How Does One Exceed To Preisthood In The Candomble Religion?

The candomble priesthood is organized into a symbolic family structure, while the members of the family may not actually be related to each other. The head of the family is usually a woman who is referred to as the mother of the saint and is followed in hierarchy by a man who is known as the father of the saint.

Admission to the priesthood and the progression in the hierarchy of priesthood is conditioned to the approval by the Orixás, or the dieties, the possession of the necessary skills and qualities, the learning of  the necessary knowledge, and the  performance of the very lengthy initiation rites, which can last as long as seven years or even more than that.

Upon the death of the ialorixá, a successor is chosen, who is usually among her daughters, largely by way of the divination by using consecrated cowrie shells which are considered to be mouthpieces of the Orixa called the cowrie shell. However the succession may also be very disputed or may even fail to find the successor, and more often than not it leads to the splitting or the closing down of the house altogether. Only a handful of the houses in Brazil have actually reached and seen their 100th anniversary. Among the oldest of these that are still extant are the Ilé Axé Iyá Nassô Oká (or the "White House at Old Sugarmill"), which is in Salvador, Bahia, and the Casa das Minas which is located in São Luís, Maranhão.