For nearly two hundred years, a small group of women in the town of Cachoeira have joined together in a sisterhood that celebrates freedom from slavery, women’s resistance and Afro-Brazilian culture. Irmandade da Boa Morte – Sisterhood of the Good Death – started life as a bank in 1823, founded by freed slaves to finance the freedom of men, women and children still bonded by slavery.
The community, which is still made up of the descendants of slaves, practices a syncretised worship that combines the Afro-Brazilian Candomble religion with elements from Catholicism and Islam. Thanks to their microcredit scheme and the two hundred religious events they organise throughout the year, the Sisterhood have achieved a central role in regional society, preserving some of the traditional African values that slavery brought to Brazil.