This eclectic community holds its most important ritual of the year on Labour Day to honour the mediums who communicate with good and bad spirits. The group combines a range of religious practices, including Christian and Hindu, with symbols borrowed from the Incas and Mayans, as well as a belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel. With some 600 temples throughout Brazil, Portugal, Germany, Japan, Bolivia, Uruguay and the US, the religious movement claims to have 800,000 members
Carl de Souza / AFP / Getty Images
Fri 3 May 2019 02.00 EDT
Original page on The Guardian Link
The community’s temple complex in Vale do Amanhecer (Sunrise Valley) on the outskirts of Planaltina, 50km from the Brazilian capital, Brasilia
Nymphs, female devotees of the Vale do Amanhecer religious community, pray at the temple complex
The Elipse monument which is said to receive spiritual energy to spread to the community
Devotees receive spiritual healing for their medical ailments at a ceremony at their temple complex
A group of Nymphs are blessed with incense
Devotees take part in an annual ceremony at the temple complex
On 1 May, Labour Day, they celebrate their most important ritual of the year to commemorate people who communicate with spirits
This eclectic religion, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in November, unites practices of Christianity, spiritualism, Hinduism, figures of Afro-Brazilian religions, Inca symbols, Egyptians, esoteric traditions, and belief in extraterrestrial life and intergalactic travel
Photograph: Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images
The Vale da Amanhecer community was founded in 1969 by Neiva Chaves Zelaya, a truck driver, widow and mother of four, who arrived in Brasilia to work on the construction of the capital
Devotees pray in the temple complex
According to studies by Kelly Hayes, a researcher of Brazilian religions at the University of Indianapolis, with about 600 temples in Brazil, United Kingdom, Portugal, Germany, Japan, Bolivia, Uruguay and the United States, this movement claims about 800,000 members
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