CANDOMBLÉ BETWEEN TOLERANCE AND REPRESSION

The day before Christmas Eve, 1858, a group of African freedpersons (i.e., ex-slaves) gathered for a batuque, the general expression then used for an African drumming session, in the Cruz do Cosme neigh-borhood on the outskirts of Salvador. Suddenly, the police surrounded and invaded the house, arresting people and seizing objects pertaining to Candomblé ceremonies. This raid caused a rift between the local subdelegado, or deputy chief constable, and the chief of police. In an official letter to his superior, subdelegado Manoel Nunes de Faria complained that he had not been informed of that police action. He later found out that the group of Africans had been arrested “for being found drumming.” He questioned that charge, and protested:

He went on to state that the lieutenant commander of the urban police had acted “as if there were no subdelegado in the parish, which is highly astonishing” and described the raid as typical “absolutism,” indicating a lack of confidence in his authority. If the chief of police did not trust the subdelegado, “it would only be just to fire him,” the aggrieved officer concluded.

To provide a better understanding of this controversial issue and others that would arise later, I should say something about the structure of the police service in Bahia at the time.