{"id":699,"date":"2015-07-03T07:46:48","date_gmt":"2015-07-03T12:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=699"},"modified":"2019-07-29T16:33:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-29T21:33:27","slug":"slaves-and-churches-historical-center-of-salvador","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/?p=699","title":{"rendered":"Slaves and Churches: Historical center of Salvador"},"content":{"rendered":"

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In the central plaza of Salvador and in the street below the Pelourinho are two churches that symbolize the colonial past of Salvador.<\/p>\n

The first is the Church of Saint Francis, dedicated to the saint dedicated to the poor.\u00a0 In\u00a0the Portuguese colonial times this dedication meant using some 600 slaves to construct the church, which features some 700 kilos of gold.<\/p>\n

Saint Francis is\u00a0\u00a0shown on the altar in a\u00a0pose that appears martyr-like.<\/p>\n

The rear of the church has a space where the non-consecrated could stand.\u00a0 But not the slaves.\u00a0 They were not part of the congregation, which was for centuries comprised of the \u201cEuropean\u201d elite of Salvador.<\/p>\n

During this period many slaves became expert craftspeople, working in precious metals, wood and stone.\u00a0 Some of the carving in balustrades and dividing walls around the nave feature lush figures evocative of African fertility symbols, a sign of the artistic heritage that seems to subvert and resist the baroque European lavishness of the cathedral.<\/p>\n

Church of Sao Francisco (Saint Francis<\/em>)<\/p>\n

$\"IMG_0484\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

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\"IMG_0474\" — Church of Saint Francis, Salvador (Bahia)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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The church of Saint Francis\u00a0was built by, but not for,\u00a0blacks in Salvador.\u00a0 Barred from worship in the colonial baroque cathedral,\u00a0they built their own church using the labor and craftsmanship that had built the larger\u00a0European-style churches.<\/p>\n
Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos<\/em>\u00a0is just below the plaza of the Pelourinho and called Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks.\u00a0 It is simpler than the Church of\u00a0 Saint Francis, but shows much of the same artisanship in construction.\u00a0 Perhaps it could pass as one of the smaller European-style churches since black artisans had received their training in this form.<\/p>\n
In an odd historical footnote, some of these artisans were able to return to Africa where they brought their skills with them.\u00a0 This led to the unusual phenomenon of African houses of worship (generally on the Benin coast) that look like Portuguese-Brazilian parish churches.<\/p>\n
*Nossa Senhora do Rosario dos Pretos (Our Lady of the Rosary of the Blacks)<\/em><\/p>\n*
$\"IMG_7600\"$ <\/a>
A huge rosary at the entrance of the church signifies its name and devotion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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$\"IMG_7577\"$ <\/a>
The main altar of the church, here during a morning mass for Saint Anthony (June 2015)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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$\"IMG_7580\"$ <\/a>
During the mass for Saint Anthony there were a number of white-clad women in head covering typical of Afro-Brazilian worship. This underscores the interpenetration of Brazilian spiritual practice.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The\u00a0church worships various figures that\u00a0are represented as white \u2014 Our Lady of the Rosary and Saint Barbara.\u00a0 But a special place is reserved for black saints such as Saint Benedict (Sao Bento), Saint Iphegenia, and Saint Lesbao.<\/p>\n
Particularly honored in Anastasja \u2014 not a saint, but a symbol of the oppression of slaves.\u00a0 She is known as a mistress\/slave\u00a0of a jealous master who first masked her to avoid her speaking, then eventually killed her.\u00a0 She is honored in a special altar in the rear courtyard of the church.<\/p>\n
$\"IMG_7594\"$ <\/a>
Anastasja, a slave whose master, out of jealously and possessiveness, forbid her to speak and eventually killed her.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 In the central plaza of Salvador and in the street below the Pelourinho are two churches that symbolize the colonial past of Salvador. The first is the Church of Saint Francis, dedicated to the saint dedicated to the poor.\u00a0 In\u00a0the Portuguese colonial times this dedication meant using some 600 slaves to construct the church, … Continue reading Slaves and Churches: Historical center of Salvador<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uwmmilwaukee-study-abroad-pre-2019"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meredithwwatts.com\/MWBrazilBlog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}