them more submissive and to

sever the links to their shared past. Many slaves practised Christianity outwardly,
praying to the saints, but secretly worshipping the orixas and their ancestor spirits.
Candomblé followers were violently persecuted right up until the 1970s, when the
law that required police permission to hold a Candomblé ceremony was lifted.

The popularity of Candomblé surged. Around 2 million people in the world now
follow it, and many people from African countries visit Bahia in order to learn more
about the faith of their ancestors. There is no holy scripture, so you can only learn
from looking and listening to other people, like Gil and Graça.

Oxum, a female orixá who loves beauty, love and fertility, is said to take care of

the city of Salvador, as well as newborn children, until they are four years old. If you
visit her city filled with music, dance and life, be sure to say hello to Exu. Pay your
respects, and he will take care of you.