Photo of the Week

Voodoo ceremonies in a church in Brazil

In the picture above, you see Fr. Luis Carlos de Almeida at the microphone, flanked by representatives of the State Council of Umbanda (the Brazilian Voodoo) and Afro-Brazilian Cults. These organizations came together to plan a display of Voodoo dances in a Catholic Church under the pretext of commemorating the "national day of samba."

Fr. Almeida, who hosted the event, is the parish priest of Nossa Senhora das Dores (Our Lady of Sorrows) Church in the city of Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul. The photos you see on this page were taken in his church. Actually, above, he is speaking from the presbytery of that church, explaining to the public what they would witness.

Voodoo sessions are performed to the beat of drums and other primitive instruments. The participants dance and sing, calling for the "saint" (the Devil) to come and possess the medium - normally a woman dressed in white. Then, after possessing the medium who enters a trance, the Devil gives advice or performs cures.

In this ceremony that took place on December 2, 2014, at Our Lady of the Sorrows Church, the same Voodoo music and dances were performed at the church with the presence of a delegation of mediums - third row below. At the end of the event the mediums altogether "blessed" the stairs of the Church while dancing to the rhythm of drums.

In the three last rows, you see the façade and interior of Our Lady of Sorrows Church, downtown Porto Alegre.

Photos sent by a reader from Brazil

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Posted December 14, 2014

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