Jesus walks

The most important religious and popular party on the calendar takes place on the second Thursday in January. Dressed in traditional white garb and strings of beads, Bahianas (of the uniquely Brazilian, slave-descendant religion Candomble) lead an 8-kilometer (5-mile) procession of similarly white-attired and perfumed devotees and partyers from Comércio to the (Catholic) Igreja do Bonfim for the washing (lavagem) of the church steps.