Rio de Janeiro - Carnival

Carnival

Rio de Janeiro is famed throughout the world for the splendor and extravagance of its Carnival, which reaches its spectacular climax in the week before Good Friday and attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators.

The celebrations of Carnival (in Portuguese Carnaval) take many forms, varying from place to place. Carnival has some pagan features, but is immediately followed by Lent, a time of penitence and fasting which is an important element in the Christian calendar. In Brazil the pre-Carnival celebrations begin with the New Year; but the Carnival proper takes place on the four days from Saturday to Shrove Tuesday. The fast, during which the eating of meat is prohibited, begins, as in Europe, on Ash Wednesday. Although the Carnival is celebrated throughout the country, in Rio de Janeiro, Bahia and Recife it has developed into a gigantic tourist attraction. Bahia was the birthplace of samba and the afoxés, devotees of Afro-Brazilian cults, who parade through the streets in groups - though nowadays modern competitors like the trios elétricos (trucks carrying groups of musicians and singers) have insinuated themselves into the processions and in Pernambuco frevo music and the maracatu (a procession mingling theatrical and musical elements play an important part.