In verses recorded in the rich songbook of the Congados, the Lady of the Rosary was also called Mameto Kalunga. This is a respectful term of address also used for female positions in Angolan and Kongolese Candomblé. Mameto can be translated literally as mother, or our mother, in the spiritual sense. As shown from the very first ethnographic documents on these religious practices right up to the latest studies, the holy mothers of Angolan Candomblé bear the name Mamêto de Inkice (Carneiro, 1954, p. 193). To explore the meanings  
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[^0]:    13 This dramatic dance is a cultural manifestation with a marked Central African influence. Various themes can be presented, combined in various ways, highlights of which include: the coronation of the King of Kongo, the meeting of the blacks with Our Lady of the Rosary submerged in water, and the life of Saint Benedict, among others. The first records of such events date from the eighteenth century. From the beginning of the twentieth century, they have been the subject of studies by folklorists, historians, anthropologists and ethno-musicologists. See, among others: Gomes, Núbia Pereira de Magalhães; Pereira, Edimilson de Almeida. Negras rażzes mineiras: os Arturos. Juiz de Fora, Ministry of Culture/ UFJF, 1997; Gabarra, Larissa Oliveira. O Reinado do Congo no Império do Brasil. Congado de Minas Gerais no século XIX e as memórias da África Central. Rio de Janeiro, 2009. Rio de Janeiro: Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (Doctoral thesis).  
of mameto, after crossing the Atlantic, we must go a little deeper into Central African history.