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TRAVEL IN BRAZIL - CARNIVAL/HOLIDAY
RIO DE JANEIRO
Carnival in Rio is the only real Carnival.
Everybody is out dancing in the streets. Participants plan (and save up for) their colorful exquisite costumes for a year (though some costumes seem to be little more than glitter and one or two sequins).
The best costumes can be seen on Sunday and Monday of Carnival week in the specially constructed SAMBÓDROMO (in downtown -- subway station Praça Onze). The shows start at 8 pm and continue until 8 am! Buy your tickets well in advance. Carnival is a must—at least once in a lifetime.
The dates on which Carnival (Mardi Gras) happens depend on a religious calendar (Roman Catholic Church). The Carnival (Mardi Gras) starts on Saturday and ends on Tuesday.
2009 - February 21st. to 24th.
2010 - February 13th. to 16th.
SALVADOR
Street Carnival (carnaval de rua in Portuguese) is common all over Brazil, as befits the festival's origins. But in the course of the last century, while Rio placed more and more emphasis on its samba school parade, other Brazilian cities became increasingly famous for their street carnival. Such is the case with Salvador, where an estimated 2 million people throng the streets on any given day of the festivities.
Most of the dancing is done to axé music, a fusion of African/Brazilian/pop styles that came up in the mid-1980s and took Brazil by storm.
Carnival in Salvador lasts six days, since it officially starts on Friday, and not on Saturday as usual in Brazil. Most of the fun revolves around crowds filling the streets grouped in blocos, or dancing blocs of people, as they follow bands that play on moving stages atop big trucks carrying massive sound equipment. These are named trios elétricos (electric trios), for the ensemble that launched the concept of Carnival music played on electric guitars atop a moving vehicle, back in the 1950s.
RECIFE/OLINDA
Recife and Olinda has one of three most attended carnivals in Brazil; in 2008, more than 2 million people came to the carnival of Recife and Olinda.
The carnival of Olinda, however, is certainly the most popular in Brazil, in the sense that the party is protagonized by the people.
The city government provides the infrastructure (transportation, security, marketing), and the people does the rest.
Children learn to party with their parents; grandparents recall the parties of times past. As there is no censorship whatsoever, the political and social satires are common in Olinda; the satires are present both in the music and in the costumes.
The Giant Puppets are an attraction by themselves. Made in papier-maché, dozens of these huge figures ( up to 5 meters or 15 feet) parade along the streets every year. The most famous puppet is the Homem da Meia-Noite (Man of Midnight) who, since 1932, at midnight of the Saturday, officially starts the carnival in Olinda; siding the Man, a multitude of rythms, including frevo, afoxés, caboclinhos and maracatus.
Origin: Travel Guide and others
Balneario Camboriú - Brasília - Iguazu Falls - Olinda
Recife - Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo - Salvador
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