Santa Amaro- Bahia
Santo Amaro da Purificação is an old and sadly decaying sugar centre. It is noted for its churches (which are often closed because
of robberies), the most famous of which is the Igreja Matriz Santo Amaro da Purificação which has a superb painted ceiling by José Joaquim da Rocha. It is also the birthplace of Caetano Veloso and his sister Maria Bethânia.
Costumed Bahianas (people from the state of Bahia) make personal offerings of flowers, music, parades and capoeira. The Bahianas wash the steps in front of the church with aromatised water. The washing ritual is called the Lavagem a custom started in 1773 when slaves were told to wash the steps of the church in preparation for the feasts. The tradition now blends Catholicism with the Candomble African religion, as the slaves, who weren’t allowed to openly participate in their own religious rites, adopted the worship of their deities into Catholic ones.
