jogo log

Information on what batizados are, what they involve, how they are important, and so on, are among the most popular capoeira-related queries posed to search engines, and so I thought I might go into a bit more detail as to what to expect when you are having one. I know I was excited when it was my time, and I’m sure that, if you’re about to go through something like this, you are wondering about a lot of things, so maybe I can address a few of those.

My old capoeira regional group used to do batizados about once every year. The event was always very special and emotional for people like me; I love capoeira, and participating in the baptism of new students in our school, as well as having the opportunity to watch visiting teachers play together, was a tremendous experience. It was also accompanied by a troca de corda (change of cord), where students would reach their new graduation level (or, on occasion, beyond that!) and get recognized for the hard work they had gone through all year. Everybody is happy at batizado time.

It may be different in your school, but in our case, that time of year would be the only opportunity we would have to see our mestre. Needless to say, this added even more intensity to the few days we had with him; we had workshops where we were taught directly the founder of our school, got to speak to him at length afterwards, maybe even get to know him on a personal level. For a new student, particularly a non-Brazilian one with limited exposure to the roots of capoeira, this is incredible. I would recommend taking every opportunity you can to go to every class during this period, since they don’t happen that often.

So what should you expect if you’re about to have a batizado? If this is your first such event, you’re probably going to get a capoeira name, or apelido. This is the nickname that you’re known by throughout your capoeira ‘career’ (assuming you’re in the same school the whole time). Our apelidos were always given out by our mestre specifically, after he had gotten an idea of what you were like as individuals. They are names like macaco, which represent an aspect of your character. You likely won’t get the nickname you expect though, I assure you that, and sometimes you might even be thrown off by what you’re named. In these cases, you usually grow into it, so don’t stress.

It is worth adding that, while they do have events of this type, capoeira angola groups often do not have batizados per se, nor do the students always have nicknames (although some may). In the case of my current group, there is neither. So, while it is a popular ritual that capoeiristas engage in, it is by no means universal. I’m still not sure where it came from, where the first one can be said to have been, or any historical data whatsoever, for that matter. Maybe that’ll become clearer in the future; I am starting to realize, however, that in capoeira very few things ever become truly clear.