Orixá’s Pantheon

A statue of Iemanja at the Candomble Terreiro of Pilão de Prata.
A statue of Iemanja at the Candomble Terreiro of Pilão de Prata.

This is an amazing experience!!! Today was yet another adventure for the books. Our lecture was unexpected but very interesting. Dr. Federico Costa discussed the environmental and social determinants of leptospirosis in Brazil. Leptospirosis was very new to me before today but he offered a lot of insight on the issue. It’s very saddening that they are unable to implement interventions in the underserved communities in Salvador due to the lack of trust between the residents and the police. It’s also sad to see how the drug trafficking is controlling the neighborhoods.

After class, my lunch at my Homestay was very interesting. I hadn’t had much time to speak with my host family but today I was able to have a conversation with my host sister and mom about the differences between the US and Salvador, Brazil. There were many similarities in the terms of race and politics. I was shocked to see the difference of salaries here. In America, lawyers and physicians typically make six figure salaries and are of the richer and more prestigious population. My sister said that here they are poor. Her father is a lawyer and she says he does not make that much money. She aspires to study and work in America cause it seems like a land of opportunity to her. We also talked about religion and Candomblé. I enjoyed our talk until it was time for Portuguese class.

After Portuguese class, we took a trip to a Candomblé house with our wonderful guide Fred! I truly enjoyed this. Learning about Candomblé has been my favorite part of this experience. It’s so complex but yet the simplicity in the orixás’ role in the religion is so astounding. I hope that during my time here I can learn more about it and witness more of the cultural aspects of the religion. Hopefully we can go to a ceremony to actually get the full experience of this religion. I know my host family will be a great resource since my host mother is a practitioner of the religion.

Another trip to Pelourinho was a great way to end our day. We spent time enjoying the vast amount of shops and street merchants. Then we ended our evening with a wonderful performance from the Balé Folclórico da Bahia. The performance captured and detailed some of the key aspects in the Brazilian culture such as the Candomblé religion, capoeira, and maculelê. All the dancers were so talented and I completely enjoyed the performance. They truly seemed to enjoy and actually put themselves into their performance. All in all today was another adventure for the books.