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c h a p t e r f i v e  Nesta Cidade Todo Mundo é d’Oxum In This City Everyone Is Oxum’s Ieda Machado Ribeiro dos Santos Nesta cidade todo mundo é d’Oxum. In this city everybody is Oxum’s. Homem, menino, menina, e mulher Man, boy, girl, and woman Toda a cidade irradia magia And all the city irradiates magic Presente n’água salgada Gifts in the salt waters Presente nas águas doces Gifts, in the sweet waters E toda a cidade brilha. And all the city shines. Seja tenente ou filho de pescador Either a lieutenant or a fisherman’s son Ou importante desembargador Or an important Justice man Se der presente é tudo uma coisa só If they give presents they are about the same A força que mora n’água The power living in the waters Não faz distinção de cor Does not distinguish between colors E toda a cidade é d’Oxum. And all the city is Oxum’s. —Vevé Calazans and Jerônimo This song, well-known all over Brazil, and the musical theme of a television series, brings to light a very true feeling of the people of Bahia, Brazil, especially when it says, “the power living in the waters does not distinguish between colors .”1 Indeed, the popularity of African deities in Brazil reaches persons from all ethnic roots and social levels. It may be an exaggeration to say that everybody in Bahia is Oxum’s because many are Ogum’s and Xango’s. All the Yoruba divinities or orixás have their children in Bahia. But this Yoruba goddess’s prestige is really extraordinary and more and more it is spreading to the most distant regions of Brazil. However, this popularity has its price. Mãe Oxum (Mamãe Oxum, as we like to call her in Portuguese) has had to suffer a kind of metamorphosis due to our mestizo soul. One can find in Bahian shops selling religious articles, statues of Oxum represented by a blond woman, wearing a long yellow dress, similar to the images of Iemanja who is older and better-known. A Bahian newspaper once referred in its gossip section to “the blond Oxum and the brunette Iemanja” as if the columnist had simply forgotten the African origin of the two goddesses. This abusive use of her sacred symbols is a cause for great grief among AfroBahian priests and priestesses of the Candomblé Nagô, the orthodox Yoruba communities of Bahia. Such modifications are said to take place in the profane part of our society, among the so-called arioko, the “people of the bush,” that is those outside the pale of the Candomblé. Yet even here Oxum is not free from the famous syncretism that assimilates her to Our Lady of Conception or to Saint Luzia (Oxum Apara) or Our Lady Aparecida (Oxum Miwua) and others. Nor can we forget the influence of native Indian myths like the Yara or the European mermaid or other African deities of the waters like the Angolan Quiandas. In Bahia, where we have a mini-Africa made up of different African cultures, there are three major Candomblé nations. In the Angola nation, with Bantu roots, Oxum is the inkisi Dandalunda, Kicimbi, or Samba. In the Jeje nation, with its Ewe-Fon roots, she is the vodum Aziri. Among the Nagô she is the goddess of the Osun River in Nigeria. She became in Brazil the queen of sweet waters such as rivers, lakes, and waterfalls. Her qualities of divine love and beauty are especially emphasized. However, her motherly qualities are maintained. Jacimar Silva writes that she is the “protector of beauty, youth and love, being also the protector of birth, defender of mothers and adoptive mother of helpless children” (Silva 1995). So Oxum, whether worshiped in the most orthodox Yoruba tradition or with the most fantastic Brazilian creativity, has her presence assured in every aspect of Bahian life. From Bahia her influence has crossed our borders into countries where the European traditions have always been predominant, as for instance, Argentina.2 Oxum in Bahian Terreiros Nothing is more beautiful than seeing an Oxum daughter dancing in a Bahian Candomblé house or terreiro, wearing luxurious, brightly colored costumes , with yellow and gold predominant. Her delicate face is covered by a thin veil made of golden beads attached to a crown, Oxum’s ade. Heavy bracelets cover her arms...

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