Mãe-de-santo

What it is

A mãe-de-santo is a woman holding priestly office in the Afro-Brazilian religions Candomblé, Umbanda and Quimbanda. The words are Portuguese and translate as "saint's mother". She is a keeper of the custom of her house: its rules, its histories and the knowledge a congregation draws on. None of these religions keeps a written scripture for reference, so what a community knows lives in its priests rather than in books, and the office is where that memory is held. Men hold a matching office, called pai-de-santo, but the women who carry the title are the more venerated of the two.

Where it comes from

The Portuguese phrase is a calque, a name assembled piece by piece from another language. It translates the Yoruba title iyalorisha, given to women who lead the Yoruba religion. Iya is Yoruba for mother, and the shortened l'orisha means "of orisha", a kind of deity in that tradition. Portuguese speakers put "saint" in place of "orisha", since a culture long shaped by Catholicism uses saint as its everyday word for a holy figure. The title belongs to Brazil, where Candomblé, Umbanda and Quimbanda are practised.

What it is for

The office carries the memory of a religion that keeps no written record. Customs, rules and histories are held by the priests and handed onward to newer members of the congregation, so each generation learns from people rather than from a page. Alongside that teaching role the mãe-de-santo is a figure of authority in her community, and her standing is reflected in the regard she receives, which exceeds that given to the male priesthood.

Who does it

The role is held by women, and its standing within these religions is high. A parallel male office exists under the name pai-de-santo, meaning "saint's father". No religious text serves as a reference for the office, so what a priestess knows reaches her through the community and through those already in the role. Veneration differs by gender: in African-Brazilian religions the priestess is honoured more than the priest, a pattern the traditions themselves record in the way each is addressed and regarded.

Peoples and places

The title is Brazilian, and it appears in three traditions there: Candomblé, Umbanda and Quimbanda, usually grouped together as Afro-Brazilian religions. Behind the Portuguese wording stands the Yoruba world of West Africa, where iyalorisha names the women who head the Yoruba religion, and the Brazilian term keeps a trace of that meaning. Portuguese-language culture, long formed by Catholicism, supplied the word for saint that replaced orisha in the title.

Compare and confuse

The nearest relation is the pai-de-santo, "saint's father", the male holder of the same priestly office; together they form the priesthood of these religions, with the woman the more honoured. Yoruba speakers call a woman who heads their tradition an iyalorisha, the term from which the Portuguese name was shaped. Iyalawo is a further Yoruba priestly title, and individual priestesses such as Mãe Judith are remembered by name.

Questions people ask about Mãe-de-santo

Good reading and sources

• Mãe-de-santo on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data