Alpinópolis

[3] The city center of Alpinópolis is located at an elevation of 700 meters southeast of Passos and west of the Furnas reservoir.

This cheerful celebration consists of dancers and drum players walking around the city streets, wearing colorful satin costumes.

It is not clear how this century-old celebration began, but it seems to be a derivation of an African tradition, as the names Congo and Mozambique suggest.

Originally, the celebration would start months earlier, when religious people - here called reis (kings) or rainhas (queens) - would promise walking around town and attending a mass as thanksgiving for some miracle or grace received that year.

Each group would be entitled to pick up a few people every day and guide them through the streets to the church, where the daily mass would be celebrated.

Nowadays, religiosity seems to have become less of the core of the celebration, and it became more of a colorful parade, where men of all ages spend time drinking, dancing and having fun.

Idealized by José Iglair Lopes, the Monte das Oliveiras is an ecumenical "biblical park", built for reflection about the bible in different moments.

It is currently considered one of the most beautiful and most important tourist attractions in Minas Gerais, especially during the Holy Week, when it becomes an outdoor stage for reenactment of the passion of Christ.

The highest ranking municipality in Minas Gerais in 2000 was Poços de Caldas with 0.841, while the lowest was Setubinha with 0.568.