'Candomble' seer says gods with Brazil team
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ― Unlike her compatriots, Rita de Cassia Marciano doesn't get too 強調する／ストレスd out during Brazil's World Cup matches. She knows Brazil is going to 勝利，勝つ its sixth 肩書を与える: The gods told her so.
A "mae de santa," or practitioner of the syncretic Afro-Brazilian 宗教 Candomble, Marciano has prayed for a Brazil victory and she says the gods, known as "Orixas," have acquiesced.
"We're going to the final and we're going to 勝利，勝つ," said Marciano, who 行為／行うs around a dozen 協議s daily from beneath a tarp next to the Rosario Church, in Rio's historic downtown, reading tarot cards and cowrie 爆撃するs for 支払う／賃金ing （弁護士の）依頼人s. "The tournament is in our home ... It's as if the neighbor's chicken wandered into our kitchen. We've got to eat that chicken, throw it into the マリファナ."
Rita de Cassia Marciano, who is a "mae de santa," or practitioner of the syncretic Afro-Brazilian 宗教 Candomble, 準備するs to …に出席する （弁護士の）依頼人s in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 26, 2014. Unlike her compatriots, Rita de Cassia Marciano doesn't get too 強調する／ストレスd out during Brazil's World Cup matches. She knows Brazil is going to 勝利，勝つ its sixth 肩書を与える: The gods told her so. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Candomble was developed by Brazil's slave 全住民s, who associated the gods of the Yoruba people of West Africa with the pantheon of Roman カトリック教徒 saints in a 企て，努力，提案 to perpetuate their beliefs in the New World. Practitioners of Candomble tend to be 黒人／ボイコット Brazilians, like 59-year-old Marciano, who was 始めるd into the 宗教 by her mother, also a mae de santa, or "saint mother."
Just to make extra sure of a Brazilian victory, Marciano 成し遂げるs rituals ahead of each game, 説 祈りs and lighting candles for every player on the Brazil squad. One player in particular is the 受取人 of 特に 熱烈な orations: 星／主役にする striker Neymar, the 22-year-old upon whom the South American 巨大（な）'s World Cup hopes are pinned.
"He's a kid, he's our kid," said Marciano, 列d in the practice's flowing white lace 衣料品s and wearing 激しい glass beads around her neck. "If he breaks his 脚, what will happen?"
But even as Marciano takes 苦痛s to portray Candomble as an 上昇傾向 practice that 焦点（を合わせる）s on the 肯定的な, she 認めるs that she's not above a bit of "黒人／ボイコット 魔法" to help 確実にする Brazil's success.
"The teams we're going to 直面する are good. We've got to do a lot of voodoo so that they all go crazy and start making own goals," she said, bursting into her trademark raucous laughter. "We've got to make their goalies go blind so our balls sail in."
Not everyone is 納得させるd.
Enilda Aguiar, a 72-year-old retiree who has 協議するd with Marciano for several years now, said that though the "mae de santa's" 予測s had 終始一貫して proven true, she wasn't buying a Brazil victory in the July 13 final in Rio.
"She is wonderful, but she's not infallible. She can make a mistake," said Aguiar. "Who am I to say, but I 本人自身で think Brazil will not 勝利，勝つ the World Cup. The team is just not good enough."
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Follow Jenny Barchfield on Twitter: @jennybarchfield
Rita de Cassia Marciano, who is a "mae de santa," or practitioner of the syncretic Afro-Brazilian 宗教 Cand omble, 協議するs the "buzios" or cowrie 爆撃するs regarding the 結果 of Brazil's team at the World Cup in her テント in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 26, 2014. ?We?re going to the final and we?re going to 勝利，勝つ,? said Marciano, who 行為／行うs around a dozen 協議s daily from beneath a tarp next to the Rosario Church, in Rio's historic downtown, reading tarot cards and cowrie 爆撃するs for 支払う／賃金ing （弁護士の）依頼人s. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
Rita de Cassia Marciano laughs under her テント decorated with saints from the Afro-Brazilian 宗教 Candomble as she waits for （弁護士の）依頼人s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Thursday, June 26, 2014. Candomble was developed by Brazil's slave 全住民s, who associated the gods of the Yoruba people of West Africa with the pantheon of Roman カトリック教徒 saints in a 企て，努力，提案 to perpetuate their beliefs in the New World. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
