## Introduction  
'Are you a Brazilian? So, you are not a foreigner in Benin; you are like a relative of Uidá!'  
This is how I was welcomed everywhere in Benin, a fact that testifies to the strength of the 'Brazilian' cultural presence in the country. Indeed, in this region of West Africa, where Portuguese was the lingua franca when the French colonial administration was established in the late nineteenth century, there are still people who greet each other with a loud 'como passou?' and lunch on feijoada or cozido with cocada for dessert - traditional dishes in Brazilian cuisine. Feijoada is one of Brazil's typical dishes, made with black beans and pork; cozido, a stew of Portuguese origin, is made from vegetables and cooked meats; cocada is a sweet made with grated coconut and sugar.  
The festival of Our Lord of Bonfim is celebrated in January, as it is in Bahia. In Porto-Novo, one of the cities of Benin with the strongest 'Brazilian' presence,  
![img-0.jpeg](img_ref_1)
figure 1. Celebration of Festa do Nosso Senhor do Bonfin (the festival of Our Lord of Bonfim) in Porto-Novo, 2010
this festival begins on the eve of the Mass, with a carnival parade ushered along using large Brazilian flags and everybody in costume. There are also songs in an approximate Portuguese, as well as in Yoruba, Fon and Gun, that reaffirm the festival's Brazilian origin. The celebrations are completed by the bourian, a popular show that is nothing more than an African version of the burrinha, a form of merrymaking that was much appreciated in Brazil in the nineteenth century, but has now virtually disappeared.