~Brazil’s Traditional BAIANAS de Acarajé in Salvador da Bahia~

Hellooo amigos,.. Boa Tarde,..!!! Meu Nome e Lailys,...! e minha linda melhor amiga, juliana,..!! 

( hello friend,.. good afternoon!! My name is Laily,..!! And my beautifulest friend, Juliana.,!!! )

Several weeks ago we both discuss about the culture at brazilian. Sometimes we talks with a sending text message at WA (whatsapp) and comment to discuss about something at facebook. We both very enjoying our relation on friendship. And we are wish and hopefully, our friendship will last forever, until we are getting old,.. and we can introducing our family each other. Juliana send me a attach of the picture of a woman wearing a traditional clothes in white color. I don't know anything about the brazilian culture before, so when juliana send me this picture, I am in big excited feeling about to know this woman on the picture. And when I asked her about this woman, she said this "BAIANA". And for a few minutes, I was thinking,... "hmm,.. who is baiana??? who is she? what's her job? and what's she do?". Honestly, I really  want to know the baiana culture in brazil. so I asking her to explained to me about this baiana. Juliana says "I am happy to show my culture and Baixada sell authentic Acaraje."

People from Bahia have a distinct culture and are very influenced by their african acenstry. From Juliana,... if  I'm not in a wrong decribe that "baiana" means woman. So women from bahia, are called baianas, and men are baianos.

 

MiojoGirl, this is a picture that I get from my penpalfriend, (Juliana, from brazilian)

Amidst a crowd of typical, T-shirts-and-jeans-wearing Brazilians, a black woman stood out. She wore an intricate, white, lace bodice covered with necklaces above a dark-blue, billowing skirt and a white piece of cloth artistically wrapped around her head. She was deep-frying some sort of snack. I had just heard about  Salvador da Bahia cultures and was as yet unfamiliar with Salvador da Bahia’s famous Baianas de Aracajé.

The Brazilian recipes have many condiment and depand on the region. Where is jualiana live is considered the blackest city after africa. And the food take much palm oil and coconut milk. The name of "Miojogirl" was a nickname given by jualiana friends, because she did a lot of recipes with noodles.You can see the big plate which made from clay, they called "Baiana", in indonesia usually we called "Gerabah" or "pottery". Inside baina is a cookies are acaraje. other dishes have the filling that is pigweed, vatapd, salad and dried shrimp in palm oil. All typical bahian.And it also takes a lot of pepper. any everyone at brazilian loves this.

I quickly learned from Juliana about her culture , because I see the snack at many food stalls, the so-called tabuleiros do acarajé. The incredibly dressed vendors simply worked as a magnet : I Wish one day I can travelled to Salvador, bahia, Brazils,.. so I can to see them from up close. The snacks, called acarajé, worked as a perfect energizer between route-marching round Salvador da Bahia’s sights of colonial churches covered in layers of gold, museums on art and history and a number of impressively maintained old houses and mansions.

Aracajé is a snack typical of Bahia, a coastal state in northeast Brazil that flourished during colonial times because of the sugarcane plantations. It is not just any deep-fried snack, but one with a history and traditions that date from the time of slavery. 

  

The Traditional Dress of the Baianas de Aracajé

 

One of the most beautifully Baianas de Aracajé in Salvador da Bahia (©photocoen)

In Salvador da Bahia some women still wear traditional dresses. A woman dressed up as a baiana (a woman from the state of Bahia, where the population is predominantly of African descent). In contrast to Bahian women, who are reputed for being joyful and exuding positive energy.  When you go to Salvador you’ll be met by baiana women wearing traditional Bahian dresses. The outfit of a baiana woman is turban, starched skirts of colourful pattern, shawl over the shoulder - or tied to the breast - and bracelets and necklaces. Today the dress is normally used in religious ceremonies – or by the women you’ll meet in salvador.

Baianas are the women you'll see dressed in the traditional white hoop skirt, lace blouse and African turban. They represent the cultural impact from Africa has left on Bahia and Brazil on the whole. And of course, the music in Salvador and all over Brazil is largely influenced by the drum beats and rhythms of African music. 

The elaborate, multi-layered dress is a reminder of baroque Europe, while the headdress is related to the slaves’ Afro-Islamic roots, where turbans are a usual part of the local dress. The type of texture, the weaving technique and the colors of the costume used to identify the religion, the ethnic background and social status of its wearer. Whereas it may now come in a variety of beautiful printed fabrics, the dress of the Baianas de Aracajé is traditionally white. 

The dress consists of various layers:
1.    Anáguas, the petticoat.
2.    Saia, the five-meter long piece of cloth that is wrapped around the waist to form a billowing skirt.
3.    Camizo, the long cotton pants worn underneath the anáguas.
4.    A bodice of lace or with embroidery.
5.    Pano da costa, or pano-da-alaká, shawls which nowadays are hardly worn anymore.
6.   The finishing touch of the dress is an abundance of jewelry. 

What is an Aracajé Snack?

 

Aracajé is a mixture of mashed black-eyed beans, onions and shrimp fried in dendê (palm oil). According to local custom, a Baiana de Aracajé pours spicy pastes, vatapá and caruru, over the aracajé after she has cut it in half, but in the tourist areas they generally ask foreigners whether you like this or not. The snack is topped off with a salad.

The snack was brought to northeast Brazil by slaves from western Africa. During slavery aracajé was sold in the streets of Bahia by freed female slaves. Apart from being a daily snack aracajé was, and is, offered to the saints and gods during religious candomblé ceremonies.

Aracajé cannot be prepared by just anybody. Since it first appeared on the scene, the snack has been made and sold by women only, a tradition kept until today. With this tradition comes the vendor’s fancy dress that also dates from the time of slavery, and which continued to be a common dress in Bahia until into the 20th century. Nowadays the Bahian dress is only worn during festivals, by women in the streets of Salvador da Bahia to lure tourists into their shop, and by Baianas de Aracajé.

 

 

Thanks to the story, Juliana,...

Yours Sincerely Friend,

~Lailyana Ayu~