Rio de Janeiro has a giant statue of Christ and Carneval, Butte has a giant statue of Mary and St. Patrick's Day. Carneval is one last rowdy blowout before the privations of Lent. St. Patrick's Day celebrates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland with a festival of drinking and fighting. It is to Lent what a Cold Stone, "Gotta Have It" binge is to a diet. Carneval features elaborate costumes and floats. Butte. . .has a parade, and lots of green things. Carneval takes place in the hottest part of South American summer, St. Patrick's Day is during the last vestiges of North American winter.
The ontological argument for the existence of God posits that universal belief in a deity is proof he must exist. The prevalence of similar religious celebrations in such diverse cities posits the universal desire to get drunk and debauched. Also universal is the price that must be paid for revelry, what goes down, must come up. Some of it months later--in court. In Portugese it is called a ressaca, in English, a hangover. That is where the wails come in. Exotic Rio de Janiero, Brazil and Butte, America is about as mixed a drink as you can get, yet once a year they become kindred spirits.
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