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Santa Bárbara e Iansã
a traditional festival of the people of Bahia celebrated at the Egbè Cultural Association Senzala do Samba
Saint Barbara and Iansã, initially called Oyà, announce the arrival of the summer festivities in Bahia, which only end with Carnival. The Saint who carries the lightning as a symbol and the Orixá of fire, wind and storms announce the good weather with clear skies to celebrate and give thanks for life. Red and white are the colors used by the devotees who celebrate December 4th in Bahia. The official festival takes place in the historic center of Salvador, with an open-air mass, a procession, caruru distributed to the population at the Fire Department headquarters and samba de roda in the squares, streets and at the São Miguel Market. In some homes, the rite of love, faith and devotion of the Bahian people is also performed.
Here we will show the celebration held at the Egbè Cultural Senzala do Samba Association, in Camaçari.
Tradition carried out in a similar way to its ancestors, which brings the roots of popular Catholicism with sung prayers and the altar, the beating of the atabaques for Iansã, the banquet called “caruru” that is distributed to those present and the samba as the end of the celebration.
The festival of Saint Barbara, brought to Bahia in 1641 by Francisco Pereira Lago and Andressa Araújo, a Portuguese couple who settled in the lower city and built an area of rental houses and shops, is a celebration that developed independently of the church. In the middle of the commercial center, they built a chapel where they worshipped the saint who later earned the title of “Lady of the Markets”.
When thunder roared loudly in the lands of Bahia and shook the bravest of men, it was common for European masters to join African slaves in calling for protection from the Deities in endless prayer rituals, which included singing the blessed song, lighting candles and burning blessed branches.
Saint Barbara, whose story involves lightning, was associated with the Yoruba orisha Iansã, who represents lightning and storms, when she arrived in Brazil. This union of worship and devotion to the two deities was born from the spirit of survival of the black people who never strayed from their African origins, despite the obligatory seven laps around the Baobab tree to forget their history. Time passed and that movement, which was a disguise to worship the deity who came from Africa, turned into love.
As is typical of black men and women: to welcome what arrives, to transform pain into moments of joy to gain strength and continue resisting. And on this path of transmuting pain lies samba.
As Mestra Joseane says: “Santa Bárbara is one, Iansã is another, but on this day we celebrate both as we were taught by tradition”.
The term "Orixá" of the Ketu nation became popular, but depending on the nation we can call it Nkises for the Bantu/Angola nation and "Voduns" for the Jeje nation.
Here we will keep the term "Orixá" as it is better known.
We arrived at the Associação Egbè Cultural Senzala do Samba, Camaçari, with the sunset and the rising of the new moon, which appeared like a smile in front of the house that hosts the Association, a place created by Mestra Joseane, by Mestre Plínio and their family to house the various projects of maintenance of the traditional culture of Bahia, which they bring as a pillar of support for their lives: memory and the material and immaterial doing that nourishes the spiritual, physical, emotional and mental to face the adversities of everyday life.
In the house, which is also a residence, everything was ready. In the garage, facing the street, an altar decorated with white and red roses was set up. In the center is the Catholic image of Saint Barbara. In front of the Saint, the image of Cosme and Damião. Below, inside the pestle of Xangô, the love of Iansã, more roses to decorate the Warrior Orixa and the Saint in Red. Composing the altar are lit lights in the form of candles. Beside the altar, the drums await their time to enter the scene. Above the altar are two banners with the phrases: Hail Saint Barbara Iansã; and Hail Saint Cosme, Saint Damião and Ibejis.
At the counter of the American kitchen, a banquet of traditional foods called “caruru” is served to Saint Barbara and Iansã in gratitude for the abundance. Since this house celebrates Cosme, Damião and the Erês/Ibejis (children) on the same date, which have the same delicacy as an offering, honey candies and various sweets are included in the menu.
The time has come and the celebration begins with the gift of food offered on the altar to Iansã and the Ibejis. Candles are lit and Catholic prayers are sung in Portuguese and Latin, accompanied by the sound of the guitar. Led by Mestre Valnei Junior and his family, the prayer resonates with the strength of faith throughout the street, which is full of people.
