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Religious festival · Ouro Preto
Holy Week celebrations in Ouro Preto’s baroque churches and steep streets, with nighttime processions and, on Easter Sunday, streets covered by colorful sawdust carpets made by residents and visitors.
In the photo: Ouro Preto
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Holy Week in Ouro Preto — Ouro Preto
From Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on Easter’s date; the sawdust carpets are made in the early hours of Holy Saturday for Sunday.
March/April
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
Ouro Preto, former capital of Minas Gerais and a UNESCO World Heritage site, hosts one of Brazil’s most traditional Holy Weeks. The ceremonies follow liturgy inherited from the 18th-century gold cycle and take place in the city’s baroque churches and the stone streets between them. The two historic parishes, Pilar and Antônio Dias, alternate organizing the main processions.
The week begins on Palm Sunday, with the blessing of the palms and the Procession of the Meeting. The Washing of the Feet ceremony follows on Maundy Thursday, and on Good Friday the Descent from the Cross and the Funeral Procession take place, with the latter crossing the night in silence, accompanied by rattles, candles and period-dressed participants. There are also luminous processions, reenactments and chants in Latin, in a program that changes little from year to year.
The best-known moment is the early hours from Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday. Residents, religious groups and visitors lay out sawdust carpets, coffee grounds, sand and flowers on the streets along the route, creating sacred images and geometric patterns; the city hall and the Ouro Preto Art Foundation distribute part of the materials. In the morning, the Resurrection Procession goes through the streets between the historic churches and passes over the carpets, while the windows of the manor houses are decorated with bedspreads. The tradition of ornamenting the streets dates back to the Eucharistic Triumph of 1733, the reopening festival of the Pilar mother church.
Anyone can help make the carpets, which makes Saturday night a collective experience. Outside the ceremonies, the week is a good time to visit the city’s churches and museums, which lie at the heart of the celebrations.
The Funeral Procession on Good Friday night. The making of the sawdust carpets in the early hours of Holy Saturday. The Resurrection Procession over the carpets on Easter Sunday morning, starting at the Basílica do Pilar.
Stay in the historic center to do everything on foot: the hills are steep and traffic is restricted along procession routes. Wear shoes with good traction and bring a jacket for the nights, which can be cold. To take part in the carpets, go to the streets along the route on Saturday night and ask residents where you can help. Check each parish’s schedule, published close to the date.
Mineiro dishes in the downtown restaurants, such as tutu de feijão, frango com quiabo and pão de queijo; on Good Friday many families and restaurants serve fish and bacalhau.
Holy Week is one of the busiest times of year in Ouro Preto. Book early; the calendar follows Easter each year.
In the city
March/April
February/MarchFrom Saturday to Carnival Tuesday, beginning with the departure of the Homem da Meia-Noite at midnight between Saturday and Sunday; Carnival falls in February or March, depending on Easter.
The party on the cobbled hills of Olinda’s historic center, a World Heritage site: blocks and troças without a trio elétrico, frevo orchestras on foot and giant puppets, led by the Homem da Meia-Noite.
February/MarchFrom the Thursday before to Ash Wednesday of Carnival week, which falls in February or March according to Easter.
Salvador’s street Carnival, led by trios elétricos and by Afro blocks, across three main circuits: the Barra to Ondina waterfront, the downtown Campo Grande, and the Pelourinho.
February/MarchDuring Carnival week, in February or March, with the official opening at Marco Zero before Sábado de Zé Pereira, when the Galo da Madrugada parades; main programming continues through Tuesday.
The state capital’s street Carnival, to the sound of frevo and maracatu: the Galo da Madrugada in the center on Sábado de Zé Pereira, the official opening at Marco Zero, and poles with stages and processions spread across the neighborhoods.
Your questions
On the night and in the early hours from Holy Saturday into Easter Sunday. In the morning, the Resurrection Procession passes over them.
Yes. Anyone can take part: just go to the streets along the procession route on Saturday night. Part of the materials is distributed by the city hall and the Ouro Preto Art Foundation.
The Procession of the Meeting on Palm Sunday; the Funeral Procession on Good Friday night; and the Resurrection Procession on Easter Sunday, which passes over the sawdust carpets.
Festivals and events in Brazil
February/MarchIn February or March, depending on the Carnival calendar, which changes each year with the date of Easter.
The samba school parades at the Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí and the street blocos spread across the city during Carnival days.
February/MarchEvery two years, in even-numbered years, between mid-February and early March, during the grape harvest. · Every two years
The grape harvest and Italian immigration festival in Caxias do Sul, in the Serra Gaúcha, featuring a parade of floats in the city center, grapes served in the park, colonial food and Italo-Gaucho culture.
JanuaryOn January 20, the day of the city’s patron saint, which is a municipal holiday in Rio de Janeiro.
The patron saint’s day in Rio de Janeiro, with masses and the procession that carries the saint’s image from Tijuca to the Metropolitan Cathedral in the downtown area.
JanuaryOn the Thursday before the second Sunday after Epiphany (January 6), which is the Sunday of the Feast of the Lord of Bonfim; therefore it always takes place in January, usually on the second or third Thursday of the month.
A walking procession of several kilometers from Cidade Baixa to the Sacred Hill in Salvador, where baianas dressed in white wash the steps of the Basilica of the Senhor do Bonfim with scented water.
FebruaryOn February 2, with the House of Iemanjá opening to receive offerings on the eve, February 1.
Tribute by the fishermen of Rio Vermelho, in Salvador, to Iemanjá, orixá of the salt waters: devotees and visitors bring flowers and gifts, which are placed in baskets on boats and taken out to the open sea late in the afternoon.
May/JuneOn the days leading up to Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter; therefore it falls in May or June.
Paraty’s most traditional religious festival, with a novena, processions through the historic center, a solemn Mass and a Sunday Pentecost procession.