For the past ten years or so, the north Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg has been identified primarily with avant-garde art galleries, stylish bars, and of-the-moment restaurants, but every summer, residents are reminded of a much deeper history. Each July, the neighborhood hosts the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a festival that honors a Catholic saint named Saint Paulinus with music, food, parades, and the famous dancing of the giglio. For those who don't know, giglio is the Italian word for lily, and in this case it refers to an 80-foot tall, three-ton statue (pictured) that is carried and "danced" along Havemeyer Street by about 130 thick-necked men known as the Giglio Boys. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-07-18T15:27:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/12/17/134735/28

Everyone should spend at least one New Year's Eve mingling on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Despite the massive crowds and the often underwhelming concerts, the cheers at midnight are joyous and the sights are fantastic. But if you're in town earlier in the evening, take a walk on the beach to catch the offerings to Iemanjá, a folk tradition honored at the end of every year on the beach.

In the Afro-Brazilian Umbanda religion, Iemanjá is the goddess of the sea and the protectress of women and fertility. Umbanda practicants dress in white to bring flowers, build altars and set out floating candles for Iemanjá, a rite practiced on New Year's Eve in Rio but a few weeks earlier in Salvador de Bahia and in February in Rio Vermelho, where the local Catholic church has rededicated her as Our Lady of the Seafarers. The cachaça will wait, we promise.

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· Copacabana Palace Still Rules Rio [Jaunted]
· Rio's Saucy Postcards Over [Jaunted]

[Photo: zeiger]]]> egw 2008-12-23T12:00:36-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/