Take a Lucky Flight to Salvador and Make a Wish for Protection / 🇧🇷 Brazil

In Salvador’s Rio Vermelho neighbourhood, a visit to the shore can become a way to give thanks and ask for protection. On 2 February, people gather for Iemanjá and bring flowers and other offerings to the festival at Praia de Santana. Some bring a wish with the gift. The local fishing community is part of the occasion, and boats carry the baskets out from this stretch of coast. On the flight, choose the person you want to keep in mind before you look at the photograph. You can wish for a safe return, a good year together or a moment of calm for someone who needs it.

1. Open the photograph and look for the boats on the sand. Find the low building on the rocky edge of the shore, where the land meets the water.
2. Take a slow breath and think of one person for whom you wish protection. Picture a basket of flowers waiting to go out from Praia de Santana.
3. Imagine the boats carrying the wishes away from the shore. Say your wish quietly, then watch the water in the photograph for one minute. Record the arrival in your passport.
4. If you visit in person on 2 February, consult the event information and follow the guidance from the organisers at the shore. Leave the launching of the baskets to the crew.

Iemanjá is an orixá honoured as Queen of the Sea in Salvador, including in Candomblé. In Rio Vermelho, the fishing colony helps organise the gathering. People bring flowers and wishes to the Praia de Santana area, and the boats connect what takes place on the shore with the water beyond. This makes the local festival more than a view of the sea: its route starts with people arriving on foot and ends with the offerings travelling out together. The photograph shows the coast and its boats on an ordinary day. Look closely at the slope down from the buildings to the sand and you can follow the change of scale from the neighbourhood to the open Atlantic.