Sea Goddess Festival

At the Copa, Copacabana—no, not the one north of Havana, but rather in Rio—music and passion will be in fashion on New Year’s Eve, as partiers and devotees of Afro-Brazilian religions congregate on the beach in honour of the sea goddess Iemanjá. Followers leave offerings of white roses and candies for the goddess, who is affiliated with the Virgin Mary in syncretic faiths such as Umbanda. Practitioners channel spirits and ask for protection and good fortune in the year ahead—perhaps including, but not limited to, chance encounters with Barry Manilow.