Church of Nosso Senhor do Bonfim

A must in Salvador: The Church of Our Lord of Bonfim. Located in Holy Hill and built in the eighteenth century in a colonial neoclassic style, the church is a major site of pilgrimage throughout the year. Legend has it that when the construction was finished in 1773, the slaves were forced by members of the "Brotherhood of the Devotees Leigos" to wash the church as part of the preparation for the festival of "Senhor do Bonfim " which is always on the second Sunday of January, after the Epiphany. Over time, those of the "Candomblé" religion (brought from Africa with the slaves) began to associate the image of Senhor do Bonfim with the Orixá Oxalá god of their own religion.