Mestre Pastinha (born Vicente Ferreira Pastinha April 5, 1889, Salvador, Brazil - November 13, 1981) was a mestre (a master practitioner) of the Afro-Brazilian martial art Capoeira. The son of José Señor Pastinha and Eugênia Maria de Carvalho, he was exposed to Capoeira at the age of 8 by an African named Benedito. The story goes that an older and stronger boy from Pastinha's neighborhood would often bully and beat him up. One day Benedito saw the aggression that Pastinha suffered