october 12th  - feast of our lady of aparecida (nossa senhora aparecida) is a uniquely brazilian roman catholic celebration for the patron saint of brazil.

legend has it that in the early 1700s three fisherman were fishing on the paraíba river when they caught the headless statue of the virgin mary.

as they held on to the small sculpture, they kept fishing and moved around the river until they happened upon the head in a completely different location, at which point, the nets were overflowing with fish.

chapels were built for the statue and the miracles continued - today, the day is a public holiday and the statue is contained within Basílica de Nossa Senhora Aparecida, one of the largest basilicas devoted to the worship of virgin mary, and  numerous miracles are attributed to the statue.