<P> The Spanish and Portuguese words for the godparent roles are used for members of the wedding party--padrino / padrinho meaning "godfather" or "best man" and madrina / madrinha meaning "godmother" or "matron of honor", reflecting the custom of baptismal sponsors acting in this role in a couple's wedding . </P> <P> The Spanish custom was also adopted in the Philippines, a predominantly Christian country in Southeast Asia that was a former part of the Spanish Empire . The Filipino terms ninong for godfather and ninang for godmother, were also borrowed from Hispanic custom, and apply to godparents in both a child's Baptism and the child's later Confirmation . In the context of a wedding, the terms instead refer to the principal sponsors of the couple . </P> <P> Godparents are noted features of fairy tales and folklore written from the 17th century onwards, and by extension, have found their way into many modern works of fiction . In Godfather Death, presented by the Brothers Grimm, the archetype is, unusually, a supernatural godfather . However, most are a fairy godmother as in versions of Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and The Blue Bird . This feature may simply reflect the Catholic milieu in which most fairy tales were created, or at least recorded, and the accepted role of godparents as helpers from outside the family, but feminist Marina Warner suggests that they may be a form of wish fulfilment by female narrators . </P> <P> In the Yoruba religion Santería, godparents must have completed their santo or their Ifá . A person gets his Madrina and Yubona (co-godmother) or his Padrino and Yubon (co-godfather). A santero, aside from his co-godparents, may have an oluo (babalawo, initiate of ifa) who consults him with an ekuele (divinating chain). </P>

Role of a godfather in the catholic church