Brazil’s Carnival passion.

Carnival in Salvador

Brazil is a huge country and its culture has been spread all around the world. One of the most famous parties in Brazil is Carnival, it is the biggest party in the country with a great celebration 40 days before Easter. During these festivities, people wear costumes and walk on the streets while some sound-equipped trucks called “trio elétrico” play samba, and the crowded masses dance. The biggest Carnival party unites more than a million people each day of celebration in Salvador, a city in the northeast region of Brazil.

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo

In the meantime, the parties in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo look more like parades. Some dance and music groups known by “escolas de samba” compete against each other. Part of the competition includes building “carros de samba”, giant floats (extravigantly coloured and designed mobile structures). Each “escola de samba” also chooses a theme and during the presentation they sing a song about the theme while their “carros de samba” cross the main street. Then, nearly a day after the presentations some judges grade them and the best group receives more than five million reais, about one million dollars.

Carnival in the South of Brazil

However, Brazil is such a big melting pot and the south region doesn´t share the same enthusiasm about Carnival. Most of the Southern people don’t even like samba. In Curitiba, for example, instead of samba they have a zombie walk parade like in the USA. Furthermore, Protestantism has grown in Brazil in the past few decades, about 31% of the population is protestant and they also don’t celebrate because their beliefs are against those Carnival festivities.

Conclusion

Just so you can appreciate the reality of Carnival to Brazilians, some research shows that more than half of Brazilians don’t even like Carnival and they don’t participate during the holiday. Even the current government doesn’t agree with those celebrations.

As you can see, people might think Brazil as a Carnival country but it is not exactly like that. Brazil is too big and too diverse to label it as such, and people around the country share too many different passions. 

Zombie Walk Image Credits: Globo.com