The name ‘procissão’ (procession) comes from the Latin processione, which means “to march forward”. It is the designation of a religious ritual in which priests, brotherhood and followers of a cult walk, generally in lines, singing or reciting prayers, carrying images or venerated relics.
Processions are made by various cults with the purpose of expressing religious sentiments and to accentuate the grandeur of the solemnities. In antiquity, pagans held processions like the Panathenaea in Athens, in which the people carried a richly embroidered robe through a sacred path to the Goddess Athena in the Parthenon. In Babylon, there was also a sacred route and propitiatory processions of the dragon Marduk, the bull Adad and the lion Ishtar.
When the Christian Church had freedom of expression, these manifestations began to be practiced. Some processions were instituted to replace former pagan parade, while others came from Christian dates.
Processions peaked in the Middle Ages when they were planned as major religious and social events, with their own rituals and mass participation of the faithful. The most important medieval processions were conducted on the Iberian Peninsula. Among the oldest that may have originated as adaptations of pagan rituals are the Rogation, to ask for a good harvest, and the Palm Sunday procession, which commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
In Brazil, the processions of Holy Week in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, are famous. Out of the most popular procession in Brazil, the most notable are the Lenten procession ‘Senhor Jesus dos Passos’ (Lord Jesus of the Steps), the ‘Enterro do Senhor’ (Lord’s Burial), on Good Friday, and that on Corpus Christi.
Religious processions with parades of the faithful carrying a canopy followed by litters with images of the Saints of the day have been instituted since 1549, when Tomé de Souza, the first governor-general of Brazil, disembarked in Bahia and paraded in a procession of around one thousand auxiliaries, including military, bureaucratic and religious, to celebrate the founding of the seat of government in Portuguese America.
The Jesuits then adopted and spread these practices of devotion to attract Indians for conversion and build colonies. The first solemnity held in a festive character and with much pomp was the procession of the Body of Christ.
Known as the land of processions, Bahia spread them to other captaincies. Nowadays, the ‘Senhor do Bonfim’ procession is one of the richest in folkloric and ethnographic information because of its acculturation processes which can be seen in its religious convergences, syncretism, etc.
The Our Lady of Nazareth procession in Belém, Pará, is considered as the largest religious manifestation in the country. The ‘Círio de Nazaré’ brings thousands of people onto the streets of Belém who follow the litter carrying the image of Our Lady of Narareth, the patron saint of Pará. The faithful sing religious hymns to honour the patron saint. Nine-day prayers and cultural manifestations are also present during the celebrations. The ‘Círio’ has been happening since 1793 and was declared an immaterial cultural patrimony of Brazil. It is as important to people from Pará as Christmas.
Patron processions (saints whose names are given to a temple or parish) are the most typical of processions that conclude the nine-day prayers of traditional festivals.
Processions of penitence, with flagellants, and processions of souls to reduce the number of sorrowful in purgatory continued until the end of the 19th century. These types of processions, which included flagellation, traversed dark streets to the sound of rattles and mournful chanting in times of epidemics or catastrophes and can still be witnessed in Brazil.
In the city of Pilão Arcado, Bahia, at night on Good Friday, the penitents, exclusively men, meet at the cemetery and head to the Parish Church, administering self-discipline, singing mournful prayers with their heads enwrapped in white cloth, carrying a wooden cross. All the residences on the way remain closed to avoid the profane identification of the pious participants. The penitents make some stops during the parade to pray and self-flagellate, finishing at dawn.
In Goiás, the ‘Procissão do Fogaréu’ takes place, the only one of its kind in Brazil. In it hooded characters called ‘farricocos’ participate. The procession begins around midnight, with the public lighting turned off and to the sound of drums, leaving the city’s main square and going rapidly to the steps of the Our Lady of the Rosary Church, where the participants find the table of the last supper already dispersed. They go in the direction of the St Francis de Paula Church, which symbolises the Mount of Olives, where the Passion of Christ is performed by students. The ceremony is rich in detail and beauty. The darkness, the torches, the speed and the hoods create a unique medieval atmosphere.
In Recife, as well as the traditional Holy Week processions, a highlight is the procession of Our Lady of Aparecida, the Patron Saint of Brazil, which takes thousands of the faithful to the streets of the IPSEP neighbourhood in the South Zone of the city. Devotees of the Saint, coming from all over the city, follow the procession of the patron saint to the Our Lady of Aparecida Parish to venerate her.
Recife, 27 December 2007.
(Updated on 14 September 2009).
Translated by Peter Leamy, March 2011.
sources consulted
CASCUDO, Luis da Câmara. Dicionário do folclore brasileiro. Brasília: MEC/INL, 1972.
CÍRIO de Nazaré leva 2 milhões às ruas. Jornal do Commercio, Recife, 15 out. 2007. Brasil, p. 5.
ENCICLOPÉDIA Brasileira Mérito. São Paulo: Ed. Mérito, 1961.
GRANDE Enciclopédia Barsa. 3.ed. São Paulo: Barsa Planeta Internacional, 2005.
MAIA, Jaqueline. Padroeira do Brasil é homenageada. Diario de Pernambuco, Recife, 13 out. 2007. Vida Urbana, p. 6.
how to quote this text
Source: ANDRADE, Maria do Carmo. Procession. Pesquisa Escolar On-Line, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009.