Respect My Terreiro - Part 2

Photographic series made during the period of social isolation, where it was possible to capture very significant moments played by the community of Ilê Omolu Oxum.

Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Photos by Alex Ferro and curated by Marco Antonio Teobaldo.

Vivências (2021-02-27) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Experiences from the terreiro

In this other series, we reveal some aspects of the routines and intimacy of our community.

Vivências (2021-02-27) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Abô

It is the preparation of sacred herbs with water, to be used in purification rituals.

Vivências, Alex Ferro, 2021-02-27, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Vivências, Alex Ferro, 2021-02-27, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Vivências, Alex Ferro, 2021-02-27, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Amaci is the ancient ritual of preparing sacred herbs to be transformed into abô, used for the purification bath.

Vivências (2021-02-27) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Amalá of Xangô

Okra-based food, offered to Xangô.

Vivências, Alex Ferro, 2021-02-27, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Vivências, Alex Ferro, 2021-02-27, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Amalá is the dish offered to Xangô, prepared with chopped okra sauteed with onions, dried shrimp, and dendê palm oil. In our house, it is served to the orixá in a wooden bowl lined with yam purée.

Vivências (2021-02-27) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Amalá of Xangô

All activities performed within the terreiro must be done according to what the elders have taught. 

Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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The activities of the terreiros take place in a collective way, as in this sequence of the preparation of the acaçá, in which the older women teach the younger ones, and thus our traditions and origins remain alive.

Olubajé (2022-07-30) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Family

Welcoming, listening, and respect form the fundamental bases of a terreiro community.

Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Simplicity becomes one of the greatest riches in religions of African origin.

Olubajé (2022-07-30) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Preserving the sacred

From an early age, all the people initiated into the terreiro learn to care for and preserve the sacred objects.

Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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The community is strengthened when everyone cooperates and helps each other, in all tasks.

Ogãs, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Candomblé is about welcoming and respecting everyone. And that is why we become one family.

Olubajé (2022-07-30) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

The sacred

The ultimate goal of all efforts is the sacred worship of African ancestry. 

Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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Olubajé, Alex Ferro, 2022-07-30, From the collection of: Ilê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina
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A candomblé community is strengthened and resists through its ancestral traditions, based on respect and love for the sacred, nature, and humanity.

Olubajé (2022-07-30) by Alex FerroIlê Omolu Oxum - Museu Memorial Iyá Davina

Olubajé

It is the ceremony of the King's Banquet (Omolu) and this image depicts the exact moment when the food enters the terreiro, in an all-female procession.

Credits: Story

General coordination: Mãe Meninazinha de Oxum
Project coordination: Mãe Nilce de Iansã
Photography: Alex Ferro
Curation and idealization: Marco Antonio Teobaldo (Iyawò de Oxóssi) 
Text revision: Letícia Peçanha ( Iyawò de Ogun) 
Production: Quimera Empreendimentos Culturais
Partnership: Museum of the Republic, Federal Public Defender's Office, Federal Public Defender's Office, Rio de Janeiro Public Defender's Office and Instituto Raça e Igualdade.

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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