Wake, closed ceremony: how Pele’s funeral will take place

Brazil is preparing to experience a special and moving hour with the funeral of Edson Arantes do Nascimento in civil status, King Pelé for the world. Excessive funeral for the legend of Auriverde, who passed away on Thursday 29 December at the age of 82.

Farewell to the icon will take place in two stages. This Monday, at dawn, the funeral procession will leave the Albert Einstein Hospital, from where it flew to the paradise of footballers, and join the Urbano Caldeira Stadium (better known as Vila Belmiro) of FC Santos, the club of his life. . It was here, between 1956 and 1974, that Pele turned the hearts and turned the hearts of quite a few opponents. Black and white, like the legendary club stripes, or colored.

A parade of just over 80 km, monitored by the military police, where thousands of people must gather at the side of the road to greet and mourn the one who made them dream like that. In honor of this tribute at Mondovision, the column will stop in front of the fence of the Santos football club, and the coffin of the only three-time world champion in history will be placed in the center of the lawn.

All fans of this port city with a population of 435,000 people, Brazil or other countries will be able to gather there for a day. Two long white tents and dozens of barriers were set up on the ground to frame the crowd and make the path of walkers smoother. Three large banners were unfurled at one of the turns. Two with “Long Live the King” and “Pele, 82” in black letters on a white background in Portuguese, and one in the center with a black and white image of the most famous number 10 of all time.

A few personalities are expected to mingle with the crowd of anonymous people, such as Lula, who was formally appointed President of Brazil on Sunday evening, Gianni Infantino, the FIFA boss, or even President Conmebol. Note that PSG players Marquinhos or Neymar (one of the heirs of Pele Santos) did not ask the club to travel back and forth in the state of Sao Paulo.

On Tuesday, Pele will parade for the last time past the home of her 100-year-old mother, Doña Celeste, who is still alive. The old woman does not know that her child prodigy has left the earth. “She doesn’t know, we talked, but she doesn’t know,” Pele’s sister Maria Lucia do Nascimento told ESPN. She’s fine, but she’s in her own world. Sometimes I say Diko (ed. note: Pele’s nickname) is like that, but let’s pray for him, right, mom? Sometimes she opens her eyes… But she is unconscious. »

In the afternoon, celebrations will take place at the Eucumenica Memorial Necropolis, a huge white vertical cemetery where Pele will rest on the 9th floor, near Vila Belmiro. A place he himself chose a few years ago to have a timeless view of the stadium. But there the ceremony will be private and reserved for the family and loved ones of the deceased. Pele The city of Santos and the entire state of Sao Paulo declared an official seven-day mourning in memory of their idol.