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Paper short abstract:

The objective of this study is to analyze the persistence of African practices and customs in the Benedictine properties of Pernambuco (Brazil) in the 19th century.

Paper long abstract:

This study aims to analyze the persistence of African practices and customs in Benedictine properties of Pernambuco (Brazil) in the 19th century. Information found in the Benedictine documentation contributes on the reflection of the slavery resistance against a religious order that sought to control the bodies, behavior and beliefs of their enslaved ones. Between the 16th and 18th centuries, the Benedictine Congregation of Brazil gradually increased its patrimony, becoming one of the most powerful religious orders of Portuguese America. Among their possessions, countless slaves were incorporated through donations or purchase. At the same time, the Benedictines created strategies to encourage the vegetative growth of their enslaved ones. Therefore, in the 19th century, their rural properties had a largely Crioula slave population. Even with few African living in their properties and coercive measures implemented by the monks, several clues prove that African culture resisted, as evidenced by batuques (generic name for some rhythms and dances accompanied by percussion) and the orgies reported by Benedictines. Other "excesses" have also been recorded, such as polygamy and curandeirismo (healing practice performed by a witchdoctor). These customs may have been perpetuated throughout the 19th century due to the inclusion of Africans who were bought in times of low prices, not acquired by the monks, but by slaves who became slave owners.