Abstract
In the working-class neighborhood of Candeal Pequeno, located in the city of Salvador, there is a family shrine dedicated to the orixá Ogun. According to oral tradition, the shrine was established during the time of slavery by a prosperous African couple who owned large amounts of property and who founded the neighborhood. This article first reconstructs the family’s trajectory and its involvement in the cult to Ogun, identifying heterogeneous ethnic influences which varied over the course of time. The paper then discusses Ogun’s role among different peoples of the Bight of Benin region, with special attention to his importance for farmers such as the couple who created the shrine. The individual case study of the family in Candeal sheds light on the involvement of freed Africans in agriculture, as well as on the mutual influences among different African peoples in the religious domain both in Brazil and in Africa.
Keywords
Candomblé in Bahia; Hausas; Oral tradition; Ogun; Family shrines; Syncretism
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