Círio de Nazaré. Belém, Brazil. (30 images)

La festa da Fé

Círio is likely the largest catholic gathering in the world.
Belém, state of Parà, North of Brazil, hosts for 200 years this popular religious festivity. Every second Sunday of October, about 2 millions worshippers gather around the statue of the Virgin of Nazareth: a small, miraculous, wooden figure of the Virgin Mary and her son.

The celebration begins at 6am after a solemn Mass in front of the Catedrale da Sè...
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La festa da Fé

Círio is likely the largest catholic gathering in the world.
Belém, state of Parà, North of Brazil, hosts for 200 years this popular religious festivity. Every second Sunday of October, about 2 millions worshippers gather around the statue of the Virgin of Nazareth: a small, miraculous, wooden figure of the Virgin Mary and her son.

The celebration begins at 6am after a solemn Mass in front of the Catedrale da Sè and finishes in the late afternoon in the Basilica de Nazaré. The procession walks for 5 km through the streets of Belém. Such a slow pace is due to "la corda" (the rope), the other symbol of the event. A 400 hundred meters long rope, weighting over 700 kg, which encircles "la Berlinda", the canopy where the statue is locked at the end of the Mass.
About 15.000 devotees queue night time to secure a place on the rope. Men and women are disposed on two separate lines at the incredible density of 10 people every metre.
The procession advances at a snail's pace, wobbly and insecure. Admirers sing to the chants aired by the speakers along the path, to salute the passage of the Virgin.
Under a humid equatorial sun, that sets the temperature around 40 degrees, barefoot, hands sore to not lose the grasp, worn out, the "promesseiros" characterize the experience as an extreme example of religious fanaticism. Inside the area delimited by the rope, the canopy's carriers, priests, volunteers, policemen and journalists are trapped. There is no way out for at least five hours.
Volunteers rescue and doctors cure injured and fainting people. Worshippers ask for a blessing or thank for a received miracle carrying a representation of the favour. At the Basilica many terminate the walk on their knees.
It is 4pm when this procession arrives to a close. The Círio of the 2000 Jubileum will be recorded as the longest: 9 hours. It had never been so interminable. Police will estimate 1.700.000 people. The equivalent of the entire population of Belém.
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