THE WORD CAPOEIRA

The word Capoeira is of Tupi Guarani origin (a Brazilian indigenous language) and refers to the ground where the wild grass was cut in preparation for the next planting season. This was also the place where black people would meet to practise N'Golo (a ritual), tuning their souls, spirits and bodies into instruments of freedom to rise up against the oppression of the slave system, which so ruthlessly controlled them.