Claiming Public Space for Important Gods : Notes on Brazil
By: Kerry Dooley Young
Tags: World, History, Brazil, Travel, Art

Rio by David G. Young.

In Need of Healing

As I said at the start of this essay, Ossanha must be busy these days.

When David and I visited Rio’s Botanical Garden on Feb. 8, 2020, there were not yet any confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South America. The first one was reported on Feb. 25, diagnosed in a man who had returned from Europe to Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo. The rapid global spread of COVID-19 would force us to cut short our time in South America.

David and I left Brazil on March 17. By that time, Brazil had suffered its first coronavirus-related death, and there were 291 confirmed cases in the country.

As of May 22, Brazil had an estimated 310,087 cases of COVID-19 and 20,047 deaths, according to the New York Times coronavirus tracker.

Rio’s Botanical Garden is closed for an indefinite time, as are beautiful parks in other countries. Rules about quarantine have disrupted religious practices of many kinds in Brazil, as they have around the world.

Brazil’s Globo.com reported last month on how a Candomblé community in the southern Brazilian city of Petrolina, was coping. In this religion, adherents regularly gather for ceremonies centered around music and dance. (Note: There is a link at the end of this essay to a bibliography with full details on this Globo.com piece and all other articles mentioned here.)

During the pandemic, Pai (Father) Adeilson of this Candomblé community of Petrolina told Globo’s G1 news service that his fellow worshippers had to forego their regular gatherings. They missed the drumming and joining together in prayer.

But only emergency spiritual care can be given during the pandemic — and this only with great caution, Pai Adeilson told G1. Below is a translation of his quote in the article and then the original.

“There is alcohol gel, they stay a little distant from me. Very few people come here. They wear masks. We stay distant from each other. It’s very strange, (Tem álcool em gel, eles ficam um pouco distante de mim. Pouquíssimas pessoas vêm aqui, usam a máscara, ficamos distante um do outro, mas muito raro),” he said.

In Salvador da Bahia, the hometown of artist Tatti Moreno, a beloved image of Christ known as Senhor do Bonfim (Lord of the Good End) was carried through the streets on April 2. In Candomblé, the Senhor do Bonfim is associated with Oxalá, father of the orixas and creator of humankind.

The procession was meant to comfort people, letting them see the Senhor do Bonfim from their windows even as the pandemic halted church services. Parades, usually a staple of Brazilian celebrations, were banned from this procession of Senhor do Bonfimof due to the coronavirus pandemic.

In normal times, Salvador’s Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim attracts large crowds. It’s one of the world’s loveliest pilgrimage sites, drawing people of many faiths, and people with no particular spiritual affiliation. They take comfort from the stores of hope and good will brought to this church. There is a tradition of tying ribbons at the gate of the church in search of blessings, as shown in the photo below of the church. I added red arrows to point out the ribbons. And that’s me in the other photo below, tying a ribbon in honor of a friend.