Atlas / For good people around you / Bonfim ribbonNo. 29

Plate ILatin America & Caribbean · Brazil Bonfim ribbon, drawn by Wishlore

Pl. IBonfim ribbon. A printed ribbon tied round a wrist in three knots. Drawing: Wishlore.

No. 29 · For good people around you · Latin America & Caribbean

The Bonfim ribbon

A thin printed ribbon from Salvador, in Brazil. People tie it round the wrist with three knots, make a wish for each, and wear it until it breaks on its own.

Earliest record: Salvador, Brazil, about 1809
Source: Bahia.ws, Fitinhas do Senhor do Bonfim
Region: Latin America & Caribbean · Brazil
Wish: For good people around you
Layers: Record Folk Modern

Keep this symbol · from £2.99 Read the sources

The story · three layers

The story, in three layers.

Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.

Record

Salvador, about 1809

The Bonfim measure

The ribbon grew out of the “Bonfim measure” of Salvador, Brazil, from about 1809.

To verify: What the Bonfim measure was, and a second source for the date

Folk

Brazil, today

Three knots

People tie the ribbon with three knots and make three wishes, then wear it until it breaks by itself. The custom comes from Catholic devotion.

III

Modern

Wishlore, today

How we tell it

We tell the custom as it is kept: three knots, three wishes, and the ribbon left on until it breaks. What you wish for is yours.

Bonfim ribbon

Salvador, Brazil, about 1809

Story and sources on the reverse

Pl. IIThe story card. Every printed piece carries the story and a code that opens the full source list.

Keep it close

How would you like to keep it?

Download & print

Print-ready card and phone wallpaper

£2.99Sample price

Printed story card, posted

Story and source code on the reverse

£8Sample price

Wish for someone

A private note in your own account. Nothing is sent to them.

Free

Add to bag · £8

No jewellery for this symbol yet; story card and download only
Printed cards are made in our partner workshop in China and shipped worldwide
Delivery: [UK/EU/US days TBC]; duties shown at checkout

Watch the story

The story, in a minute.

It opens with the pencil construction, then follows the record, how people used it, and the piece we make today. Every fact in it comes from the sources on this page.

Length: 0:55
Narration: English, with subtitles on screen
Images: Pencil construction and the atlas drawing on this page, animated; no AI images; jewellery shown as a line drawing
Sources: Listed at the end of the film

Story film · 0:55 · Drawn from the atlas plate · no AI images

In one breath

Three knots, three wishes, and patience. Who would you keep it for?

The Bonfim ribbon

The story, in three layers.

The Bonfim measure

Three knots

How we tell it

How would you like to keep it?

The story, in a minute.

Other symbols to keep