The wake of Edson Arantes do Nascimento, known as Pelé, began at 10 am (Brasília time) this Monday (2nd), in Santos (SP), at the Urbano Caldeira Stadium, in Vila Belmiro, of Santos Futebol Clube, where the King do Futebol shone as a player, between 1956 and 1974. The ceremony continues until 10 am on Tuesday (3) and is open to the public.
Even before the start of the funeral, hundreds of people were waiting for the gates to open in the vicinity of Vila Belmiro. On clotheslines around the stadium, street vendors sold Santos and Brazilian national team shirts, with the name “Pelé” and the number 10 on the back. The occasion brought together fans from different parts of the country. Federal civil servant Ênio Rochembach Júnior, from Porto Alegre, brought his son Daniel, both Internacional fans, to pay a final tribute to the King of Football.
“It’s a moment he [Daniel] will have as eternal, who will forever remember that he was here with his father. Pelé gave us so many years of joy that spending a day on the road and another four, five hours in line is nothing. Today there is no talk of a club. The tribute is to the greatest of all”, said Ênio, to the Brazil Agency.
“My father says that Pelé is the greatest of all and that he will always be like that. I saw some shots, films, documentaries about him. Pelé was great, a God who is above us”, added Daniel, who is a student. .
The body of Pelé, who died last Thursday (29), was transported from the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, in São Paulo, to Vila Belmiro during the early hours of the morning, escorted by the Military Police and the Fire Department, arriving around 3:40 am. The coffin is in the center of the lawn of the stadium where the Athlete of the Century played in 210 games and scored 288 of the 1,091 goals he scored with the Peixe shirt. Public access takes place through gates 2 and 3 (Rua Dom Pedro), while authorities access gate 10 (Rua Princesa Isabel).
The casket urn is open. For this to be possible, the body was submitted, on Thursday (29), to a procedure called tanatopraxia, to keep it in the best possible appearance for the funeral. The embalming technique adopted by Cerimonial Mandu was the same used to make possible the wake of Augusto Liberato, Gugu, held six days after the presenter’s death, in November 2019.
Two tents were erected on the lawn. One of them, where Pelé’s coffin is, is intended for family members and historic Santos idols. The other is aimed at authorities and guests. The structure began to be assembled shortly before Christmas, after the December 21st medical bulletin reported the deterioration in the health of the King of Football, who had colon cancer diagnosed in September last year.
After the wake, a parade will be held through the streets of Santos, which will pass along Avenida Coronel Joaquim Montenegro (known as Canal 6), where Pelé’s mother, Celeste Arantes, lives, who turned 100 on November 20th. From there, the body of the number 10 will be taken to the Ecumenical Necropolis Memorial, for burial at 12 pm, in a ceremony restricted to family members.
