This week we are featuring Carnival in South America and there is no better place to celebrate this world renowned festival than in the city that does it best: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The intoxicating atmosphere and outlandish costumes have made the Rio Carnival the benchmark against which every other Carnival is compared to. More than 500,000 foreign visitors descend onto Rio to be a part of the 5 day celebrations.
Rio de Janeiro is the perfect embodiment of Brazilian culture with its beautiful attractions, including the Sugar Loaf and Corcovado where the breathtaking Christ the Redeemer sits at the summit. Copacabana and Ipanema are two of the the most famous beaches in the world and make Rio de Janeiro the perfect setting to annually host ‘The Biggest Party in the World’.
The beautiful Rio de Janiero skyline .
Carnival commences with the mayor of Rio handing the keys of the city to Rei Momo, the Lord of the Misrule, signifying the start of the five-day festivities. Once the party begins, officially on a Saturday before Shrove Tuesday, the streets are taken over with revelers, floats and decorations by the numerous samba schools. There are approximately 200 samba schools in Rio de Janeiro and they are divided into various leagues, according to their local communities.
The Carnival parades are the culmination of months of intense planning by these community groups, as they prepare their choreography and costumes to compete with other samba schools. Each school creates their own floats, costumes, dances and lyrics which best reflects their unique theme for Carnival. Their creative imagination is thoroughly reflected in their work, as social barriers are broken and everyone comes together in areas throughout the city to get a firsthand view of the designs.
The main parades take place in the Sambadrome and Samba City venues. The Sambadrome is a 600m long site with capacity for over 45, 000 spectators and Samba City is a theme park which brings a number of the larger schools together in one location. The parades in the venues usually last about 12 hours and the best boxes are reserved for tourists or VIPs. Travelers can also soak up the atmosphere in the terraces where the most fervent fans will be.
View the bright colors of Rio Carnival in the Sambadome.
The parade in the Sambadrome is far from the only option to experience the celebrations, for the street festivals or the bandas and bondos are perhaps more popular with both tourists and locals alike. As anyone is allowed to partake in these street festivals, the ambiance is much wilder. The bandas and bondos can be found in most neighbourhoods but some of the most entertaining locations include Cordao do Bola Preta, Simpatia e Quase Amor and Banda da Ipanema.
Be ready to dance to the irresistible beats of samba. Rio’s samba is however considerably different to the rest of the country’s; known as batucada, it is based mostly on percussion instruments. Don’t worry about finding a dancing partner because more than 5 million people participated in last year’s Rio Carnival and government officials are predicting even more for 2013. Travelers who attend the festivities repeatedly mention just how much Carnival means to everyone and for at least 5 days, people can put their differences aside and come together through their proud culture.
With the Olympics in 2016 and the FIFA World Cup final to be played at the Maracana Stadium in 2014, Rio de Janeiro has numerous reasons to celebrate. If Carnival is anything to go by, there is no other place in the world you would rather be.
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