My name is Satã, Madame Satã - capoeira baptised and graded

This Saturday I took part in the very first grading and batizado ever in Zimbabwe. Two Brazilian Mestres, Mestre Evaldo Bogado (who by the way is the only white belt, the highest in our worldwide capoeira assocation) and Mestre Carlinhos spent one week in Zimbabwe to run workshops and grade us. It meant the entire week was extremely busy, with practice every evening and us hosting the Mestres for several days. On Saturday this climaxed into the grading of all students and instructors, a total 16 people, with the presence of the Brazilian ambassador, Sr Taunay.

In the batizado, each one has to play the Mestre and be brought down (not a hard task in my case), in order to be tested but also to learn humility. I received the green belt with the blue tip (cordel verde ponta azul), which is the third level, and am very happy with that.

If a Mestre feels inspired, you can also receive a capoeira name, which I did, though there seems to be some confusion. It was Navalha da Carne, and supposed to refer to Madame Satã. This Mss Satan was actually this extravagant man, Joao Francisco dos Santos (1900-1976), who used to dress up in drag and kick people's asses in the capoeira rhoda if the made fun of him. With Brazilian tough laws, he spent like 27 years in prison and is considered an icon of urban marginalization, being poor, gay and black, also made into a movie (2002).

I kinda like it...