Friday Postcard: Corpus Christi Day

Hi all,

Yesterday, June 3^rd, was (yet) another holiday here in Rio. This week’s holiday was Corpus Christi Day, which commemorates the holy sacrament.

While the constitution of Brazil, like that of the US, protects freedom of religion, the country remains overwhelmingly Catholic (though evangelical sects are making a move on the outside rounding the bend).  Brazil, in fact, has the largest Catholic population of any country in the world. Accordingly, many of Brazil many, many holidays are religious in nature. As the origin of the word “holiday” is in the words “holy day”, this should come as no surprise.

Corpus Christi (which means body of Christ) Day is now traditionally marked as the Thursday falling about 60 days after Easter. It was introduced by the Portuguese. Immigrants from the Azores (another Portuguese colony – those buggers really got around) introduced the practice of painting streets and walkways with colorful horizontal murals of religious scenes. These were originally of colored sawdust, which is still common, though salt, tiles, and other materials are now used as well.

I happened to stumble upon some of these street paintings on my first or second visit to Brazil, can’t remember which, when on one of my little side trips with Claudete. The street paintings, done by amateurs, are pretty impressive. The pictures I shot, unfortunately, are stashed in one of those boxes stored in the closet of my mother’s guest bedroom in her home outside of Houston.

However, I was able to locate some nice examples online at the site Portal da Familia. The photos shown below are from that site.

Brazil’s next official holiday is not until September 7^th, which commemorates Brazil’s independence. Click here to view a calendar of Brazil’s holidays this year. To view all of Brazil’s national holidays in 2011, just click the arrow at the top. (Carnival runs from March 4-9 next year, just in case you were wondering…)

Ate mais, gente! (Until soon, peeps!)

John

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