(2 Feb 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – 02 February 2025
1. Various of devotees placing offerings in the sea for Afro-Brazilian sea goddess Yemanja
2. Various of devotees on beach singing and clapping in praise of Yemanja
3. Man showing a statue of Yemanja during celebration
4. Woman dressed as Yemanja dancing during celebration
5. People watching the procession pass
6. Maria de Fátima Santos, 68, at the beach
7. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Maria de Fátima Santos, 68, teacher:
"It’s very exciting because we understand that people need this moment of reflection, a moment of inner peace, of connecting with nature, because the deity is nothing more than pure nature."
8. Various of people singing and dancing in honour of Yemanja
9. Various of people placing offerings in the sea for Yemanja
10. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Beatriz Toledo, 26, teacher:
"We bring offerings to the sea asking for her to bring us protection, prosperity and that she take away with the sea everything that is bad, all the negativity, and give only positivity because she is a mother, she looks after us, so she’s going to want everything that is positive and good things for us."
11. People at the seaside praying and asking for protection
STORYLINE:
Thousands of worshippers clad in white robes spilled onto Arpoador beach in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday to pay homage to Yemanja, the Afro-Brazilian sea goddess.
Devotees waded into the sea to the sound of drums and rhythmic clapping and offered up colorful bouquets to the goddess who is celebrated annually on Feb. 2.
"We bring offerings to the sea asking her to bring protection and prosperity; may she take everything that is bad,” said Beatriz Toledo, a 26-year-old teacher.
“She is a mother, she looks after us, so she’s going to want everything that is positive and good things for us,” Toledo added.
Yemanja is a central deity in the Afro-Brazilian religions of Candomble and Umbanda. Practitioners of these faiths have traditionally been and continue to be the target of discrimination and sometimes of religious hate crimes in Brazil.
That somber reality contrasts with the joy that was on display on Sunday.
“It’s very exciting because we understand that people need this moment of reflection, a moment of inner peace, of connecting with nature, because the deity is nothing more than pure nature,” said 68-year-old teacher Maria de Fátima Santos.
Celebrations were due to last through the afternoon and into the night.
AP video shot by Mario Lobao
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