but on the other closely related practices could be known under various names?^57 One needs to conclude that
encompassing terms such as batuque or samba did not necessarily mean identical things in different places
and periods, but rather had a generic meaning. As we are going to see, the same applies to capoeira.
From slave to popular cultureIf slaves recreated their own religions and pastimes, they also actively participated, albeit in a limited way,
in the broader social life. The best example of this involvement are the lay confraternities, the only formal
institution slaves could legally belong to. The Church encouraged the constitution of brotherhoods,
considering them a means of spreading the gospel among the free population in general, and amongst the
mass of ‘fetishist’ or only superficially Christianized slaves and freed people in particular. These lay
associations brought together persons according to colour, ethnic and status criteria. Elite brotherhoods only
accept whites or the wealthy light-skinned considered as such, whilst the poorer confraternities usually
accepted indiscriminately slaves and free people. In Rio de Janeiro, Our Lady of the Rosary was the most
popular patron saint of black and mulatto brotherhoods, followed by St Anthony and black saints such as St
Benedict, St Ephigenia, St Balthasar and St Elesbão.^58 In Salvador, as many as six black and five mulatto
confraternities were dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary at the end of the eighteenth century, and a further
11 black brotherhoods were devoted to other saints.^59 Whilst some liberally admitted members from all ethnic
backgrounds, others insisted on selecting their members not only according to ‘colour’, but even on the
basis of a more specific ethnic identity, excluding for instance all Angola slaves from their midst or being
open to Jejes only. Most black brotherhoods admitted women, but denied them any participation in decision-
making. Some black women founded exclusively female corporations, such as the sisterhoods of Our Lady
of the Good Death in Salvador and Cachoeira.
The membership in Catholic brotherhoods seemed to have allowed the strengthening of particular
identities based on gender, class, colour and ethnicity. Black brotherhoods elected ‘kings’ and ‘queens’ of
particular ‘nations’ who could be slaves or free. Accompanied by their ‘court’ and to the sound of drums
and other instruments, the royal couple, dressed in colourful costumes, paraded in the streets to raise money
for the annual festival of the patron saint. On that day, a particularly glamorous procession paraded through
the streets, providing a public exhibition of the importance and wealth of the brotherhood. Especially well
documented are the elections of the Congo kings, usually associated with the devotion to Our Lady of the
Rosary. The congadas, as they were also called, included a number of rituals representing the ceremonial of
a monarchy, and putting on stage, as it were, ambassadors and secretaries of state. White observers often
ridiculed the congada, interpreting it as a grotesque imitation of European courts by ignorant slaves who
attached weight only to the exterior trappings of royalty.
The importance of congadas has been reassessed by some scholars, who claim they reproduced political
traditions of the Congo area, and can be seen as further evidence of African ‘extensions’ in Brazil.^60
Fernando Ortiz already linked the election of Congo kings in Cuba to the rituals carried out since the
sixteenth century by the Christian king Don Alfonso Nvemba-Nzinga and his successors in the capital
Kongo-Mbanza.^61 Although African imaginaries certainly played an important role, it has to be said that
this type of parade was first performed by the black brotherhood of Our Lady of the Rosary at the
monastery of St Domingos in Lisbon. J.R.Tinhorão suggested that the spectacle, which saw the most
important African sovereign paying tribute, was part of a strategy to display the power of the Portuguese
monarchy.^62 The Lisbon congregation, which served as the model for the Brazilian brotherhoods, also used
to elect a whole court with king and nobles among its members. It is therefore again difficult to attribute
precise and unilateral ‘origins’ to such a multifaceted manifestation, and safer to assume that different
42 THE CONTEXT OF THE BLACK ATLANTIC