Salvador da Bahia photographed on a Candomblé night.

Abstract

This article presents a reflective chronicle of a Candomblé ceremony experienced in Salvador, Bahia, combining personal narrative, cultural observation and analytical reflection on Afro-Brazilian religious traditions. The account begins with a chance encounter in the historic neighborhood of Santo Antônio, where the narrator and his companions are invited to attend a ritual night at a terreiro. The text describes key elements of Candomblé practice, including the padê dedicated to Exu, the xirê sequence of songs and dances for the orixás, the central role of the atabaque drums and the concept of axé as vital spiritual energy. At the same time, the narrative situates the ritual within the broader context of religious intolerance in Brazil, recalling emblematic cases such as that of Mãe Gilda de Ogum. The ceremony is interpreted not merely as a religious performance but as a living archive of Afro-diasporic memory in which music, dance and the body function as vehicles of historical continuity. The narrative culminates when an orixá associated with healing embraces the narrator, who had recently suffered from severe neuralgia. This symbolic encounter allows the text to connect the spiritual dimension of ritual with the subjective experience of pain and recovery, suggesting that Candomblé operates as a space of cultural resistance, collective memory and reinterpretation of human suffering.