Qualla: Trindade, Goiás

Trindade, Goiás: Introduction

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit GuilhermeYoung, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1840 a farmer and his wife named Constantino Xavier and Ana Rosa found something in their fields near a village called Barro Preto, in central Goias. It was a small clay medallion, carved with an image of the Holy Trinity crowning the Virgin Mary. Where it came from nobody could say. What to do with it was more pressing. They built a chapel of palm fronds, which became a chapel of mortar and roof tiles, which became a shrine, which became a pilgrimage. One hundred and eighty-five years later, on the first Sunday of every July, close to a million people converge on the town that grew around the chapel, and 230 ox carts roll down a four-lane highway called the Rodovia dos Romeiros - the Highway of the Pilgrims.

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Image: GuilhermeYoung | CC BY-SA 3.0

Trindade, Goiás: From Barro Preto to Basilica

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Guilherme Moura, CC BY-SA 4.0. Trindade did not become a municipality until 1943, but the pilgrimage was already a century old by then. The original clay medallion was eventually sent to Pirenopolis, where the greatest artist of that region carved a wooden version to replace it. The wooden image is what pilgri...

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Image: Guilherme Moura | CC BY-SA 4.0

Trindade, Goiás: The Highway of the Pilgrims

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit diversidadedeolhar, CC BY 2.0. Between Goiania and Trindade there are 18 kilometers of four-lane highway. For most of the year it is ordinary roadway. During the festival it becomes something else. The shoulders are lined with illuminated outdoor panels showing the Stations of the Cross - the Via Sacra - paint...

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Image: diversidadedeolhar | CC BY 2.0

Trindade, Goiás: 230 Ox Carts

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit diversidadedeolhar, CC BY 2.0. The highlight of the festival is a procession of carros de boi - ox carts. Wooden carts, iron wheels, teams of oxen, their axles singing that distinctive creak that has accompanied Brazilian rural life since the colonial era. They come from all over Goias. In 2003, 230 ox carts r...

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Image: diversidadedeolhar | CC BY 2.0

Trindade, Goiás: Coca-Cola and Ceramics

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DataViva, CC BY-SA 3.0. Between festivals, Trindade is an industrial center. Around 150 industries now operate in the municipality, producing ceramic, aluminum products, paint, soft drinks, clothing, and leather. The biggest employers are Refrescos Bandeirantes - the local Coca-Cola bottler - and Indust...

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Image: DataViva | CC BY-SA 3.0