Cirio de Nazare: Brazil's Veneration of Our Lady

It happens in Belem, Brazil every second Sunday of October.  This is the Cirio de Nazare (Candle of Nazareth) which began 200 years ago, one of the largest and most popular Marian festival of the world, when the small image of Our Lady of Nazareth (Nazare) that dates back to early Christian times, is borne in procession through the streets of the city from the Belem Cathedral to the Nazare Basilica where it will reside for the next 15 days.

The Cirio like the Mardi Gras in Rio de Janeiro is attended by millions of people.  The count this year was 2.2 million religious devotees who participated in the procession.  The Rio is a hedonistic festival held before Lent each year.

 

The size of the image reminds Filipino Marian devotees of Our Lady of Penafrancia of Naga City whose 300th anniversary was commemorated in September this year, and Nuestra Senora de la Paz y Buen Viaje of Antipolo City, who is feasted annually in May.

The Cirio coincides with the observance of the La Naval de Manila when the image of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary is honored with a grand procession from the Dominican church of Santo Domingo, a tradition that moved with the church from Intramuros, the Old Manila, to Quezon City.

Source:  http://www.orm.com.br

The passion of the devotees in the Cirio recalls that of the barefoot menfolk in the procession of the Black Nazarene of Quiapo in January, and of the Senor Intierros of Lukban, Quezon and Paite, Laguna on Good Friday.  "Throughout this parade," according to one report, "participants struggle to grab hold of the rope attached to a stand (or berlinda) carrying an image of the virgin. With emotions heightened and a religious fervour in the air, expect to see outbreaks of traditional music and dancing at every step, as delicious smells of sugar and spice waft from passing windows."

Source:  http://www.orm.com.br/

Source:  Inside pages, Diario do Para (Belem, 11 Oct 2010).

 Here's the history of the image of Our Lady of Nazareth from Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira:

"The chronicles of the old Portugal report this episode that took place in the year 1182, on the day of the exaltation of the Holy Cross. Dom Fuas Roupinho, a knight and vassal of King Alphonse Henriques, was out hunting on a foggy day. He was pursuing a deer when it came to an unexpected precipice and fell to its death into the sea below.

"The horse, which was in close pursuit, reared on the very edge of the cliff, and it seemed certain that Dom Fuas would follow the deer to his death. Knowing that a little distance to his left was a cave with the statue of the Virgin of Nazareth, Dom Fuas immediately invoked her protection. He was saved, and in thanksgiving he built a small “chapel of memory” (Ermida da Memória) over the cave in her honor.

"According to a document found with it, the little statue of the Virgin had been venerated in Nazareth in the times of early Christianity. When the iconoclast heresy started in Constantinople and the heretics were destroying all the statues, a monk called Ciriaco took it to a monastery in Spain in the proximity of Merida.

"In 714, when the Saracens invaded the Iberian Peninsula, King Rodrigo fled with Friar Germano to the Atlantic coast, bearing the statue with them. They hid the statue in a small cave off the coast of the site that was later to become Nazaré, where it remained until it was found by a shepherd in 1179.

"After Our Lady miraculously saved the life of Dom Fuas, the devotion to Our Lady of Nazareth spread broadly through the country and was the source of countless graces for the people. In 1377 King Fernando ordered a Church to be built near the little chapel, and the statue is venerated there now."

Update:  The Despedida 15 days after the Cirio --

Sources:
1.  Oliveira, Plinio Corrêa de. "Our Lady of Nazareth (Nazaré) – March 6" retrieved from http://www.traditioninaction.org/SOD/j118sdOLNazare_3-06.htm


2.   "Círio de Nazaré 2010". (2010, Oct 04). Retrieved from http://blog.hostelbookers.com/travel/cirio-de-nazare-2010/  

3.    "The Icon of Nazare". Retrieved from http://www.homebusinesslink.com/BVM8.html