A New York City woman has been accused of burning her 6-year-old daughter during a voodoo ritual, ignoring her cries for help and sending her to bed.

Prosecutors say Marie Lauradin poured a flammable liquid over her daughter during a Haitian practice known as "loa" and made her stand naked in a ring of fire, engulfing her in flames.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says Lauradin and the girl's grandmother washed her and put her to bed despite life-threatening burns over 25 per cent of her body.

He says another relative found her the next day.

Lauradin was ordered held on $US50,000 ($A62,546.91) bail at Thursday's arraignment on assault and child endangerment charges related to the February 4 incident.