Carnival in Rio de

Janeiro

Carnival in Rio de

Janeiro

History of carnival in Rio

The first records of Carnival festivities in Rio de
Janeiro date back to 1723. Immigrants from the
Portuguese islands of Açores, Madeira and Cabo Verde
introduced here the Entrudo.
The idea was basically getting everybody soaked wet.
People would go out in the streets with buckets of
water and limes, and everybody could be a potential
victim. Even Emperors took part in the fun. There's a
curious record of a woman being arrested in 1855 for
throwing a lime at Dom Pedro I's escorts. Authorities
frowned upon the lack of restraints of Entrudo fun,
and eventually it was outlawed.

The idea was basically getting everybody soaked wet.
People would go out in the streets with buckets of
water and limes, and everybody could be a potential
victim. Even Emperors took part in the fun. There's a
curious record of a woman being arrested in 1855 for
throwing a lime at Dom Pedro I's escorts. Authorities
frowned upon the lack of restraints of Entrudo fun,
and eventually it was outlawed.

Zé Pereira

 was a contribution of a Portuguese

shoemaker named José Nogueira de Azevedo, in the
mid XIX century. On Carnival Mondays he would
march in the streets with his friends playing
drums, tambourines, pans, and whistles. Everybody
was welcome to join the fun.

Grandes Sociedades

 or Great Societies was a more

organized parade that debuted in 1855, with the
presence of the Emperor himself. A group of eighty
aristocrats in masks paraded with luxury costumes,
music, and flowers. It was a big success.
Democráticos, Fenianos and Tenentes do Diabo
were the three most well-known groups.

Cordão Carnavalesco

 is a concept that got its start

in 1870. There were characters like queens, kings,
witches, peasants and dancers, and they performed
according to the costumes they were wearing.
There were also the

Cordões de Velhos

, where

participants would wear huge papier-mâché masks
and walk in an old man's gait. 

Ranchos Carnavalescos are a contribution of an
immigrant from Bahia named Hilário Jovino da Silva.
They started in 1872 as working class festivity. People
would dress up in costumes and perform on the parade
accompanied by an orchestra of strings, ganzás, flutes,
and other instruments. They were more organized than
the Cordões, and gained popularity around 1911.

With the sponsorship of brewery Hanseática, the
Ranchos started organized competitions. They became
one of the main attractions of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival,
together with the Great Societies.

The parade already included a first-wing (abre alas), an
orchestra,  a male and female choir, and a couple of
mestre sala and porta bandeira.
The parades were halted during World War II and started
again in 1947. By then the competition happened on Av.
Rio Branco. The last competition of ranchos was in 1990,
and the winner was a club named Decididos de Quintino

Carnival in the early XX

Century

Corso

 was a novely intruduced in 1907 with a parade

of cars along Av. Rio Branco (then named Av. Central).
They were the granddaddys of today's sophisticated
floats. Revelers brought along streamers and paper
confetti, plus lança-perfume, a spray of cologne water
that would give you a sort of a buzz. In the 30's this
celebration became so popular that almost all car-
owners in the city participated! The parade started on
Sunday in Botafogo and went all the way to Av.
Central.

.

Rio, Birth of Samba

It all started in the end of the XIX Century in what was
then known as Little Africa (Pequena Africa), the
residence of the tias baianas. These were ladies who
came from Bahia, and made a living selling food
delicacies around town in their typical white dresses
with big round skirts. They were also the priestesses of
Candomble, and had a great influence in the community.
Tia Ciata may have been the most famous of
these tias. Born Hilaria Batista de Almeida in the region
of Bahia known as Reconcavo Baiano around 1854, she
first lived near Campo de Santana.

But the address that entered in history was Rua
Visconde de Itaúna, 177. In her living room meetings
were often entertained with live music played by talents
like Pixinguinha and Donga (son of Tia Amelia). In the
back lot of her house happened the samba, a term then
used to denominate the ritual Candomble dance to
drums and handclaps.
Eventually the two beats got together, and Pelo Telefone,
the first song labeled as a samba, was composed in her
house. Another song that made samba history is Noel
Rosa's Com que Roupa?, that had a broader range of
instruments that became staples in a samba song.

Blocos de Sujos, Blocos de

Baianas

The cordões evolved into blocos de sujos, where everyone
could join in plain clothes, and blocos de baianas. The
curious detail was that these baianaswere actually men
dressed in white colonial clothes, and acted as security to
the blocos. There was a percussion band and vocalist,
with a women-only chorus of pastoras.
The peak of these blocos was in the 30's and 40's.
Cacique de Ramos and Bafo da Onça are two of the most
well-known. Today you can watch the blocos parade on
Av. Rio Branco all Carnival days. The parades start at 2
p.m. from Carnival Saturday to Tuesday, and access is
free.
Contemporary versions of blocos such as the Monobloco
and bandas like Banda de Ipanema operate a little
differently.

The Birth of the Samba

School

In the end of the 20's some organizers of blocos felt the need
to evolve, and found inspiration in the ranchos that were
somewhat more organized. The term escola de samba (samba
school) is credited to Ismael Silva, from Estácio. The samba
gained more fluidity to be adapted to the evolution of the
samba school. Mangueira, founded in 1928 is the first samba
school. The nickname Estacao Primeira is because it is right
at the first stop after train station Central do Brasil.
In the 40's and 50's the samba schools consolidate their
evolution cycle, with a theme, a theme song, costumes and
floats. In 1959 Nelson de Andrade, then president of
Salgueiro, invited artists Dirceu and Maria Louise Nery to
design their parade featuring painter Debret as the theme.
This initiative brought a whole new concept of design that
would result in today's carnavalescos.
In the 60's and 70's the samba started to gain prestige with
the middle class and upper middle class. Albino Pinheiro, the
founder of Banda de Ipanema, helped this integration
process with his famous pre-Carnival balls. The Samba
Parade started to become more popular, and in 1971 for the
first time there was a time limit set to the parade of each
samba school. The songs gain a faster beat, and in 1972 the
first album with the theme song of samba schools was
released.
Today's Escolas de Samba are much more complex, and there
are many wings and floats. Everything is described in detail
at All About the Samba Parade.

All about carnival in Rio

Carnival is Rio's main event. It happens at the peak of
summer, when Cariocas are at their best. Festivities attract
thousands of people from all corners of the world.
Carnaval, as spelled in Portuguese, is a 4-day celebration. It
starts on Saturday, and ends on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi-Gras.
Carnival Sunday is seven weeks before Easter Sunday. Dates
change every year. in 2010 it happens from February 13
through 16.The origins of Carnival are unclear, but most
agree that it started as a pagan celebration in ancient
Rome or Greece. Carnival balls were imported to Rio from
Italy in the late nineteenth century, and had their golden
era in the 1930 through 50's, with legendary balls at the
Copacabana Palace and the Municipal Theater.
The Samba Parade began in the 30's - first timidly at Praça
Onze, and later on Av. Presidente Vargas. It found a
permanent home in 1984 at the Sambodrome, a structure
in the downtown area. Today the Samba Parade is broadcast
to dozens of countries, and all Brazilian states. Many
people think of it as the greatest show on earth.

There's

much more to Carnival than the Samba Parade, though. Street
Carnival festivities are loads of fun, free, and they happen all over
the city. You are more than welcome to watch and to participate.
Don't miss Banda de Ipanema! It was founded in 1964, and today
it's listed as part of the city's cultural heritage, attracting as many
as fifteen thousand people!

Photos

Performed :

NarutoShipud

en