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The Carnival of Rio de Janeiro

Undoubtedly the most famous event of the year is the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, one of the largest shows in America and one of the largest manifestations of Carioca culture, which fills the streets of the city with music and color during a week and culminating in the spectacular Samba Schools parade that takes place at the Sambadrome.Undoubtedly the most famous event of the year is the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, one of the largest shows in America and one of the largest manifestations of Carioca culture, which fills the streets of the city with music and color during a week and culminating in the spectacular Samba Schools (Escolas do Samba) parade that takes place at the sambodromo.

Although carnival is a party that is celebrated in many countries of the world, nothing reaches the magnitude of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival.

And it is that although officially the Carnival lasts four days, from Saturday to the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday (the exact date varies between February and March), which marks the beginning of Lent, the celebrations invade the neighborhoods with street parties, Free parades, dances and concerts throughout the week or even earlier.

Those who visit Rio de Janeiro during the Carnival days will enjoy an incomparable atmosphere that shows like no other, the joyful character of the Cariocas, where social, cultural or racial differences disappear and all hearts beat to the rhythm of the same passion.

But the Rio de Janeiro carnival is not just the annual celebration for a few days a year. It is the result of months of preparation during which the Samba Schools create fantasies, floats and impossible costumes, and specialized musicians create rhythms that will be sung and danced by hundreds of people during the official parade that will end with the great choice of the best. Samba school of the year.

The Carnival in Brazil

The Carnival is a festival held annually in Brazil, in late February or early March. It corresponds to the national version of the carnival, which is celebrated between Friday afternoon (47 days before Easter) and Ash Wednesday at noon (40 days before Easter), which marks the beginning of Lent, the day forty period before Easter.

The pace, participation and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Vitória, the large parades are led by samba schools. These official parades are intended to be watched by the public, while smaller parades (“blocos”) that allow public participation can be found in other cities, such as Belo Horizonte, also in the southeastern region. The northeastern cities of Recife, Olinda, Salvador and Porto Seguro have organized groups parading through the streets, and the public interacts directly with them. This carnival is also influenced by Afro-Brazilian culture. It’s a six-day party where crowds follow the electric trios through the streets of the city, dancing and singing. Also in the northeast, the Olinda carnival presents unique characteristics, strongly influenced by local folklore and cultural manifestations, such as the frevo and the maracatú. In the historic city of Ouro Preto, the most traditional carnival in Minas Gerais is organized. Cartoon Blocos such as the Bloco Zé Pereira dos Lacaios, which is the oldest Bloco in Brazil, climb the streets of the colonial city. In addition to being a traditional carnival, it is the largest university carnival in Brazil, students from the republics (fraternities) of Ouro Preto organize endless parties and incredible Blocos, all completely open bar, it is the ideal place for young people who are in search of pure fun.

The typical genres of Brazilian carnival music are, in the Southeast region in general, most of the cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo: samba-enredo, samba de bloco, samba de embalo and marchinha; and in the Northeast region including Pernambuco (mainly cities of Olinda and Recife): frevo and maracatu, and Bahia (mainly the city of Salvador): samba-reggae, pagode (also a type of Samba) and the main genre axé.

The Carnival in Brazil: a bit of history

Carnival celebrations were brought to Brazil by Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch sailors where they mixed with the Afro-Brazilian culture, acquiring their special character, and are associated with parades with floats, costumes, popular dances and excesses. In spite of Catholic inspiration, its European origins go back to a kind of carnival called introit (“entrance” in Latin) and entrudo in Portuguese, which is characterized by the game of throwing water from one person to another to purify the body. Entrudo was banned without much success in the middle of the 19th century, because it was considered violent by the upper social classes (it is said that some people died of infections and other diseases because rotten fruits were sometimes thrown).

It is believed that the carnival, as we know it today, had its origins in ancient Europe, in the holidays that Greeks and Romans celebrated in honor of the arrival of spring and Bacchus, the god of wine.

Over the centuries, the Catholic religion adopted the “pagan holiday” and made it a celebration prior to the beginning of Lent, 40 days in which believers must abstain from eating meat, drinking alcohol and any other earthly pleasure. That is why it is said that the word carnival comes from the Latin Carne Vale or Carne-levare, which means “goodbye to meat”, alluding to the period of abstinence that begins on Ash Wednesday and marks the end of the carnival festivities.

It was the Portuguese who introduced the custom of carnival to Brazil, although the first years its celebration was characterized by its European style, with masked balls where waltzes and polkas were played.

However, little by little the influence of African culture gained strength at the Rio de Janeiro carnival. Africans and their descendants began to use costumes with feathers, stones and herbs and incorporated the rhythms of their countries of origin.

Later, with the emergence of samba, the Rio de Janeiro Carnival became the colorful festival that is known today, remaining indelibly linked to this musical style born in the African neighborhoods of the city.

The blocos (blocks), another name for the cordões, are some of the current representations of the popular carnival in Brazil. They are made up of people who dress up according to certain themes or celebrate carnival in a specific way. The samba schools are true organizations that work all year round with the aim of preparing for the carnival parade, the parades in the Sambadrome, a stadium designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer, are especially notable, in which some 70,000 people gather each anus.

The main celebrations take place in Rio de Janeiro, Salvador de Bahía, Recife and São Paulo, where samba schools, blocos and bands occupy entire neighborhoods

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro: origins

Carnival has its origins in ancient Rome, where the celebrations were intended to celebrate the arrival of spring. After this there was an expansion of these customs to Renaissance Europe and it is through the conquest that Carnival arrives in South America.

