Rio Carnival 2008

Explosion of Colors and Rhythms

Every year, during Carnival, samba schools fill Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome with colors, costumes, rhythms and music. In the 2008 parade, Beija Flor was declared the champion of Rio's Carnival, with a plot that honored the Amazon. This year's Carnival is already over, but the preparations for next year's party have already started


By GABRIELA ZAGO
from Pelotas, BRAZIL


Carnival is a popular four-days-party celebrated every year by Roman Catholics. The party is held 40 days before Easter and marks the beginning of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics are supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures, including the consumption of meat. Carnival comes from the Latin "carne levare", which means leave the meat.

This year, Carnival happened from Saturday - February 2, to Tuesday - February 5. Although people all around the world celebrated the date, Brazil is world wide famous because of its colorful and organized parades.

The date is celebrated in different forms all over the country. Parties, masquerade balls, people wearing costumes, parades on the streets - there are many ways to get involved in the fun. But it is Rio de Janeiro and its samba schools parade that gets most of the world's attention during the four days of Carnival. The world wide fame of Rio de Janeiro Carnival comes from the elaborated parades organized by the city's major samba schools. Samba schools are organizations dedicated to Carnival.



Rio's samba school parade took place on Sunday and Monday nights of Carnival. It looks like a party, but it is actually a big competition. The parade is a part of an official competition, divided into seven divisions, and every year one school is declared that year's winner. Every samba school gets a grade for their performance in categories like creativity, costumes and choreography. The higher ranked in a certain year is considered the champion of that year. And, just like what happens in sports like soccer, the worst ranked in a year falls to the "second division" of samba schools - which means they still get to be on the parade in the next year, but they won't appear on national TV nor be the center of all the attentions everywhere in the country.

The event takes place at the Professor Darcy Ribeiro parade grounds (known as the Sambadrome), located in the Sapucaí street, in Rio de Janeiro, and is organized by LIESA, the Independent League of Samba Schools from Rio de Janeiro. The parade begins at Presidente Vargas avenue, near Praça Onze, and ends in Frei Caneca street.

In 2008, Samba school Beija Flor (Hummingbird, in Portuguese) was declared Rio's Carnival champion for the fifth time in six years. This year, the plot of their parade was the legends of the city of Macapá, capital of Amapá state. Crossed by the Equator line, the city is located in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. With that plot, their winning parade received an almost perfect score of 399.3 out of a possible 400 points. The runner-up was Salgueiro, with 398 points.

With such a competitive atmosphere, Carnival parades demands a great organization. Preparation starts right after the previous year's parade. Carnival is barely over, and samba schools are already preparing next year's plot. They work all year long to assure a great parade in the four nights of Carnival. Some people work year long to make Carnival happen, but some others just buy the costume, rehearse, and go along in the parade.

Each school has a different plot every year, and they vary a lot, like pirates, cars, or the Amazon. Allegoric cars and costumed people go all along the theme of the parade. The parade tells a story, which demands a lot of rehearsal.

Carnival is also a time of the year to forget all the problems and let imagination fly. Social roles are forgotten during Carnival and inversions could happen - with costumes on, poor people become rich, men become women. But everything starts to go back to normal from the Ash Wednesday on. The Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, and the day after the Tuesday of Carnival.

Carnival is not an official national holiday in Brazil - but everyone believes that at least on Tuesday no one has to do any work and can use the whole day to enjoy the fun. There's a popular saying in Brazil that mentions that the new year only really starts after the Carnival. At least for some people, it really does - in some states, for example, a new school year only starts after the Carnival (by this time of the year, it is the end of summer in Brazil). And even if it starts earlier, many students will only start to show up after the parties.

People go to the parties, follow on TV, go out to the streets, wear costumes... But there are still people who prefer to enjoy the four days of "holiday" and go somewhere else - to the beach or to the fields - to take a rest. It's not only party in Brazil, but it really feels like it is.


(Published: 10.02.2008.)

Send your comments