CANDOMBLÉ

From Philosopedia

CANDOMBLÉ The strongest of Brazil’s syncretist religions, Candomblé mixes the nature-based beliefs some four million slaves brought from Africa with the Catholicism of the Portuguese colonists. Its pantheon of orixas—gods and goddesses of wind, oceans, still water, metals, and fire—correspond to Catholic saints and appear in masks and swaying skirts of raffia. At one time the rituals of animal sacrifice, possession, music, and dance were thought to be a form of devil worship. One individual, a priestess by the name of Cleusa Millet (1931-1998), is credited along with her mother of transforming Candomblé into a religion accepted in the highest levels of Brazilian society. {Diana Jean Schemo, The New York Times, 25 October 1998}.