Next, the atabaques greet Oyà with beats that follow the Candomblé tradition and represent the Orixá. Soon after, the food arrives. The caruru is served in the following way, since it is also being offered to Cosme and Damião on the same date, which is an exception: first, the children present eat it on a white cloth spread on the floor of the house; then the caruru is served in nine ceramic bowls to nine elderly women or those who are part of the tradition, and only after this ritual is it served to everyone else. The number nine is due to the meaning of Iansã being a mother nine times.
O Caruru
In Bahia, caruru is used to indicate a dish made with okra cut into small pieces, seasoned with shrimp, cashew nuts, peanuts and palm oil; as well as to indicate the banquet with various delicacies offered in December to Saint Barbara and in September to Cosmas and Damian. Both are Catholic saints.
The term “caruru” to celebrate the dates of September 27th and December 4th also implies samba de roda and capoeira, common in the festive gatherings of black people, who, forced to live with people of different origins, in another country, adapted and created new ways of life so that they could cultivate and celebrate their Divinities.
Thus, the caruru offered to Saint Barbara and Cosmas and Damian contains several delicacies, each of which represents one or more Orishas. The relationship between food and the offering of a given Orisha is similar in all houses of African-based religion, and may vary depending on the nation or the tradition of the ancestors who built the legacy.
In Egbé Cultural, caruru is composed of: caruru, which in this specific act is from Santa Bárbara; black beans and yam from Ogum; black-eyed peas from Oxum; akarà (acarajé) from Oyà; abará from Xangô; sugar cane from Exu; popcorn from Obaluaê; rice from Iemanjá; white corn from Oxalá; red corn, rapadura and eran (chicken) from Oxóssi; sweet potato from Oxum Marè and Nanã; and fried banana from Erês.
Thus, as Vagner José Rocha Santos rightly points out in his text - Iansã's acará at the feast of Santa Bárbara: brief considerations on the foods of a popular religious festival in Salvador: “every year, when preparing and serving caruru in honor of Santa Bárbara, even without knowing it, her devotees renew the banquet of the family of the king of Oió. If okra represents abundance for Xangô, caruru is the feast of abundance.”
Samba Chula to honor Oyà
Egbé Cultural is a traditional house of samba chula, with the luthier Plínio as its Master, son of Xangô, husband of the Master Sambadeira and Baiana de Acarajé Joseane, daughter of Oyà. The love on the physical plane between the two and the love on the spiritual plane of the rulers of their Orís (heads) governs everything they do.
Samba chula, the root of Brazilian samba, born in the sugarcane fields of Recôncavo Baiano, was passed on to Mestre Plínio by Mestre João do Boi. An honored disciple of having as a Master one of the greatest samba chula musicians in Bahia, Mestre Plínio founded Samba Chula Filhos de Oyò and continued his journey fulfilling the tradition he inherited from his ancestors, while at the same time launching the heir to his continuity, his young son Plínio Junior, who plays Samba Chula Raiz Ancestral.
While the people were still enjoying the delights of traditional cuisine from the Candomblé and Umbanda Houses, the samba chula began to be played.
The samba chula is a ritual that accompanies the foundation of Candomblé houses and, as such, has well-defined rules. While the players shout the samba, no one can dance, only enjoy the message that is conveyed by singing. When the singing stops and only the instruments dictate the rhythm, a woman (one at a time) enters the circle, greets the players and then greets the audience, while sambaing. Men should only dance after the samba chula, which is a kind of prayer that precedes the samba corrido. If we align it with capoeira, we can say that the samba chula is the litany of capoeira, which when sung no one can play, only listen.
Aligned in this way, during the caruru of Santa Bárbara and Iansã, Mestra Joseane would manage who entered the circle, who stayed and who left, but giving everyone the opportunity to dance and excluding the entry of those people who were unfamiliar with the tradition.
We left before the samba ended because it was time to hit the road, but we understood that the celebration of Saint Barbara and Iansã, one of the oldest in Bahia, continues to this day with such strength and devotion because it is a tradition carried out by black and Creole people who have the habit of giving thanks and celebrating life in a holistic way, where prayer communes with samba, food, capoeira and drink.
Eparrey Oya. Hail Santa Barbara!
Samba Chula Ancestral Roots with Master Plinio Junior.
Samba Chula Children of Oyò with Master Plinio.
Samba dancers