Bonfim

The Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim is the most famous of the Catholic churches of Salvador. It's subject of intense religious devotion by their people and is the site of a celebration held every year in January. After an 8km procession faithful reaches the hill of the Bonfim Church and then a large group of Bahia ladies (bahianas) dressed in traditional white costume wash the steps and the square in front of the church with aromatised water while dancing and singing chants in Yoruba language. Even though the feast is Catholic in its origins, it also reveals much about the religious syncretism between Catholicism and African religions in Bahia. Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. January 2013.