The day of Oxalá in the week is Friday in ketu candomblé, and Friday or Sunday in umbanda houses. January 15, as a date of the year, does not appear in any of the sources we consulted.
What exists in January is the Lavagem do Bonfim, which changes day every year. In 2027, by the rule, it falls on Thursday, 1/14, and 1/15 is Friday.
What is the day of Oxalá in the week and in the year?
The day of Oxalá in the week is Friday in ketu candomblé sources, and Friday or Sunday in umbanda houses. In the year, no consulted source gives a fixed date.
Week: Friday (ketu) | Umbanda houses: Friday or Sunday | Year: no fixed date in sources | January: Lavagem do Bonfim
| Tradition or house | Day of the week | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Candomblé of queto (ketu) rite | Friday, for Oxaguiã and Oxalufã | Prandi, 1995 |
| Candomblé, Bahia | Friday | Verger and IPHAN |
| Umbanda, FUCESP (São Paulo) | “Friday or Sunday” | FUCESP |
| Umbanda, TUCTVC | Sunday | TUCTVC |
| Batuque, a house in Porto Alegre | Sunday | Ilê Axé Odé Omialé |
The orixá (orisha)'s card, with the color, the greeting, and the two qualities, is in who is Oxalá.
Friday, Sunday, or both: what each house says
In ketu Candomblé, academic sources give Friday. Prandi, who describes the queto rite Candomblé, puts Friday for Oxaguiã and for Oxalufã. The IPHAN dossier on the Festa do Bonfim says that “the day consecrated for both is Friday”. Verger records Friday as the day consecrated to Oxalá in Bahia.
In umbanda, the divergence is within the same house. FUCESP, the São Paulo federation, brings on the card “Day of the week: Friday or Sunday”, and the itã text on the same page says that “his day is Friday”. The Tenda de Umbanda Caboclo Tupinambá e Vó Catarina (TUCTVC) gives Sunday. What each house does is in Oxalá in umbanda.
In a batuque house in Porto Alegre, the Ilê Axé Odé Omialé, the page gives Sunday, without naming the nation. Prandi and IPHAN give Friday for the two qualities of Oxalá, described in qualities of Oxalá.
Sunday in ketu Candomblé is for celebration, and not of the week. Verger describes in Águas de Oxalá a cycle of three weeks, which ends on the Sunday of the “Pilão de Oxaguiã”. The cycle changes by house: the Casa de Oxumarê, in Salvador, starts its own on the first Thursday of the year. The details are in Águas de Oxalá.
For the angola and jeje nations, the day was not located in open sources.
January 15 has no source: what exists in January
None of the sources we consulted list January 15 as the day of Oxalá: neither the IPHAN dossier, nor Verger, Prandi, FUCESP, or TUCTVC. What falls in January is the Lavagem do Bonfim, and the rule circulating for it is wrong in some years.
The most repeated rule says that the Lavagem is on the "second Thursday after the Day of Reis." It is the wording of IPHAN and Correio de 2026. In 2024, the Lavagem was on Thursday, 11/1, and by the rule it would be 18/1.
The rule that matches the checked years is that of the Basilica. The Bonfim Sunday is "the second Sunday after the popular day of the Santos Reis," and the Lavagem is on the preceding Thursday. Verger describes it as the "preceding Thursday to the Bonfim Sunday."
| Year | Bonfim Sunday | Lavagem (preceding Thursday) | “Second Thursday after Three Kings' Day” | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 14/1 | 11/1 | 18/1 | 11/1 |
| 2025 | 19/1 | 16/1 | 16/1 | 16/1 |
| 2026 | 18/1 | 15/1 | 15/1 | 15/1 |
| 2027 | 17/1 | 14/1 | 14/1 | has not happened yet |
The history of Bonfim and syncretism is in Senhor do Bonfim and Oxalá.
In 2027: Lavagem on Thursday, January 14, and the 15th is Friday
In 2027, the Lavagem do Bonfim falls, by the rule of the Basilica, on Thursday, January 14. The Bonfim Sunday is 1/17, and the 15th is Friday, without Lavagem.
The Basilica released the 2026 schedule in December 2025. The 2027 schedule has not been released yet, according to a Bahia newspaper from September 29, 2026, which cites the Federal Institute of Bahia calendar with the same date. Confirm on the Basilica's social networks before planning.
The day is not a holiday in Salvador, according to Correio. Other dates are in the calendar of the orixás and in the orixá of the day tool.
