Vicente Ferreira Pastinha (April 5, 1889, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil – November 13, 1981), known as Mestre Pastinha, was a mestre of the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira and a codifier of the traditional capoeira Angola style.
Mestre Pastinha was a capoeirista whose game was characterized by agility, quickness and intelligence. He demonstrated that even in his seventies, he could engage in acrobatics and outperform much younger capoeiristas.
He choose not to introduce new kicks in order to preserve the original art. He wanted his students to improve the principal techniques (ginga, cotovelada, joelhada, negativa, cabeçada, rasteira, rabo de arraia, chapa de costa, chapa empurrando, meia lua, meia lua de costa, cutilada de mão/hand strikes, corta capim, tesoura, and aú with rolê), that allow a proper jogo de dentro (inner game) or ''jogo de fora'' (outside game) to develop.
Pastinha was known as the "philosopher of capoeira" because of his use of many aphorisms. He made it his mission to clearly separate capoeira Angola from violence.
Two of Pastinha's principal disciples were mestres João Pequeno and João Grande.
Pastinha was born on April 5, 1889, in Salvador. Little is documented about his family background, except that his mother, Maria Eugenia Ferreira, was a woman from Bahia, and his father, José Pastiña, was a Spanish peddler.
Pastinha's introduction to capoeira arose from a need for self-defense. As a ten-year-old, he faced bullying from a larger boy in his neighborhood Rua da Laranjeira. Witnessing his predicament, an elderly African neighbor named Benedito, native of Angola, offered to teach him capoeira. After several months of training with him, Pastinha beat the bully.
He continued his training with Benedito for two more years. Pastinha's teacher did not use a berimbau, but only a drum, which seems to be common in Bahian capoeira at that time.
At the age of 12, Pastinha began his apprenticeship at the Navy School in Salvador.
During his time in the Navy, Pastinha received instruction in fencing, jack-knife techniques, and Swedish gymnastics. His musical talents also flourished under the guidance of the renowned musician Anacleto Vidal da Cunha. It is likely that he played, perhaps the horn, in the Navy orchestra. Pastinha's own accounts suggest that he even shared his knowledge of capoeira with some of his fellow sailors.
He left the Navy at the age of 20 in 1910.
Capoeira is for men, women and children.
Pastinha made a living through various jobs, including shoe cleaning, newspaper sales, carpentry, and working as a casino bouncer. According to his interview, Pastinha wanted to live through the sale of his oil paintings, though this endeavor did not entirely materialize.
He established his first capoeira school in a bicycle workshop located on the Campo da Pólvora. After 1910, he began teaching capoeira to artisans and students residing in shared accommodations (repúblicas) in the surrounding neighborhood, although scant details are available about his early students.
In street rodas, Pastinha was always ready for any unforeseen circumstances. He frequently recalled that he carried a small sickle that could be affixed to the berimbau, effectively turning the instrument into a formidable weapon should a street fight arise. However, despite his initial acclaim, Pastinha completely withdrew from the practice of capoeira in the following years. According to his own writings, he withdrew from 1912 until 1941.
Well, there is one thing that nobody doubts: the ones to teach capoeira to us were the negro slaves that were brought from Angola.
During the 1930s, traditional Bahian capoeira became known as capoeira de Angola, opposing Bimba's capoeira Regional. A group of old mestres held regular rodas in Gengibirra area, in black neighbourhood Liberdade, to preserve traditional style. Rodas was led by Mestre Amorzinho, a civil guard who offered protection from police harassment. According to Mestre Noronha, it was the first center for Capoeira Angola, founded by 22 mestres.
According to Pastinha's account, one of his top students, Aberrê, visited Gengibirra and impressed the mestres there with skills, so they ask him for teacher. Pastinha eventually visited them on 23 February 1941: