Belém do Pará, Brazil, Oct 6, 2011 / 23:15 pm
On the evening of Oct. 4, two million people began converging on the city of Belém in the northeastern state of Pará, Brazil, for the largest Marian festival in the world.
The Cirio de Nazaré procession brings Catholics from all over Brazil to show their devotion to Our Lady of Nazareth. Pilgrims spend several hours processing through the streets of Belém, the Portuguese translation for Bethlehem.
The Brazilian bishops said in a statement released earlier this week that putting on another edition of the biggest Catholic celebration in Brazil brings them joy.
“The Cirio is the Family Feast! It is the fellowship! It is the great collective effort to ‘fill the jars with water,’ so that Jesus may turn it into wine, the new wine of peace, justice and commitment to the cause of the Gospel,” they said.