(2 Feb 1998) Eng/Portu/Nat
A 74-year-old French intellectual has earned a reputation as one of the best priestess of the Afro-Brazilian religion known as "candomble."
Gisele Cossard moved to Brazil in 1959 when her husband was named cultural attache to the French Embassy in Rio de Janeiro.
There she found a new life in a religion that has been practised in secrecy for centuries.
This is 74-year-old Mother Omindarewa - a high priestess of the Afro-Brazilian religion known as Candomble.
Outside Candomble circles, she is known as Gisele Cossard, French author and Sorbonne educated anthropologist.
Cossard moved to Brazil in 1959 when her husband was named cultural attache to the French Embassy in Rio de Janeiro.
It was there that she found candomble.
Candomble was the dominant religion of the roughly three-point-five (m) million Yoruba African slaves brought to Brazil between 1550 and 1850 to work the mines and plantations.
It believes in a series of deities - called 'orixas' that embody the forces of nature and can possess the chosen in a ritual trance.
For the Roman Catholic Church, candomble seemed more like devil worship and it was outlawed.
To avoid persecution, the slaves assigned a Catholic saint to each 'orixa' giving birth to this Afro-Brazilian religion, also known as 'umbanda.'
Far from academia and the diplomatic circles of her past, Gisele Cossard found a home and a calling in her 'terreiro' or spiritual temple in this suburb of Rio de Janeiro.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think I have a wonderful life because I live among the leaves, among the plants, among the trees and that kind of communication between nature and myself that's how I see myself and the more I may learn about plants and leaves even in Africa where I'm always interested."
SUPER CAPTION: Gisele Cossard, Candomble Priestess
One night at a feast at a 'terreiro' Cossard suddenly felt dizzy, then slumped to the floor in a trance, possessed by Iemanja - the Yoruba sea goddess.
That's when her new life began.
For initiates in the mysteries of candomble, it's not surprising that a white European became a priestess in a black African religion.
They believe destiny is preordained by the 'orixas.'
SOUNDBITE: (Portuguese)
"From the spiritual point of view, it's very natural, because there's no difference - well, the cultural differences exist - but not from the point of view of a supremacy, the relation between superior and inferior. So, I don't notice this difference because there's mutual respect between us. She's totally integrated in Afro-Brazilian roots and culture."
SUPER CAPTION: Suzete Paiva, Daughter of Saint
Candomble's appeal has grown steadily among white Brazilians, and many see nothing wrong in attending mass in the morning and a 'terreiro' at night.
Still, a stigma of backwardness lingers, due mainly to the use of herbs and animal sacrifices during rituals.
At 74, Cossard has initiated many into candomble.
At ceremonies, her initiates approach respectfully to ask her blessing or instructions for their chores.
Cossard moves easily between her two worlds. She is divorced from her diplomat husband.
She enjoys the respect of academic circles abroad.
In 1970 she earned a doctorate at the Sorbonne defending a thesis on the Angolan branch of candomble.
And she's currently writing a book on her religion.
There's a high degree of secrecy in most Afro-Brazilian religions due mainly to years of persecution and the stigma of backwardness.
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