This paper analyses trajectories of socialization in the candomblé of members of Salvador's lower classes. Firstly, it discusses the ways by which primary socialization within the family articulates with religious socialization. Then it turns to the question of understanding how relations with different classes of sacred entities may thicken or extend certain lines of relationship within the extended family. Analysis of the trajectories points to the significance of the neighborhood (bairro) as a main space of sociability for the urban poor. It indicates that informal relations with entities often precede the establishment of formal bonds with candomblé houses, developing itself in the everyday space of the family and the bairro before being formalized in the religious institution.
candomblé; family and religious socialization; possession