Quilombo Cafundó (SP) welcomes tourists with their own language – 06/15/2023 – Guia Negro

Quilombo do Cafundó, in Salto de Pirapora (SP), is one of the most prepared in Brazil to receive tourists. A piece of Angola in Brazil, it has its own language, agriculture, herbs, prayers, drinks, handicrafts, botanical stamping, bottled drinks and hospitality produced there and offered to visitors.

The first to arrive at the site was Joaquim Congo, who gained freedom and land from his former owner in 1876. Joaquim left not only the property as an inheritance, but the cupopia, a mixture of the Quimbundo and Quicongo languages. Over the years, the lands were invaded and his descendants lost important shares. The language has been maintained and baptizes, for example, the cultural group called turi vimba, which means “land of black”.

Artisan Regina Pereira, who is part of the Associação Remanescentes do Quilombo do Cafundó, says that “Grandma Efigênia”, who was a midwife in the region, was even isolated on the land by farmers who had invaded the surroundings. The difficult-to-access location was nicknamed “Cafundó”. There, a struggle for land ownership began, which involved death threats, justice and an attempt to boycott the city hall of Salto de Pirapora, which did not want to buy the food produced there.

In 2003, the descendants of Joaquim Congo were the first from a quilombola community to set foot in the Planalto Palace. They went on to receive the title to 218 hectares of land, giving up disputing properties now occupied by mansions and the city of Salto de Pirapora, which once belonged to them. On the land, they plant 58 natural foods, which today are called organic, such as lettuce, beans, pumpkin, cabbage and beets.

But it is tourism that contributes to the community being known. “It’s our fortress,” says Regina. The itinerary goes through the consumption of organic products, the contextualization of how handicrafts are made, there is a herbal workshop and how to prepare your own natural smoker, in addition to a botanical print show, which uses nature to color and customize clothes and fabrics . There is also a cultural group that sings, plays drums and dances.

“The land is the legacy we have”, says Regina Pereira, emphasizing that the territory is sacred for having sheltered people with knowledge of herbs and prayers, which are not found in books. Today, each product produced here carries a bit of history. The increase in land productivity and visits made young people want to stay in the quilombo. Currently around 135 people live on the property.

Among the local delicacies is “consertada”, a cachaça with clove basil, which was initially a bottle made to clean the mother’s uterus, but when husbands “repaired” it with pinga, it became a typical local drink. Medicinal bottles made from herbs are also produced in an artisanal and personalized way.

Quilombo is a Bantu word that means fortress. On the African continent, a place for training young people to fight. In Brazil, a place of resistance where black people came together to be able to live free, first from enslavement and then from racism.

There are many stories, struggles and attractions of Cafundó. Visits by schools, groups and companies to Quilombo can be booked through the community’s Instagram and are also organized by Rota da Liberdade, led by tour guide and griot Solange Barbosa.

The tour can be done on a return trip from São Paulo (130 kilometers) or Sorocaba (35 kilometers) and it is one of those trips in which we make memories, reconnect stories and leave stronger. We all won the mission of not letting them forget the narratives of the descendants of Joaquim Congo.

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