Menininha do Gantois, Mãe (1894–1986)

Mãe Menininha do Gantois (Maria Escolástica da Conceição Nazareth; b. 10 February 1894; d. 13 August 1986), the fourth priestess of Ilê Iya Omin Axé Iya Massé, known popularly as the Terreiro do Gantois. Born in Salvador, Bahia, Menininha was the great-niece of Maria Julia da Conceição Nazareth, who founded the Terreiro de Gantois in 1849 after a divergence with Engenho Velho, one of the oldest Candomblé communities in Bahia. The women of the Conceição Nazareth family, who have led Gantois since its foundation, trace their lineage to the city of Abeokuta in Nigeria and preserve many of their cultural traditions through Candomblé. Menininha was initiated as a devotee of the Orixá Oxum at eight months, and named senior priestess of Gantois at the uncharacteristically young age of twenty-eight; hence, her nickname, which means "little girl." For sixty-four years she was spiritual counselor and inspiration to many well-known politicians, artists, and scholars, including Jorge Amado, Carybé, Caetano Veloso, Maria Bethania, and Antonio Carlos Magalhães. Mãe Menininha's openness helped to dispel widespread prejudice against the Afro-Brazilian Candomblé tradition. By the time of her death, she was the most beloved and widely venerated Candomblé priestess in Brazil. Her home in Bahia is now a memorial and museum.

See alsoAfrican-Latin American Religions: Brazil .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Braga, Julio Santana. Na gamela do feitiço: Repressão e resistência nos candomblés da Bahia. Salvador, Brazil: EDUFBA, 1995.

Portugal, Afra Marluce Guedes. O poder do Candomblé: Com aspectos da religiosidade do Gantois. Rio de Janeiro: Editora Tecnoprint, 1986.

Voeks, Robert A. Sacred Leaves of Candomblé: African Magic, Medicine, and Religion in Brazil. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

                                     Kim D. Butler