Members of these groups interact with members of the Giro groups. The images that link these "spirit groups" (Shapiro, p. 832) are "maintained and codified through the agency of the symbols of blood, oil, honey and water." The rituals go well beyond "what Catholicism teaches" and indeed through these cultural activities the participants are rejecting Catholicism (which Lily certainly was doing in Kidd's novel) and saying that slaves have as much power as the Catholic saints.

In the Giro group that Shapiro (who is an anthropologist and who conducted field work in Brazil) attended, dende oil along with "water and honey" was placed "behind the door" during spirit sessions "to remove irradiations from the street and the crossroads so that bad things would not happen" (Shapiro, p. 835). The author (pp. 836-837) met Helena, a Giro spirit leader, and learned that honey is "specifically associated with the caboclo spirits of...
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