Abstract
The terreiro Ilê Iyá Omi Axé Iyamassé, located in the city of Salvador and better known as the Gantois, is one of the oldest candomblé houses in the city of Salvador, Bahia. In Afro-Brazilian studies, the terreiro has been commented on since the early works of Nina Rodrigues and in 2002 it gained national historic landmark status. However, little is known about its early days, aside from oral traditions that its founder was involved in a legendary temple located in the Barroquinha district. This paper analyzes oral traditions in conjunction with ethnographic and archival data in reconstructing the lives of the founding priestess, Maria Júlia da Conceição and her husband, Francisco Nazareth d’Etra, from capitivity to freedom. Although the founder was a Yoruba speaker, her husband was Jeje and the evidence suggests that Jeje influences were important in the religious community’s early days. The paper also reflects over the nature of the Gantois’s ties to Ilê Axé Iyá Nassô Oká (Casa Branca), offering a new chronology for the moment of separation between the two communities.
Keywords:
Bahian Candomblé; African freedmen; barbers; black brotherhoods; syncretism
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