The religious principle of matrilineal descent was irrelevant.
But their pyramidal grouping, sensuous and casual, was adapted from a fervently dramatic religious image: Rubens's "Descent From the Cross" in Antwerp.
Schools, descent groups, religious associations, and other local voluntary organizations were increasing in number and allowing more contact between educated men and local villagers.
She said the couple, both Christians of Chinese descent, had fled religious and ethnic persecution by the Muslim majority.
West's depiction of the sacrificial hero of empire invoked religious images of Christ's descent from the cross.
Brazilians of African descent developed a religious system known as Candomblé, closely based on the orisha deity worship of the Yoruba of modern Nigeria and Benin.
(AP) — Two more passengers have died of injuries suffered in the wreck of a charter bus carrying a group of Roman Catholics of Vietnamese descent to a religious festival, bringing the death toll to 17, the authorities said Saturday.
That's because, for most of Israel's history, immigration has been restricted to ingathered exiles, those who can prove affiliation to the historic Jewish people either by religious practice or by ethnic descent.
Shas's leadership is Orthodox, but its adherents include many traditional, but not strictly religious, Jews of Middle Eastern descent who are drawn to the party's second identity as an ethnic pride movement.
Trading on the monarchy's religious clout Morocco's kings claim descent from Prophet Muhammad it promotes itself as a beacon of the moderate, Malikite strain of Islam.
