Procissão das Almas

Dossier

In the city of Mariana, Minas Gerais, in the early hours of Good Friday, five minutes before the beginning of Holy Saturday, a pagan ritual takes place. People dress in white, hiding their faces under a hood, while carrying a bone and a candle, singing a song and praying for the souls of people who died without confession. At the front, one person carries a cross covered by a black veil, and others carry chains, skulls, a wicker basket and bird feathers, to recreate two iconic stories from the region. Some say that there is always a dead person accompanying the procession. The procession leaves from the Archconfraternity of Saint Francis and the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi, in the so-called Procession of Souls. —description from the publisher

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