The annual influx of African Americans has become a significant income generator for the Boa Morte custodians, helping the women finance a refurbished visitors center.
"We're very pleased so many come from so far to share our joy," said Adeilde Ferreira, 61, a sisterhood elder, seated among celebrants in the visitors center.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, September 27, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
Brazil map: In some editions of Sunday's Section A, a map with an article about African culture in Brazil's Bahia state incorrectly showed the location of the city of Cachoeira. This map shows the correct location.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, September 30, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Brazil map: In some editions of the Sept. 23 Section A, a map with an article about African culture in Brazil's Bahia state incorrectly showed the location of the city of Cachoeira. This map shows the correct location.For the Record
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, September 30, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 38 words Type of Material: Correction
Brazil map: In some editions of the Sept. 23 Section A, a map with an article about African culture in Brazil's Bahia state incorrectly showed the location of the city of Cachoeira. This map shows the correct location.
Many of the African American visitors are surprised to find that the elaborately made-up statue of Our Lady of the Good Death, hoisted through town every Aug. 15, depicts a white Virgin, more Lisbon than Lagos.
But the venerable matriarchs of the sisterhood, with their billowing, wedding-cake dresses, vivid hairpieces and flowing bracelets and necklaces, do not disappoint. They attend a Catholic Mass and then join a rollicking procession, many donning silver-colored turbans that shimmer in the sun and appear like finely crafted sheets of aluminum foil.
"These women kept their tradition, their clothing, their language, the religious practices," said Renee Padmore-Baccus, a hospital worker from Brooklyn. "You come here and you can see what slavery was like."
She traveled to Brazil with her mother, Cynthia Padmore, a retired nurse. A photograph of one of the Boa Morte sisters in a magazine inspired their voyage.
"I saw that picture and I said, 'I have to see these women,' " Padmore said. "That was the birth of our trip here."
Both mother and daughter came away hailing a shared pan-American experience of African-ness.
"This is a direct link to what my parents taught me," said Padmore-Baccus, whose father is from Jamaica, mother from Trinidad. "You need to listen to the old stories, the old traditions."
For Semaj Williams, the fascination with Brazil began with the 1959 film "Black Orpheus," a tale of Greek myth, working-class struggles and amour fou set amid the steamy hillside shantytowns of Rio at Carnival time.
"I saw 'Black Orpheus' when I was very young, and it affected me," Williams recalled at the former convent where he and perhaps 200 African Americans were having lunch, signs on long tables identifying each participating tour group. "I decided I needed to go down there and check this out."
Williams has made frequent trips to Bahia, working on a documentary about the sisterhood and immersing himself in their traditions and pageantry. With time, he says, the allure of the African past embodied by the sisterhood has intensified.
"These women are just so impressive," he said. "I tell people: 'If you never had a grandmother, come down to Cachoeira. You'll find a bunch of grandmothers.' "
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McDonnell was recently on assignment in Brazil. Special correspondent Cristiana Coimbra in Salvador contributed to this report.
