Lewis 53: "All over the world [the] conception of a spiritual union, paralleling human marriage, [is recognized] between a spirit and its regular devotee"
this theme is "developed in the voodoo cults of Haiti. There a person who wishes the secure the permanent protection of one of the loa or 'mysteries' may make a formal proposal of marriage, and so may the god. Ezili, the patron goddess of lovers, is particularly uxorious and regularly offers her hand to any man who serves her zealously"
"Such marriages are celebrated with elaborate ceremonies which Métraux has recored in detail. Mortal unions are exactly paralleled even to the extent of the issuing of a wedding certificate"
(Métraux, Voodoo in Haiti, 1959)
the "filial idiom" is also found "in the possession societies kniown as candomblés in Brazil and in the linked syncretiuc religion of Umbanda (compounded of Amerindian, African, and European elements)"