Mãe Menininha do Gantois
| Mãe Menininha do Gantois | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Maria Escolástica da Conceição Nazaré Assunção 10 February 1894 Salvador da Bahia, Brazil |
| Died | 13 August 1986 (aged 92) Salvador da Bahia, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Occupation | Priestess |
| Years active | 1946–1998 |
| Known for | Headed the religious temple of Candomble do Gantois for 64 years |
Mãe Menininha do Gantois (10 February 1894 – 13 August 1986) also known as Mother Menininha do Gantois, was a Brazilian spiritual leader (iyalorixá) and spiritual daughter of orixá Oxum, who officiated for 64 years as the head of one of the most noted Candomblé temples, the Ilê Axé Iyá Omin Iyamassê, or Terreiro do Gantois, of Brazil, located in Alto do Gantois in Salvador, Bahia. She was instrumental in gaining legal recognition of Candomblé and its rituals, bringing an end to centuries of prejudice against Afro-Brazilians, who practiced their faith. When she died on 13 August 1986, the State of Bahia declared a three-day state mourning in her honour, and the City Council of Salvador held a special session to pay tributes to her. The Terreiro do Gantois temple has been declared a protected national monument.
Maria Escolástica da Conceição Nazaré Assunção was born on 10 February 1894 in Salvador, Bahia. Her grand mother, who had baptized her, gave her the nickname as Menininha meaning "Little girl" She was born into a matriarchal society to Maria da Glória and Joaquim Assunção, who were Afro-Brazilian with Yoruba Nigerian royal ancestry from Egba-Alakê, in Abeokutá in southwestern part of Nigeria. Her great grandparents, Maria Júlia da Conceição do Nazaré and Francisco Nazaré Eta, were the first blacks to be freed from slavery. Maria Júlia's daughter Damiana was the mother of Maria da Glória Nazaré. Menininha was initiated into the worship of deities at the Terreiro do Gantois when she was 8 years old by her grandmother Maria Julia da Conceição Nazaré who had built the temple "Ile Iyá Omi Axé Iyamassê." She was married to Alvaro MacDowell de Oliveira and they had two daughters. The elder daughter was Mãe Cleusa da Conceição Nazaré de Oliveira, born in 1923, who was a doctor and who became the inherited Candomblé priestess of the temple after her mother's death. She died in 1998 and was succeeded by Menininha's other daughter, Mãe Carmem. As spiritual heads of their temple, all of the Candomblé priestesses receive the honorific 'mãe', which in the Portuguese language means "mother".
...
Wikipedia