Cirque de Salvation

It took a long time for me to dredge this back up from the vast canyon of YouTube oblivion. I saw it several years ago - when? 2013 or something, which now seems like forever, and posted it somewhere on the blog, but couldn't remember any identifying details. It was just some sort of bizarre religious procession in Brazil that looked more like a circus. When I finally found where I posted it, the original video had been taken down. I just kept clicking, and finally discovered it (or a version of it, quite different actually) re-posted with nothing but a Spanish description.  

I'm not sure I understand the significance of the kids in white clothing and chains in the middle part, nor the huge glowing multi-colored heads that bring to mind the Mexican Day of the Dead. The music is excruciating, awful synthesizer stuff, until about 6:30 when it briefly becomes quite haunting. And at 7:13, there is a sight of astonishing beauty.

This actually isn't a lot different from most Catholic events in Latin America, and I'm not faulting them for this: when I think of the drab, wheezy, stultifying quasi-ceremonies of the middle-of-the-road Christian church I grew up in, I almost want to say HOLA! and go Catholic. Almost. But it's not likely I'll ever hook up with a church again. It amazes me I lasted as long as I did. The only thing I miss is the sense that someone, somewhere, unshakeably and eternally loved me. I don't think I will ever experience that again.