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. It is in Rio, however, that the celebrations are at their most lavish and spectacular. Carnival, which was introduced to Brazil from Portugal, developed out of the Entrudo, pre-Lent celebrations which originally had a boisterous and indeed violent character but later became more restrained. Around the middle of the 19th century it was the fashion to sprinkle other people with "perfumed" (i.e. evil-smelling) water or to dirty their clothes with filth.

In the early days of the Rio Carnival zé-pereira rhythms were accompanied by drums. When the celebrations became more elaborate, with carnival clubs, gaily decorated floats and dance halls, zé-pereira gave place to the sounds of the pandeiro, the cuíva, the tambourine. the reco-reco and the frigideiras (pottery or metal pots and pans which serve as percussion instruments).

Masks and fantastic disguises, such as were worn in the Carnival of the belle époque, became ever rarer after 1930 with the rapidly rising cost of living. The tricks which would be played on passers-by were much less elaborate, though still amusing. Joke articles like confetti, streamers, water bombs and stink bombs became increasingly popular.