page_title: Brazilian Carnival
section_title: Rio de Janeiro
hierarchical_section_title: Brazilian Carnival / By Region / Rio de Janeiro
caption_attribution_description: Português: Desfile do Grupo Especial do Rio de Janeiro 2013 - Segundo Dia.
context_page_description: The Carnival of Brazil is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival", from carnelevare, "to remove meat."
  Rhythm, participation, and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another. In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Vitória, huge organized parades are led by samba schools. Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public, while minor parades allowing public participation can be found in other cities, like Belo Horizonte, also in the southeastern region. The northeastern cities of Recife, Olinda, Salvador, and Porto Seguro have organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with them. This carnival is also influenced by African-Brazilian culture. It is a six-day party where crowds follow the trios elétricos through the city streets, dancing and singing.
context_section_description: In the late 18th century, the "cordões" (literally "cords", laces or strings  in Portuguese) combined with the "dança do coco" (literally "coconut dance" an Afro-Brazilian dance troupe form) were introduced in Rio de Janeiro. These were pageant groups that paraded through city avenues performing on instruments and dancing. Today they are known as Carnaval blocos (blocks), consisting of a group of people who dress in costumes or special T-shirts with themes and/or logos. Blocos are generally associated with particular neighbourhoods; they include both a percussion or music group and an entourage of revelers. They eventually became the "fathers" of what everyone today knows as the famous and internationally renowned samba-schools in Brazil. Samba-schools (not only in Rio de Janeiro, but in São Paulo and several other cities) are the cultural epicenter of the Brazilian carnival, in terms of the "parading style". The first registered samba-school was called "Deixa-falar", but disappeared later and the first official samba-school contest happened in 1929, with only three groups, and "Oswaldo Cruz" group won the competition, with a samba written by Heitor dos Prazeres. GRES Estação Primeira de Mangueira Samba-School, represented by Cartola, and Estácio de Sá samba School, represented by Ismael Silva, were the other 2 contestants. Eventually, "Oswaldo Cruz" became Portela Samba School, the greatest winner of Rio's Carnival with 22 Titles. Although many Brazilians tend now to favor other forms of national music culture to that of Rio's samba schools, the carnival of Rio de Janeiro remains the national festival par excellence, and the samba of Rio de Janeiro continues to be an agent of national unification.
  Carnaval blocos, also known as Blocos de Rua ("Street Blocks") occur in nearly every neighborhood throughout the city and metropolitan areas, but the most famous are the ones in Copacabana, Ipanema, Leblon, Lagoa, Jardim Botânico, and in downtown Rio. Organizers often compose their own music themes that are added to the performance and singing of classic "marchinhas" and samba popular songs. "Cordão do bola preta" ("Polka Dot Bloco"), that goes through the heart of Rio's historical center, and "Suvaco do Cristo" ('Armpit of Christ the Redeemer', referring to the angle of the statue seen from the neighborhood), near the Botanical Garden, are some of the most famous groups. Monobloco has become so famous that it plays all year round at parties and small concerts.
  The formalized samba schools are very small groups of performers, financed by respected organizations (as well as legal gambling groups), who work year-round in preparation for Carnival. Samba Schools perform in the Sambadrome, which runs four entire nights and is overseen by LIESA. They are part of an official competition, divided into seven divisions, in which a single school is declared the winner, according to ten judging categories that include costume, flow, theme, and band music quality and performance. Some samba schools also hold street parties in their neighborhoods, through which they parade along with their followers.
  All performers at the Sambadrome have to wear a costume. Some honored members of the school or community may receive one for free, but normally, most will have to pay for their own. Tourists can have the same experience on the "Commercial Area" of some Samba Schools but need to buy their own costume from the school, or through an agent, either of which can be quite costly.
caption: Crowds watch the Carnaval parade in the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí, in Rio de Janeiro.
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