Kali

===Worship in the Western world===
====Theorized early worship====
A form of Kali worship may have already transmitted to the west already in Medieval times by the wandering [[Romani people|Romani]]. A few authors have drawn parallels between Kali worship and the ceremonies of the annual pilgrimage in honor of [[Saint Sarah]], also known as ''Sara-la-Kali'' ("Sara the Black", {{lang-rom|Sara e Kali}}), held at [[Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer]], a place of [[pilgrimage]] for Roma in the [[Camargue]], in southern [[France]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=McDowell |first=Bart |title=Gypsies: Wanderers of the World |pages=38–57}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fonseca |first=Isabel |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/32387216 |title=Bury me standing: the Gypsies and their journey |others=Mazal Holocaust Collection, David Lindroth Inc. |year=1995 |isbn=0-679-40678-6 |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |pages=106–107 |oclc=32387216}}</ref> [[Ronald Lee]] (2001) states:

{{blockquote|If we compare the ceremonies with those performed in France at the shrine of Sainte Sara (called ''Sara e Kali'' in Romani), we become aware that the worship of Kali/[[Durga]]/Sara has been transferred to a Christian figure... in France, to a [[folk saint|non-existent "sainte"]] called Sara, who is actually part of the Kali/Durga/Sara worship among certain groups in India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lee |first=Ronald |title=The Rom-Vlach Gypsies and the Kris-Romani |pages=210}}</ref>}}

====In modern times====

An academic study of modern-day western Kali enthusiasts noted that, "as shown in the histories of all cross-cultural religious transplants, Kali devotionalism in the West must take on its own indigenous forms if it is to adapt to its new environment."<ref name="McDermott1998p281-305">{{cite book
| last  =McDermott
| first = Rachel Fell
| chapter = The Western Kali
| editor-last  = Hawley
| editor-first = John Stratton
| title  = Devi: Goddesses of India
| publisher = Motilal Banarsidass
| date = 1998
|pages=281–305}}</ref> Rachel Fell McDermott, Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Cultures at [[Columbia University]] and author of several books on Kali, has noted the evolving views in the West regarding Kali and her worship. In 1998 McDermott wrote that:

{{blockquote|A variety of writers and thinkers have found Kali an exciting figure for reflection and exploration, notably, [[Feminism|feminists]] and participants in [[New Age]] spirituality who are attracted to goddess worship. [For them], Kali is a symbol of wholeness and healing, associated especially with repressed female power and sexuality. [However, such interpretations often exhibit] confusion and misrepresentation, stemming from a lack of knowledge of Hindu history among these authors, [who only rarely] draw upon materials written by scholars of the Hindu religious tradition&nbsp;... It is hard to import the worship of a goddess from another culture: religious associations and connotations have to be learned, imagined or intuited when the deep symbolic meanings embedded in the native culture are not available.<ref name="McDermott1998p281-305" />}}

By 2003, she amended her previous view.
{{blockquote|... crosscultural borrowing ''is'' appropriate and a natural by-product of religious globalization—although such borrowing ought to be done responsibly and self-consciously. If some Kali enthusiasts, therefore, careen ahead, reveling in a goddess of power and sex, many others, particularly since the early 1990s, have decided to reconsider their theological trajectories. These [followers], whether of South Asian descent or not, are endeavoring to rein in what they perceive as excesses of feminist and New Age interpretations of the Goddess by choosing to be informed by, moved by, an Indian view of her character.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McDermott |first1=Rachel Fell |title=Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMUJyU_C-LkC |year=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |page=285 |isbn=978-0-520-92817-6}}</ref>
}}

====In Réunion====

In [[Réunion]], a part of France in the Indian Ocean, veneration for Saint [[Expeditus]] ({{Lang-fr|Saint Expédit}}) is very popular. The [[Malbars]] have Tamil ancestry but are, at least nominally, Catholics.
The saint is identified with Kali.<ref name="Suryanarayan">{{cite journal |last1=Suryanarayan |first1=V. |title=Tamils In Re-Union: Losing Cultural Identity – Analysis |journal=Eurasia Review |date=12 October 2018 |url=https://www.eurasiareview.com/12102018-tamils-in-re-union-losing-cultural-identity-analysis/ |access-date=3 March 2021 |language=en |quote=Saint Expedit, worshipped locally, is identified with Goddess Kali.}}</ref>