The main tradition on the Day of the Deade across the country is to go and visit the dead people who were dear: some people bring flowers to their parents, others spend the day at the cemetery visiting relatives and close friends whom they miss... and , in the case of Juazeiro do Norte, hundreds of thousands of godchildren of Padrinho Cícero, as ex-priest Cícero Romão Batista is affectionately called by devotees, come to pay their respects.

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They are people who have chosen Padim Ciço as their godfather, talk to him in thought, receive and follow his advice and count on him to intercede with the saints and Jesus so that their needs are heard by God.

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They are moved by an intense faith, which materializes in excesses: excess of heat, excess of people circulating and of names written on top of each other at the feet of the statue of the saint, excesses of requests and thanks, an excessive love by Father Cícero which leads to an excessive need to make sacrifices to prove ones devotion and deserve the godfather's blessings.

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In a region so long plagued by drought and lack (lack of water, lack of food, lack of opportunities) there is an excess of humanity and all its contradictions.

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So is the celebration of the Dead in Juazeiro do Norte, an event where everything is  excessive and superlative.