December 25 and the New Year: what the houses say
December 25 as the day of Oxalá appears in few sources. TUCTVC gives December 25 as the "date of worship" of Oxalá. A bill in Curitiba, still in progress, proposes the Day of Oxalá on this date. Neither of the two mentions Oxaguiã, and no consulted source links Christmas to this quality.
A report from ICL Notícias, from 2024, heard houses that diverge. Babalawô Ivanir dos Santos, from UFRJ, says that Christmas, in Candomblé, "reminds more of a family gathering." Tata Edson, from an Umbanda congá in Bahia, says he does not celebrate Christmas. Babalorixá Paulo Júnior, from an Umbanda terreiro in Rio de Janeiro, says that in the last gira of the year "we make the canjica of Oxalá." Those who do not celebrate Christmas follow their house.
In 2026, December 25 and January 1, 2027 fall on Fridays. The Basilica of Bonfim promotes Friday of Gratitude, on the last Friday of the year, with devotees in white, and Friday of Protection, on the first. By the criteria of last and first, they would be 12/25/2026 and 1/1/2027, but the schedule has not been released yet. It is a devotion promoted by the Basilica, and the sources do not describe it as a worship of Oxalá.
The white of the turn has its own history in why wear white on New Year.
Why Friday and why white: the custom and the hypotheses
The custom is described, and the origin is a hypothesis. Verger writes:
“This habit of dressing in white on Friday extends to all people affiliated with Candomblé, even those consecrated to other orixás, such is the prestige of Oxalá.”
Prandi lists, among the taboos of the children of Oxalá, “wearing non-white clothing on Fridays”.
Two explanations dispute the origin, and neither has proof. Rosiane Rodrigues, in the ABPN Magazine, proposes examining the “pretended Muslim heritage” in white and on Friday. The anthropologist Rosival Carvalho says it is “a secular tradition of the 18th and 19th centuries”, of free black men who praised the sacred.
In the Umbanda of TUCTVC, the candle is white and the bead necklace is milky white. Whoever needs a candle or bead necklace in the color the house asks can clear their doubt via WhatsApp with Joia Mística.
Frequently asked questions
What is the day of Oxalá in the week?
In the sources of Candomblé ketu, the day of Oxalá is Friday. In Umbanda houses, FUCESP gives Friday or Sunday and TUCTVC gives Sunday. A Batuque house gives Sunday. The day of your house is worth more than that of any page.
Is the day of Oxalá January 15?
No source we consulted brings January 15 as the day of Oxalá. The Lavagem do Bonfim, on the Thursday before the Bonfim Sunday, was 16/1 in 2025 and 15/1 in 2026, and falls, by the rule, on 14/1 in 2027.
When is the Lavagem do Bonfim in 2027?
By the rule of the Basilica, the 2027 Lavagem is on Thursday, January 14, because the Bonfim Sunday is 1/17. The official schedule has not been released yet: confirm on the Basilica's social networks.
Is Christmas the day of Oxalá?
It depends on the house. The TUCTVC gives December 25 as the date of Oxalá's worship. An Umbanda terreiro in Rio de Janeiro makes the Oxalá canjica during the last gira of the year. Two of the three voices heard by a report say that Christmas has no place in the worship.
Why is Friday the day of Oxalá?
No source consulted explains the choice of Friday. Verger describes white on Friday as a custom of all those affiliated with Candomblé. Two hypotheses of origin circulate, one Islamic and another from free black men, both without proof.
References
- Reginaldo Prandi, Horizontes Antropológicos: African gods in contemporary Brazil
- Pierre Verger, Corrupio: Orixás, work record
- IPHAN: dossier of the Festa do Bonfim
- FUCESP: Oxalá
- TUCTVC: Oxalá, tent page
- Bahia Notícias: 2026 celebration schedule
- Brasil de Fato: 2024 Lavagem and 2025
- Correio: date of the Bonfim Lavagem, 2026
- ICL Notícias: Christmas for different religions
- A Tarde: Friday of Gratitude and of Protection
- Ilê Axé Odé Omialé: orixás, characteristics
- Ferreira Neto e Braga, Sacrilegens (UFJF): Waters of Oxalá, white as a symbol
- Jornal Grande Bahia: shirt sales for the 2027 walk
- Bem Paraná: Curitiba calendar and the dates of orixás
- A Tarde Play: why wear white on Fridays
- Rosiane Rodrigues, ABPN Magazine: The white nation
