Balangandãs, figas & Afro-Atlantic charms
Meaning
The balangandã is a cluster of silver charms (figa, fish, pomegranate, keys, drums, fruits, animals) hung from a silver bar at the waist. The figa (fig-hand) is also a Brazilian national charm, and Afro-Caribbean religions have their own protective objects.
Intent
Worn by Afro-Brazilian women in Bahia, balangandãs protected against the evil eye and bad luck and showed wealth. Some enslaved women saved to buy their freedom, and the charms signalled their achievements and faith.
Significance
The balangandã is a symbol of Bahian Afro-Brazilian culture, mixing Portuguese amulets with African beliefs. The figa became Brazil's best-known good luck charm.
History
Balangandãs were worn in 18th–19th century Bahia, especially Salvador, and are now museum pieces and heritage symbols. The figa arrived with the Portuguese in the 16th century.
Making yours
A 15–25 cm silver bar hung with 10–30 small cast charms.The Americas: the tradition
In the Americas, protective and power objects belonged to the relationship between people, ancestors, animals and the land. Andean herders kept stone illas for the fertility of their flocks, Mesoamerican rulers wore green jade as breath and maize, Isthmian goldsmiths cast animal spirit-helpers, and Arctic and Northwest Coast shamans carried carved spirit charms. Catholicism, arriving from 1492, brought saints, milagros and the Iberian evil-eye tradition, which fused with Indigenous and African belief into new forms such as Ekeko, the Afro-Brazilian balangandã and Santería. Many Indigenous objects are sacred and some communities ask that they not be displayed or copied; the Zuni, for example, distinguish sacred fetishes from carvings made for sale.
Figaro inc. presenta una produzione di Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Un americano tranquillo : le insidie, i misteri, il fascino di Saigon, la Parigi d'oriente con Audie Murphy, Michael Redgrave, Claude DauphItaly · 1958
Entrega da fitinha do Senhor do BonfimMore from The Americas: Andean illas & conopas · Ekeko & alasitas miniatures · Isthmian & Colombian gold pendants · Mesoamerican jade & stone pendants · Taíno zemís & Caribbean amulets · Zuni & Pueblo fetishes · Umbilical amulets & medicine bundles · Northwest Coast & Arctic shaman charms
Every type in the gallery
Anything in the gallery can be made, by hand, in the prescribed metal or yours and, where the tradition names an hour, at that hour or with a plain note that it was not. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted first. I reply within one business day.