A "Mae de Santo" (priestess) dances during the festivity of Iemanja, the African deity of the sea and fertility, Feb. 2, 2009. The festival day corresponds with the Roman Catholic feast of Nuestra Senora de Navegantes, Our Lady of Seafarers, which is also celebrated in Rio de Janeiro. Yemanja is the goddess of creation. She is also known as the sea-goddess and his devotes give in the sea offerings with flowers, perfumes and wines. Transported by West African slaves to the Americas throughout the hundreds of years of the existence of slavery in the New World. (Austral Foto/Renzo Gostoli)

A "Mae de Santo" (priestess) dances during the festivity of Iemanja, the African deity of the sea and fertility, Feb. 2, 2009. The festival day corresponds with the Roman Catholic feast of Nuestra Senora de Navegantes, Our Lady of Seafarers, which is also celebrated in Rio de Janeiro. Yemanja is the goddess of creation. She is also known as the sea-goddess and his devotes give in the sea offerings with flowers, perfumes and wines. Transported by West African slaves to the Americas throughout the hundreds of years of the existence of slavery in the New World. (Austral Foto/Renzo Gostoli)