Carnival Rio Grande

This morning we had “The Carnival Experience.” One of the dozen or so elite Samba “schools” (which are really clubs, not schools), opens its doors to tourists as a way to raise funds and to increase awareness of the central place of the Carnival in Brazilian culture.

Tied to the calendar of the Catholic Church Year, yet rooted in African music and dance, the schools each parade with six floats and hundreds of ornately costumed dancers. Judges score each school’s parade on a variety of factors, with winners moving up into higher leagues, and losers dropping to lesser leagues each year.

Costumes from past carnivals on display

Although Carnival (nearest thing in the U.S. is Mardi Gras in New Orleans) takes place only once a year for a few days before the beginning of Lent, the Samba schools prepare for the competition year round. Most members of the school tend to come from a particular geographic area, usually including one or more favellas, but participation today is across race and class.

Historically, the Samba and Carnival were acts of resistance by African Brazilians to participate in a public event while conveying a subtle, subversive message. The message is still important today, and is sometimes political or social, but is more related to the Carnival theme for the year.

Also, these days there are commercial sponsors who spend millions to finance a school. We were very restricted in what we could photograph, because all images of the floats and costumes for this year’s Carnival (coming up in early March) are “owned” by the sponsor — a Brazilian television network.

We were dressed in costumes and learned some Somba moves and drum rhythms, but none of us is ready to go parading yet, I’m afraid. Our tour lasted more than two hours — Carnival is a big, complicated deal!

From the Samba school the bus took us a short distance deeper into the “Little Africa” district of Rio, past centuries-old wharfs where human cargo from Africa was unloaded and sold, and up steps carved in the rock on which slaves carried heavy burdens to and from boats and warehouses.Our destination was “Casa Omoloku,” a house now turned into an African cultural center. Today was a special day to the West African religion of Candomble, a day sacred to the goddesses of sea and water, Oxum and Yemanja.

We heard traditional music, ate traditional food (excellent) and drank a traditional fruit drink (very cooling and refreshing), as well as having the opportunity to view artifacts and art work. I also had a birthday toast and heard “Happy Birthday” sung to me in Portuguese.

Next stop was Sugarloaf Mountain, where we took a cable car to the top of the 3000 chunk of granite and experienced (for a bit longer than necessary) breathtaking views of the entire bay area.

After a couple hours back at the hotel to regroup, we gathered for an extra, unscheduled activity, taking taxis to a high point at the end of the very crowded Ipanema beachfront, dining on empanadas purchased from a local bakery, and watching the sunset. It was a very nice conclusion to a very full day.