Dancing, flowers, Copacabana beach: Festival of Iamenja gathers hundreds in Rio for religious ceremony

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRASIL - DEC. 29, 2023: Hundreds of people gathered in Copacabana beach in the Rio de Janeiro city of Brazil on Friday (Dec. 29) to participate in a traditional religious festival. Afro-Brazilian people who believe in Candomble religion came to the beach to show their gratitude to Iamenja, the Goddess of the Sea in the religion. The festival, named after the Goddess itself, bring every year hundreds of believers of Candomble religion to the Copacabana beach to perform their religious rituals. The rituals consist of leaving flower buckets to the ocean, lighting candles and planting flower samples in the sands of the beach. This year saw the colorful atmosphere created by the people’s high spirited energy as they danced, talked, laughed and prayed in the festival of Iamenja. (Footage by Fabio Teixeira/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)