Carnival
Carnival is the most important celebration of Brazil. It is that popular that other large, public celebrations are sometimes called um Carnaval ('a Carnival'). Carnival is celebrated throughout Brazil but the most famous Carnival is the Carnival of Rio de Janeiro.
Blocos, bandas and escolas
Brazilians often celebrate Carnival in blocos , bandas or escolas . A bloco is a group of people who walks in the streets while dancing and sometimes playing music. A banda is a band who makes music. A banda can belong to a bloco or perform on their own.
Like the bloco, an escola de samba or samba school is a group of people who dances through the streets. However, an escola de samba is much larger than a bloco and is always accompanied by percussion. A samba school is a large group of hundreds or even thousands of dancers who parade through the streets in a formation of several parallel lines. The dancers have been dressed according to a particular theme, often referring to a period of Brazilian history and coordinate their rhythms, choreography and presentation. For that reason, an escola de samba is often characterised as an ópera popular , a popular opera. An other difference between a bloco and an escola is that a bloco has often an ad hoc character while the members of the escola de samba prepare for the carnival during the whole year. The escolas de samba originate from Rio de Janeiro and each of them belongs to a specific neighbourhood. These neigbourhoods compete year after year to have the most beautiful escola de samba.
Rio de Janeiro
Like in soccer, the competition between the escolas de samba has various leagues. Only the best two leagues parade in the Sambódromo. The Sambódromo is a stadium that was specifically designed for this purpose by the Brazilian architect Oscar. It was inaugurated in 1984. The best samba school will be called that year’s champion and the second best will be labeled vice-champion. Although the winning escola de samba gains a financial prize, the real prize is the honour.
Cheaper places in the Sambódromo are called arquibancados, the more expensive places are called camarotes. Tourists sometimes buy falsified tickets and are not able to enter.
The Northeast
The carnival of Recife and Olinda is massively celebrated on the streets and squares. The most important rhythms that are played by large percussion bands are Frevo, Ciranda and Maracatu. In addition to these timeless rhythms, new rhythms are played according to today’s fashion.
In addition to the traditional street carnival, the carnival of Salvador is characterised by the presence of trios elétricos . These are trucks equipped with a sound system that has as many decibel as possible. These trucks slowly move through town and people dance behind them. This phenomenon from Salvador is rapidly spreading to other Brazilian regions. It is common to find trios elétricos in Minas Gerais outside the historical cities.
Minas Gerais
The historical cities of Minas Gerais are places where Brazilians themselves like to celebrate carnival. The safety of these small cities is much higher than the safety of the larger towns and carnival still belongs to the ordinary Brazilians. The best carnival of Minas is found in Diamantina and in Ouro Preto.
Ouro Preto and Diamantina can be reached by bus from Belo Horizonte. Ouro Preto is the best known of the two and is closest to Belo Horizonte. Diamantina is further of the beaten track but the bus journey is very beautiful. In the surroundings of Diamantina are three places with beautiful waterfalls: Cristais, Biribiri and Sentinela. Biribiri is tiny village with about 5 houses but its carnival is really large. The waterfalls can only be reached by car or taxi but there are many traffic congestions.
Shrove Tuesday (the Tuesday of Carnival which is the last day of Carnival), is in Diamantina the day of sapo seco. Sapo means toad and the name of this animal is a Brazilian profanity for an ugly woman. The Desfile do Bloco Sapo Seco (the Parade of the ‘Dry Toad’ Bloco) is a parade of travesties-for-one-day.
Dates
Carnival starts on Friday and ends on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the fortieth day before Easter. Ash Wednesday is the beginning of Lent, the period of forty days before Easter in which Catholics fast. As Easter falls on a different day every year (the first Sunday after the first full moon in spring), Carnival to falls on a different date every year.
Here are the dates of Carnival 2000 - 2040:
2000 - March 4-7
2001 - February 24-27
2002 - February 9-12
2003 - March 1-4
2004 - February 21-24
2005 - February 5-8
2006 - February 25-28
2007 - February 17-20
2008 - February 2-5
2009 - February 21-24
2010 - February 13-16
2011 - March 5-8
2012 - February 18-21
2013 - February 9-12
2014 - March 1-4
2015 - February 14-17
2016 - February 6-9
2017 - February 25-28
2018 - February 10-13
2019 - March 2-5
2020 - February 22-25
2021 - February 13-16
2022 - February 26 - March 1
2023 - February 18-21
2024 - February 10-13
2025 - March 1-4
2026 - February 14-17
2027 - February 6-9
2028 - February 26-29
2029 - February 10-13
2030 - March 2-5
2031 - February 22-25
2032 - February 7-10
2033 - February 26 - March 1
2034 - February 18-21
2035 - February 3-6
2036 - February 23-26
2037 - February 14-17
2038 - March 6-9
2039 - February 19-22
2040 - February 11-14
Please note that, according to these dates, Carnival starts on Saturday. Officially, that is true. However, the party starts already on Fridays.
See also:
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