As witnesses testified, the “dance of the sun” was repeated three times, with many likening its movements to a “a wheel of fire, “a bicycle wheel,” a “captive ball of fire,” etc. For ten to twelve minutes, the people stood transfixed in wonder, before their amazement turned to terror as the sun suddenly crashed toward the earth:
• “As if from a bolt from the blue, the clouds were wrenched apart, and the sun at its zenith appeared in all its splendor. It began to revolve vertiginously on its axis, like the most magnificent firewheel that could be imagined, taking on all the colors of the rainbow and sending forth multi-coloured flashes of light, producing the most astounding affect. This sublime and incomparable spectacle, which was repeated three distinct times, lasted for about ten minutes. The immense multitude, overcome by the evidence of such a prodigy, threw themselves on their knees. The Creed, the Hail Mary, Acts of Contrition burst from all lips, and tears, tears of thanksgiving and repentance sprang from their eyes.” (Dr. Formigão, professor of the seminary at Santarem.)
• “It seemed like a wheel of fire which was going to fall on the people.” (Maria Carreira)
• “…it spun like a firewheel.” (Maria do Carmo Marques da Cruz Menezes)
• “…it spun round upon itself in a mad whirl.” (Dr. Almeida Garrett)
• “It came down as if to the height of the clouds and began to whirl giddily upon itself like a captive ball of fire.” (Fr. Pereira da Silva)
• “I saw the sun spinning round and it seemed about to come down on us. It revolved like a bicycle wheel. Afterward, it returned to its place…I wasn’t afraid, but I heard people cry out: ‘Oh we’re going to die! We are going to die!’” (John Carreira, the crippled son of Maria Carreira, and later sacristan of the Fatima shrine)
• “I saw the sun, as if it were a ball of fire, begin to move in the clouds. It had been raining all morning and the sky was full of clouds, but the rain stopped. It lasted for several seconds, crushingly pressing down on us. Wan faces, standing here, from every side great ejaculations, acts of contrition, of the love of God. An indescribable moment! We feel it. We remain dominated by it. But it is not possible to describe it.” (Carlos Mendes, a lawyer)
• “At a certain moment, the sun seemed to stop and then began to move and dance.” (Ti Marto, father of Francisco and Jacinta Marto)
• “However, the sun stops, only to begin the strange dance again after a brief interruption, whirling upon itself, giving the impression of approaching or receding.” (Dr. Pereira Gens of Batalha)
• “Then suddenly, one heard a clamor, a cry of anguish breaking from all the people. The sun, whirling wildly, seemed to loosen itself from the firmament and advance threateningly upon the earth, as if to crush us with its huge and fiery weight. The sensation during those moments was terrible.” (Dr. Almeida Garrett)
• “At a certain moment, the sun seemed to stop and then began to move and dance until it seemed that it was being detached from the sky and was falling on us. It was a terrible moment.” (Ti Marto)
• “It suddenly seemed to come down in a zig-zag, menacing the earth. Terrified, I ran and hid myself among the people, who were weeping and expecting the end of the world to come at any moment.” (Fr. Lourenco, who witnessed the Miracle as a schoolboy.)
• “I looked at the sun and saw it spinning like a disc, rolling on itself. I saw people changing color. They were stained with colors of the rainbow. The sun seemed to be falling from the sky…The people said that the world was going to end…They were afraid and screaming.” (Antonio de Oliveiro, farmer)
• “I saw the sun turn upon itself; it seemed to fall from the sky…The people around me were crying that the world was going to end.” (Maria dos Prazeres, widow)
• “The sun started to roll from one place to another and changed to blue, yellow−all colors. Then we saw the sun coming towards the children. Everyone was crying out. Some started to confess their sins because there was no priest around here…My mother grabbed me to her and started to cry, ‘It is the end of the world!’ And then we see the sun come right into the trees…” (Dominic Reis, in a 1960 television interview)
• “Suddenly the rain stopped and a great splendor appeared and the children cried, ‘Look at the sun!’ I saw the sun coming down, feeling that it was falling to the ground. At that moment, I collapsed.” (Maria Candida da Silva)
• “I looked and saw that the people were in various colors−yellow, white, blue. At the same time, I beheld the sun spinning at great speed and very near to me. I at once thought: I am going to die.” (Rev. Joao Menitra)
• “The sun at its zenith whirled upon itself; it detached itself in descending towards the right, all the while whirling with sudden movements never seen before, to the right and the left; having almost arrived at the horizon line, it went back up to the zenith on the left, tracing a sort of winding ellipse as it went.” (Baron de Alvaiazere)
The frightened people, watching the sun return to its place in the heavens, had not yet noticed that their drenched and mud-soaked clothing was now clean and dry. Certainly, one can ponder even this prodigy, which reminds us of God’s abiding Providence. So many pilgrims had for days traveled to Fatima, and then faced a downpour that led them through mud up to two feet deep. Their shoes and lower apparel were caked with mud, their hair and clothes soaked, their bodies thoroughly chilled−and then within the ten to twelve minutes during the Miracle of the Sun, they were spotless, warm, dry, restored. This wonder, however, was not what moved them to instinctively raise their voices in an ecstasy of exultation.
“What could be more overwhelming in impact than the sun plunging like fire from Heaven while tens of thousands lay writhing in the mud, screaming for mercy, convinced that the end of the world had arrived?” asked Francis Johnston, a Catholic writer on Marian apparitions. “At Fatima, we have 100,000 eyewitnesses of all faiths and none, united in their conviction that this indeed was the end of the world. And afterwards, when they found themselves alive and safe, but quivering with fear, they were seized by the realization that God had stamped His Mother’s words with a colossal preview of His Second Coming. Why then should we not ponder their unanimous testimony and take seriously to heart the crucial message which the solar Miracle so heavily underscored?”
“We have seen the Sign of God!” the crowd cried in joy and thanksgiving, “spontaneously using the most exact biblical term, which also evokes the mysterious prophecy of the Apocalypse…A great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun…(Apoc.12:1)”