The Confraternity of Our Lady of the Good Death () is a small Afro-Catholic religious group in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Founded in the early 19th century as a Church-sponsored beneficent sisterhood for female African slaves and former slaves, it became one of the oldest and most respected worship groups for Candomblé, the major African-based religion in Brazil. Presently reduced to about thirty members (from 200 or so at its height), most of them over fifty, it still attracts worshipers every year, especially at its August festival.

History

The history of the Irmandade da Boa Morte ("Confraternity of the Good Death"), a religious group devoted to the Assumption of the Virgin, is part of the history of mass abduction of blacks from the African coast to the cane-growing catchment area around the port of Salvador, Bahia, known as the Recôncavo Baiano. Iberian adventurers built several towns in this area, one of them being Cachoeira, which was the second most important economic center in Bahia for three centuries.

Origin of confraternities

Confraternities proliferated during the 19th century, when the country was independent but still lived under the regime of slavery. For each profession, race and nation — because the African slaves and their descendants came from different places with different cultures — a separate irmandade was founded. There were confraternities for the rich, poor, musicians, blacks, whites, etc. There were almost none for women and in the male confraternities women entered as dependents to ensure they would receive benefits from the corporation after the death of their husbands. For the confraternity to operate, says historian João José Reis, a church had to welcome it and its statutes had to be approved by an ecclesiastical authority.

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 certain fame. It is known both as an expression of Brazilian baroque Catholicism, with its distinctive street processions, and for its tendency to include in religious festivals profane rituals punctuated by a lot of samba and banqueting.

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 worshiping 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.

Date of foundation

No one really knows in what year the Confraternity of the Good Death was founded. Odorico speculates that the organized devotion began in 1820 in the Church of Rosário in Barroquinha, a borough of Salvador; and that Gêges (blacks of the Ewe and Fon ethnicities) who moved from there to Cachoeira were responsible for organizing it. Others speak of that period too, but disagree about the nation of the pioneers, saying they were freed Ketus (ethnic Yorubas). It seems that the membership of the Confraternity had a variety of ethnic origins and that they numbered more than a hundred in the first years.

Historically, the year 1820 makes sense. Since early in the nineteenth century, progress had been afoot in the Recôncavo and new agricultural and industrial techniques were introduced there. While the sugar economy was experiencing difficulties, tobacco gained new strength when it attracted the interest of German capital following the political independence of Brazil. The opening of motorized shipping lines strengthened the breeze of economic renewal, stimulating the integration of the Recôncavo with the provincial capital and increasing trade. This in turn encouraged the formation of strong links between black slaves in many cities, especially Salvador and Cachoeira.

Jeferson Bacelar notes that the 1820s, especially the first three years of the decade, were marked by a process of agitation and excitement among the people of Bahia, many of whom - regardless of social class - were involved in a struggle for Independence that was marked by a strong anti-Portuguese spirit and armed skirmishes. The easing of tension between masters and slaves elicited by this momentary “unity” contributed to the permanent removal of blacks to the cities of the Recôncavo, where slaveowners were very interested in solving the conflict and, to defend their interests, armed the slaves and used them against the Portuguese. This exceptional state of affairs resulted in a large number of religious and civil initiatives by the slaves, among them, perhaps, the Irmandade da Boa Morte. Antônio Moraes Ribeiro's research associates the Confraternity's emergence from the slave quarters with the abolitionist atmosphere after the brutally crushed revolt of Muslim slaves in Bahia in 1835. Perhaps that is the origin of the clearly Islamic touch to the Confraternity's traditional clothes. As Raul Lody notes, the costume's impressiveness is heightened by the use of a turban. Antônio Moraes believes that one of the probable leaders of the Islamic Revolt, Luiza Mahim, was personally involved in the founding of the Confraternity after her flight from Salvador to the Recôncavo.

The early nineteenth century narrative for formation holds more credence when looking at correspondences for the time. One such correspondence from 1854 comes from a local deputy who wrote to the justice department requesting reinforcements to handle the Festival of Our Lady of the Good Death which was set to take place in Salvador. In the case of Boa Morte, whose members were relatively poor and almost all elderly—from 50 to 70 years old—the funds raised during members' lifetimes were always meant to pay for a decent funeral, whose preparations, given the dual religious activities of its members, required both rigor and understanding, besides being a nest-egg for the burial. Funds also paid for burial plots for individual members because most cemeteries restricted black burials in white cemeteries. The sisters, wearing all white, carry a reclining statue of Our Lady of the Good Death throughout the streets of Cachoeira in a quite procession and place the statue at the foot of the altar in their chapel. After the procession, the sisters hold confession and serve a holy dinner of white meats since they refrain from red meat on the day of the festival. The significance of the color white is linked to both Mary’s purity and to the Candomblé deity Oxalá who is associated with the dawn and the creation of the universe. This specific and traditional mix of African music and African dance goes back decades and was noted by government officials as far back as 1864 in Salvador, Brazil where the Order of the Good Death originated.

References

  • Stephen Selka, "Sisterhood of Boa Morte in Bahia", Catholics & Cultures updated January 22, 2015