Pilgrimage

This weekend we are going on a pilgrimage, a literary pilgrimage that I have wanted to do for many years now. Our destination is a town called Ilhéus, located in the southern part of the state of Bahia and childhood home to acclaimed Brazilian writer Jorge Amado (1912-2001). The growth of Ilhéus was intimately linked to the cacao boom which hit Brazil at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th Century. The boom in cacao production, also know as Brazil's “white gold,” coincided with a sugar industry in crisis, suffering from a drop in world prices as well as the official end of the slave trade, the main source of labour in the sugar industry. The cacao boom produced mass migration to the cacao-producing areas and an ensuing lawlessness not dissimilar to the Gold Rush emerged. The “order” that was subsequently established was one characterised, not surprisingly, by a few wealthy landowners and many impoverished rural workers. By the beginning of the 20th Century, Ilhéus was the world's largest producer of cacao. It was into this scene that Jorge Amado was born and raised.

Although Amado was born in Itabuna, his family moved to Ilhéus when he was one and he lived there throughout his childhood. An author of dozens of books translated into fifty languages, Amado is an expert at portraying quirky Northeastern Brazilian personalities in his novels. Usually fantastical and often filled with social commentary, his books are classic Brazilian literature, akin to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's renown in Spanish-speaking America. Although the majority of Amado’s books are set in the state of Bahia, it is one of Amado's later and most famous works – Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon – which is actually set in Ilhéus. The story revolves around a poor disheveled girl from the interior who arrives in Ilhéus amid the cacao boom. Nacib, the local café owner and bartender, who unexpectedly lost his cook plucks Gabriela out of the mass of new migrants and puts her to work in the café. Of course, once scrubbed and clothed, Gabriela turns out to be a real beauty and charms them all. Nacib's café quickly becomes the most popular place in town and the magic ensues.

Stay tuned for more Posts from the Pilgrimage....