Established in 1823 by free African-descended women in Bahia, the Irmandade da Boa Morte – the Boa Morte Sisterhood is the oldest African-derived female benevolent society in the Americas. For nearly 200 years these women have celebrated the Festival of the Good Death in the small colonial town of Cachoeira – in Bahia’s countryside. To ensure that community members have a boa morte - a good death, the sisterhood as part of their benevolent work, strove to improve the quality of burials by contributing to funeral expenses and related needs of community members. The festival annually renews the sisters’ promises made to the Virgin in return for her benevolence to their ancestors during enslavement. The irmandade is one of the most respected worship groups that has mantained Candomblé - African-based religious traditions of Brazil. Celebrating the Boa Morte Festival is an important contemporary manifestation of religious syncretism, and Afro-Brazilian cultural resistance.