IN CACHOEIRA/BAHIA

The Sisterhood of the Good Death’s Festival 
is worth seeing

The Sisterhood of Our Lady of the Good Death has become a mysterious attraction for the public since late mayor Geraldo Simões’ administration in 1989. At that time, in his administration Geraldo Simões had Prof. Pedro Borges dos Anjos, in the Department of Culture and Tourism of the municipality. Prof. Pedro Borges dos Anjos, upon seeing the American tourist flow visiting the town of Cachoeira with the recommendation to know more about the traditional Sisterhood of the Good Death, produced numerous texts in English on the history of the faith, on the preservation of the ancestral values kept by the sisters. He sent the mentioned texts to magazines and American newspapers, especially in Washington DC, the US capital. The result of this work increased the number of tourists to the town threefold more than before.

From that period, the Sisterhood began to receive donations of significant expression, the media began to give wider and greater dissemination on the values of the ancestry preserved by the Confraternity. During that time, the late writer Jorge Amado made an open letter which was published in national newspapers, with which touched the government to allocate funds for the purchase of the real estate, which is the current Confraternity's headquarters.

The Festival falls on the Thursday closest to August 15th, and lasts three days. This is one of the most fascinating Candomblé festivals and it's worth a special trip to see it. Organized by the Sisterhood of the Good Death - a secret, black, religious society - the festival is celebrated by the descendants of slaves, who praise their liberation with dance and prayer and a mix of themes from Candomblé and Catholicism.

The Sisterhood of the Good Death is the oldest organization for women of African descent in the New World. The said Sisterhood is a secret society of African-Brazilian women, all descendants of African slaves, who sponsor a procession each August that parades through the streets of the historical town of Cachoeira on the banks of the Paraguacu River. It is the most important festival in the African Heritage calendar in Bahia State and is a living tribute of African culture and Diaspora to the New World.

The history of the Sisterhood of the Good Death,  a religious confraternity devoted to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, is part of the history of mass importation of blacks from the African coast to the cane-growing Reconcavo region of Bahia. Iberian adventurers built beautiful towns in this area, one of them being Cachoeira, which was the second most important economic center in Bahia for three centuries. In a patriarchal society marked by racial and ethnic differences, the confraternity is made up exclusively of black women, which gives this Afro-Catholic manifestation - as some consider it - a significant role in the annals of African Diaspora history. Besides the gender and race of the confraternity's members, their status as former slaves and descendants of slaves is an important social characteristic without which it would be difficult to understand many aspects of the confraternity's religious commitments.

 The former slaves have demonstrated enormous adroitness in worshipping in the religion of those in power without letting go of their ancestral beliefs, as well as in the ways they defend the interests of their followers and represent them socially and politically.

Candomblé

The Sisters of the Good Death have the mystery of anointing and hear the Orisas' voices in their secular obligations whose operation they keep under lock and key, in complete secrecy to the profane community.

Try to see Candomblé in Cachoeira. This is one of the strongest and perhaps purest spiritual and religious centers for Candomblé. Long and mysterious Candomblé ceremonies are held in small homes and shacks up in the hills, usually on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 pm.

Visitors are not common here and the tourist office is sometimes reluctant to give out this sort of information, but if you show an interest in Candomblé, and respect for its traditions, you may inspire confidence.