"The Saints of a Devotion that Never Dies"

Festivities for Saints Cosmas and Damian in Bahia, 1864-1955

Abstract

This essay aims to analyze the development of the cult of the twin saints Cosmas and Damian in Bahia. By way of an examination of historical sources related to the cult – with a primary focus on newspapers and other popular media sources from the city of Salvador from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th – the author demonstrates that the cult of the twin saints in Salvador only begins to take off when it emerges in association with the world of Black cultural practices. By the turn of the 20th century, the cult becomes a widespread part of Salvador’s culture. The data suggest that much more than a type of “syncretism,” the devotion to Saints Cosmas and Damian is an innovation that despite being rooted in many European and African cosmologies, can never be reduced to any of them.