Faith & Syncretism in Brazil

Brazil has more Catholics than any other country, a fast-growing evangelical movement, and living Afro-Brazilian religions born out of the slave trade. Students see how the three meet, mix and sometimes clash, starting in Salvador, Brazil’s first capital, and ending under Christ the Redeemer.

What students will learn

Explain religious syncretism, and how the orixás came to be paired with Catholic saints
Trace the Atlantic slave trade through the places it shaped in Salvador and Rio
Describe Brazil’s shifting religious map and its effect on politics
Practise respectful fieldwork in sacred spaces

Day by day

Day 1–2, Salvador: Brazil’s first capital. The Pelourinho, Salvador’s UNESCO-listed historic centre: the gilded baroque of the São Francisco church and convent, and the Afro-Brazilian Museum. Salvador was the capital of colonial Brazil from 1549 to 1763 and one of the largest slave ports in the Americas.
Day 3, Salvador: Bonfim and Candomblé. The Church of Senhor do Bonfim and its wish ribbons, then a visit to a Candomblé terreiro, prepared in advance with the community. How African deities survived under the names of Catholic saints.
Day 4, Salvador: Music, movement and memory. A percussion and capoeira workshop, and a session with local historians on resistance, the quilombos and abolition in 1888.
Day 5–6, Rio de Janeiro: Christ the Redeemer and Catholic Rio. Fly to Rio. Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado, the conical Metropolitan Cathedral and the Benedictine Monastery of São Bento: three centuries of Catholic Rio.
Day 7, Rio de Janeiro: Little Africa. The Valongo Wharf, a UNESCO World Heritage site where hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans landed, and Pedra do Sal, where samba took shape.
Day 8, Rio de Janeiro: Brazil’s new religious map. A panel with a Catholic priest, an evangelical pastor and a Candomblé leader on faith, politics and tolerance, then a closing reflection with your teachers.
Day 9, Rio de Janeiro: Departure. Fly home from Rio.