Brazil's New Year's Eve tradition traces history of religious intolerance

RIO DE JANEIRO (CN) - Regardless of the year or the setting, white clothing is a constant presence in Brazil's New Year's Eve celebrations. The tradition is rooted in Afro-Brazilian religious rituals held in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, beginning in the 1950s.

Although white clothing became widely accepted as a cultural practice, its religious origins remained for decades associated with stigmatization, polic