Folia de Reis
6 January 2026 — A song, a viola and a star – we are coming to your door!
Folia de Reis (Portuguese for „Revelry of the Kings“) is a folk tradition in Brazil that closes the Christmas season. Groups of singers and musicians, called foliões, go from house to house between Christmas and 6 January, the day on which Western Christians mark Epiphany, or the feast of the Three Wise Men. They carry a colourful banner and play instruments such as the viola (a type of guitar), accordion and tambourine. Their songs tell how the Magi followed a star to the newborn Jesus, and hosts welcome them with food, drink and thanks. The custom came from Portugal during colonial times and has survived especially in rural areas and small towns. The star is the central image: it stands for a guiding light and links the earthly procession with the sky. Since 6 January is a fixed date, the feast does not follow the phases of the Moon.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver figure made of luminous dots and fine connecting lines, like a constellation, walking across the sky with a small guitar-like viola and a fluttering banner
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