Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art

102 THE CAPOEIRA SCENE IN BAHIA
13 May—the day the Abolition Law was signed by Princess Isabel—started to be commemorated by an
annual celebration on the market square, with candomblé, maculêlê, and samba de roda. 23 In Salvador, the
‘African Embassy’ (Embaixada Africana), whilst emulating white elite clubs in its formal aspects (floats,
luxury costumes), conveyed a message of pride about African origins and became an important feature of
the carnival during the 1890s. Other black carnival associations, such as Pándegos d’África, Chegada
Africana and Guerreiros d’África, soon followed its example.
Even though initially welcomed by the press, the occupation of public spaces by black or Afro-Bahian
culture soon became a cause of concern for the most intolerant faction of the white elite. Even those ready
to admit blacks as citizens were only willing to accept them into the Brazilian nation if they abandoned their
African heritage. Great was the fear of missing the train of progress by being too lenient with manifestations
of African culture, which were considered inferior. No wonder then that the elites’ quest for civilization
meant in practice a new clamp down on Afro-Bahian culture under the banner ‘campaign of civilization
against barbarism’. In 1905 the police chief proscribed any parade ‘with African costumes and batuques’
during carnival, a ban reiterated annually at least until 1913. 24
Bahian newspapers also campaigned against candomblé practitioners, accused of illegal practice of
medecine, witchcraft (curandeirismo), and other crimes. Every so often they reported horror tales on what
supposedly happened during Afro-Bahian rituals and urged for police action. State intervention in
candomblé shrines resumed during the First Republic, especially in the 1920s whilst Pedro Gordilho was
sub-chief of the police. He made the police invade terreiros, arrest priests and destroy or confiscate cult
objects. 25 The measures taken against capoeira rodas in the public space were an integral part of this systematic
attempt to eradicate Afro-Bahian manifestations. It is in this ambivalent context of post-emancipation that
Bahian capoeira evolved, and acquired what can be considered its ‘classical’ form during the first decades
of the twentieth century.
‘Vagrancy’ in Bahia, c.1890–1950
Boca Rica is a nice guy
He plays his Angola, and plays very well berimbau
Boca Rica is a master of capoeira
He sells onions and tomatoes at the market 26
The social context of vadiação
From roughly the turn of the century onwards, the density of sources on capoeira increases considerably. A
comparison between the first ethnographic accounts by M.Querino, E. Carneiro and A.Viana, and the
growing coverage of newspapers and oral history allow us to draw a more accurate and detailed picture of
the art during the post-emancipation period (ca. 1890–1950) in Salvador and the Recôncavo. Even though
capoeira, or vadiação as it was commonly called, 27 could be played any time and anywhere, three situations
appear to be of particular importance in early twentieth-century practice: during breaks in the work place,
on Sundays in popular neighbourhoods and in squares during the annual cycle of religious celebrations.
Though the labour of sailors, porters, and stevedores was harsh and strenuous, and required great
physical strength, there were also gaps between the moments of back-breaking activity: