Creation of Divara

Initial principles

When Aldonza de Bracamonte became leader of the Spanish, she realised that she was in a precarious position. Spanish society was fiercely patriarchal and she knew she would face a challenge for her leadership at some point. She decided that the best way to preserve her position was to make it religious. A religious leader is less likely to be challenged.

But Catholicism was not suitable. There were no female priests, and nuns are not leaders. So she decided to create a new religion with female priests and handmaidens to support them. She was able to distance herself from Catholicism by attacking the Protestant religion of the English.

The colours of the ranks

The colours of the ranks were determined by the rainbow. The lowest rank was brown, indicating unstained leather; hence the Priestess, Handmaiden or Slave are not qualified to wear a colour.

The middle three colours were red, green and blue, representing the outer and centre colours of the rainbow.

The final colour was absent for the highest priestess, indicating that she did not need colours as she was unique. The fifth rank of handmaidens used grey while the Slaves did not have a fifth rank, indicating that they were not suitable for the sacred five.