BRAZIL: Pious Festival

It looked like carnival time in Rio. Firecrackers popped, and from balconies flowers rained. Rio was welcoming a small (44 in., 33 Ibs.) white & gold statue of Our Lady of Fatima, whose famous shrine in Portugal is rivaling even Lourdes in popularity (TIME, May 14, 1951)As the statue, on tour of the world since the spring of 1947, moved through the streets in a gilded carriage, Cariocas followed, cheering and weeping. Even the devotees of African white magic came out of Rio favelas (hillside slums). Little girls, dressed as angels and as the Virgin herself, stood along...

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