In 2011, I visited Mrs. Deni Prata Jardim, the last representative of the Casa das Minas (House of Minas) in Northern Brazil. Among other things, Deni told me the story of the foundation of the house, during the slavery period. Among the slaves, there was a priestess from Dahomey, where she used to be a queen, and worshiped African voodoos. Lacking authorization to practice their worship, the slaves hid in a shed, which has become over the years the House of Minas.
A Portuguese king who disappeared in the desert of Morocco in the sixteenth century comes forward. Under the threat of having to return to Portugal in the XXI century, Dom Sebastian reveals his whereabouts and the secrets of the kingdom he built over all these years in faraway Ilha de Lençóis in Northeastern Brazil.
Priestess, slave, queen. After two centuries trapped in Sao Luis, Brazil, Agontimé breaks free and embarks back to her homeland, the Kingdom of Dahomey – current Benin –, hoping to retake the sacred place that is her by right.
There’s a myth that suggests the ghost of the 16th-century Portuguese king Don Sebastiaan founded a magical kingdom on the island of Lençóis off the Brazilian coast after his defeat against the Moors. Five centuries later, a young Portuguese woman (and a small film crew) arrives there. The island is still enchanting.
