for the eleven days succeeding the day of the pentecost, a common person is declared emperor and holds court over the entire town, distributing food to the poor and sweets to children.

the folkloric celebration includes dances, plays, church masses, great feasts and ends with an enormous fireworks display, lit with the prayer that all will be able to return to partake of the feast next year.

in rio de janeiro, the secular and the spiritual exist side by side, less as a dichotomy but as indistinguishable parts of a multifaceted whole.