Olga de Alaketu

Who was Olga de Alaketu?

Olga de Alaketu or Mother Olga- was a prominent Candomblé high priestess, who was influential in promoting Candomblé and distancing it from Catholicism.

A fifth generation descendant of the royal house of Aro in modern Benin; Alaketu served as high priestess of the Ile Maroia Laji temple in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil, one of the oldest Candomblé temples in Brazil. Her temple attracted many prominent people including the writer Jorge Amado, and the French anthropologist Pierre Verger. When the Ile Maroia Laji was declared a national heritage site, Cultural Minister Gilberto Gil said of Alaketu:

"In the last forty years, we can consider Mother Olga as the greatest proponent of the religion of the Orishas in all Brazil."

Alaketu died from complications from diabetes in 2005, and was buried in the Bosque da Paz Cemetery. She was succeeded by her eldest daughter Jocelina Barbosa Bispo.