Corpus Christi in Cacapava
May 22, 2008
(Look also photos - after the text)

        Brazil is mainly a Catholic country and every year, in the second Thursday after Pentecost Sunday (celebrated 7 weeks after Easter Sunday), we celebrate Corpus Christi. It is feast to commemorate the Holy Eucharist, that is, Christ's body in the bread, the holy bread.
        As it happens in every special celebration, we have traditions for this date in Brazil. People decorate streets (during all night) where procession will pass with very colorful carpets. These carpets are made with several kind of stuffs, depending on the community. Some communities use blankets and winter clothes that will be donated (after procession) to poor people which can not buy the own ones... But the most traditional kind of decoration is made of tinted sand, used coffee dust, sawdust, recycled stuffs and so on.
        My city has processions and decorations in some districts, in the main church parishes, but I have to confess... in spite of being the bigger city in Paraiba Valley, its decorations are not as beautiful as the decorations are in Cacapava, a nearby town.
        And for Corpus Christi, Cacapava receives tourists from all Paraiba Valley and other cities outside this small region of State of Sao Paulo. Everybody goes to see the beauty of its carpets. We did it too. As we do every year, we also went to Cacapava to see the carpets and to enjoy the blessed soul of the feast.
        After parking the car, we visited Cacapava's mother church to pray to thank for all blessings we receive along the life and of course to present some demands too (because no one is perfect, as we say here). Then, we left to walk. And it was interesting to see that some families (in Cacapava) still keep the traditions of placing a little altar in front the house in this date. As you can see in some photos, the altars had Bible, candles, grapes and breads (to represent the Eucharist) and the image of patron saint of the family. This tradition was very popular in the past, when people were more religions than nowadays.
        This year the size of decoration (3,7 kilometers) was shorter than last year... And we walk it... We walked and saw the beautiful decoration, in a beautiful autumn sunny day.
        All carpets were beautiful (pity that I can not show all beauty in a few photos), and it is strange to think they should be destroyed after the procession. According to traditions, nobody may tread on them before the priest carrying the holy bread during the procession...
        Well, I hope it was interesting for you to read it all and I hope you will enjoy all photos below.