Skip to main content

African vibrance...

Salvador da Bahia, Brazil's third largest city, has an energy and unadorned beauty reflecting what was once the magnificent capital of Portugal's New World colony. I am staying in a beautifully restored colonial house surrounded by a "living museum" of 17th and 18th century architecture and gold-laden churches. (Breathtaking but challenging in a country of such extreme poverty!)
The city is also a heady blend of two seemingly disparate cultures - classic Portugese architecture and African drum beats, cobbled streets and lively festivals, Catholic Churches and the Candomble (Afro-Brazilian religion.)
Last Tuesday, I experienced something of this fascinating blend when I attended Igreja NS do Rosario dos Pretos's Mass for St. Anthony....
Yes, there would be all the elements one might expect (candles, incense, processions) but also the exuberant percussive worship songs ( acapella except for drumbeats) accompanied by lithe, ecstatic movements of many worshippers.(I certainly clapped!?!) There were impromptu hugs during the sharing of the Peace (I wonder how that would be received in Dyffryn Clwyd?!) and a vast (40+) procession of people of all ages rhythmically transporting baskets laden with bread rolls of all shape and description prior to the Prayer of Thanksgiving...

Yes, as one might expect, there was the distribution of wafers after the prayer of consecration and Lord's Prayer (intoned with everyone having joined hands with one another - there's an idea!?) but, before worship finished, we were all suitably doused with water by the Priest and strongly encouraged to take a bread roll from the baskets as they were returned to the main entrance...

In a church which African slaves took 100 years to complete I felt that Christ's gift of Himself had been celebrated with much African poise and grace.
I wonder what might be the equivalent of us in Dyffryn Clwyd offering something of our "Cymreictod" (Welshness) to such an act of worship....?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Give a "hug"....

A church in Speke (based in its own cafe) gives people "hugs" (personally and prayerfully knitted scarfs wrapped in a clear bag) complete with a personal dedicated card from the knitter. They're (freely) given out to anyone deemed to be in need of a "hug". Know someone who is "down", bereaved, recently divorced or having a hard time? Give 'em a "hug"... Just imagine how many "hugs" our local knitters could produce.....!
Post a Comment
Read more

CORDOBA - clever, cultured and cold....!

Travelling from the lush tropical rainforest of Iguazu to Argentina's second city, Cordoba, came as something of a shock! Firstly, there were all the usual trappings of a city - traffic, buildings, people, hustle and bustle. (The very comfortable but "simple" hotel was also a bit of a come down! Indeed, intermittent wifi has made sending blogs a challenge but, here we are...!) Although a travel cliche, Cordoba really is a fascinating mix of old and new... 17th century ecclesiastical buildings stand next to the latest shopping centres. CLEVER: Indeed, this city boasts a long established academic foundation: Manzana Jesuitica, Argentina's first university (so it claims!). The next door academic establishment, Colegio Nacional de Montserrat, with its baroque exterior walls, may be as old - it all depends on whether you consider the date building began or charters were established! Visiting the university's oldest library and being shown a 17th century bible...
1 comment
Read more

Siarad Cymraeg!

Moving on from Ushuaia to Trelew, Patagonia brought me closer to my final destination in Argentina and, in a strange way, closer "home"...! During my first full day in Trelew (a town established by a certain Mr. Lewis!) I ventured on the local buses to visit two of the main communities in the Chubut valley - Dolavon (a town meaning "river meadow", reflecting the vast network of irrigation channels, waterwheels and fertile land established here) and Gaiman (a name meaning "arrow / stoney point"  not given by the Welsh pioneers who settled here but the earlier native Tehuelche inhabitants who wintered in the area.) Both small, rural communities had a genteel, stately charm, their scattered low rise buildings perhaps reflecting the key priorities of those early settlers - chapels (Tabernacl, Bethel and Bethlehem amongst them), co-operative stores ( for selling produce and acquiring materials imported from home) and railways (quaint stations, tunnels and war...
1 comment
Read more