The Everyday Life of Shrines in Cachoeira, Brazil

In the city of Cachoeira, in Bahia, Brazil, one can find shrines in many different places, including domestic spaces. These shrines may belong to different religions: Catholic or Afro-Brazilian Candomblй. Rather than comparing both kinds of shrines in terms of what they represent or contain, this article looks at the "life" of the shrines, how people relate to them, and how they work. The "life" is of a different kind in each case, but it is also grounded in similar processes: devotion in both cases is marked by a continual, everyday exchange of gifts. Both Catholic altars and Candomblé shrines are built on a relationship of exchange with superior and invisible beings. Both are a part of the distributed person of the devotee and the saint or Orixá.