In fact, Saint Roch, Saints Cosmas and Damian, Saints Crispin and Crispinian, Saint Barbara, and Our Lady of the Conception-all of whom can be counted among the region's most popular saints-are believed to share Saint Anthony's predilection for the Afro-Brazilian art form. He likes samba!" (1) And Saint Anthony is no oddball. In the enthusiastic words of one Bahian woman I met in 2011, "What Saint Anthony likes is parties. In fact, with its church-inspired contexts and choreographies (e.g., the Sign of the Cross, bowing before the altar, etc.), saint-extolling texts, and capacity to instigate possession by Christian martyrs, this type of samba might best be described (in analytical, etic terms) as a "Catholic samba." But why is samba-by which I mean a local Afro-Brazilian dance, song, and rhythm-a fundamental facet of both public and private Catholic patron saint celebrations in Bahia? After many years of fieldwork in the Bahian Reconcavo (2008-2014), I can offer a fairly straightforward, ethnographic answer: People believe their saints adore samba. People typically see this samba for Catholic saints as an expression of their Catholic faith. On occasion, this samba can even prompt Catholic saints (and other entities) to possess the host and other guests for a divine dancing and singing distinct from the types of possession rituals characteristic of Afro-Brazilian religions such as Candomble and Umbanda (Iyanaga 2013, 313-359). Standing in front of the home altar, attendees first intone a series of Catholic hymns before gathering in a ring to dance and responsorially sing their saint-saluting sambas (Fig. Less publicly, samba caps off rollicking patron saint house parties known as rezas, each moment of which is marked by ritual music. The last of these is perhaps most famously exemplified in the large three-day Festival of Our Lady of Good Death, held annually in the city of Cachoeira, which culminates in hours of celebratory samba dancing (see A. As such, samba is found at Catholic pilgrimages, ritual cleansings (lavagens), and, most prominently, saints' feasts. In the sociohistorically important Reconcavo region of Bahia, in Brazil's northeast, the local majority African descendent population regularly celebrates its patron saints not only with masses and processions but also with samba song and dance.
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