In Brazil they have their first contact in Bahia, and through another source, the slaves. So on the one hand there is the influence of Western history, but on the other the enormous African influence that is noticeable in many characteristics such as dance, music, costumes, etc.

The Rio de Janeiro Carnival today

The Rio de Janeiro Carnival thus became a colorful and festive street parade in which hundreds of people wearing cheerful costumes participated, followed by musical groups consisting mainly of drums and other percussion, wind and string instruments.

Eventually, as samba gained popularity, musicians, dancers, and composers began to organize into clubs to demonstrate their talent, leading to the birth of the Samba Schools and the great competition for the title of Carnival Champion, which was disputed during the last two days of the official parade at the sambodromo.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival in the streets

Rio Carnival invades the streets of the city and each of its inhabitants. Many of the neighborhoods form what are known as blocos de rua, local groups that organize street parades that begin several days before the official start of the carnival, covering the “Cidade Maravilhosa” with a party atmosphere in all its corners.

Currently there are more than 500 blocos that organize outdoor parties, compose and sing songs accompanied by drums, trumpets and other instruments and dance for hours without stopping, followed by people of all ages. Most of these blocos de rua go out in the afternoon and anyone who wishes can put on (or not) a costume and join them to the rhythm of the samba. In some cases, these processions are so massive that the streets through which they pass are closed to traffic and the party continues throughout the night.

The neighborhoods that host some of the most famous blocos are Ipanema, Copacabana, Botafogo, Santa Teresa and the Historic Center. During the celebration of the carnival, the tourist information points of Ríotur deliver a complete guide called Carnaval de Rua, where the routes and departure times of the different blocos in the city are detailed.

In addition, during carnival, Lapa becomes one of the most important points of celebration, since Rio Folia takes place there, an event that concentrates more than half a dozen open-air concerts every night, in front of the Arcos de Limpet. The music starts around ten o’clock at night and lasts until approximately two in the morning, although the party doesn’t end until dawn. Of course, in addition to the street parties, important parties and private dances are organized on every day of the carnival, with live music and in some cases with costumes. The most elegant carnival dance is the one organized by the Copacabana Palace hotel (you need to wear a tuxedo), attended by both national and international celebrities.

But those who do not seek so much glamor or want to spend so much money (tickets can cost more than R $ 1500) will find many other alternatives, including extravagant gay parties where wearing a costume is almost an imperative to be in tune.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival: The Sambodromo

The Sambodromo da Marquês de Sapucaí (Passarela Professor Darcy Ribeiro, in its official name in Portuguese) is a sambadrome located in the Cidade Nova neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyere and inaugurated in 1984. It is one of the largest spaces for large outdoor events in the city. It is used mainly in the carioca carnival parades. It was built and inaugurated during the municipal administration of Governor Leonel Brizola. This sambadrome is 550 meters long, over which each school parades for approximately one hour and twenty minutes, with 15-minute breaks between each school. It is close to the Praça Onze Metro station.

Rio de Janeiro Carnival Parade: The Escolas do Samba

In its beginnings, the parades of the Samba Schools that competed in the Rio de Janeiro Carnival were held in the streets of the city, until in 1984 they were transferred to the new Sambadrome Marqués de Sapucaí (Officially called Passarela Professor Darcy Ribeiro). This gigantic outdoor stage, 500 meters long and with a capacity for 75,000 people, was designed by the architect Oscar Niemeyer. The party begins on Carnival Friday with the Coronation of King Momo by the mayor who hands him the keys to the city. That same afternoon, the event begins with the parade of children’s samba schools.

On Saturday the official parades begin and that day the samba schools of Group A or Access Group are presented. But, without a doubt, the most important days are Sunday and Monday, when the Special Samba Schools parade, the best schools competing for the title of Carnival Champion. Each school has 80 minutes to walk around the sambadrome dancing, singing and presenting the show they have designed for that year (the presentations of each school are different each year). Several groups of dancers, percussionists and floats participate in each school’s parade, as well as the traditional Baianas, women dressed in the typical 19th century Bahian women, as a tribute to the Afro-Bahian roots of carnival and samba.

To decide which is the winning samba school, the jury takes into account the percussion, the samba do enredo (the musical theme), the harmony between the percussion, the song and the dance, the choreography, the costumes (fantasies), the story told by the presentation and decoration of the floats.

For the participating Samba Schools to be named winners is a national pride and justifies the hard work of a whole year. The final result is announced on the Saturday following the end of the carnival, when the so-called Parade of Champions takes place, where the six best samba schools of that year participate. The most renowned samba schools are Beija Flor, Portela, Imperatriz, Mocidade, Salguiero, Villa Isabel, Imperio da Tijuca and Mangueira.

When is the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro in 2022?

During 2022, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro will be available during 4 days and 4 nights, plus de parade. The dates are February 25, 26, 27, 28 and March 5 for the Parade. Check our following image!

Book the Carnival Experience in Rio de Janeiro

We have a complete list of activities and excursions to enjoy Rio de Janeiro. One of these activities is the Carnival Experience, to learn more about the amazing Carnival of Rio de Janeiro

Enjoy our tours to visit Rio de Janeiro and other destinations in Brazil

Are you looking for tours to visit Rio de Janeiro and other destinations in Brazil? One of my favorites is the #453 – Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Iguazu Falls. Check more information by clicking in the image below