Quaresma is the period of fourty days which goes from the Ash Wednesday to the Easter Sunday; because catholics are supposed to follow some penitencies during the Lent, the feast was a kind of pre-tension-reliever.
One of the penitencies during Lent is to avoid the consumption of meat; "carnevale", in ancient Italian, means exactly that: to stay away from meat ("carne" still means meat in modern Portuguese), and this would be the origin of the word carnaval.
The feast was popular among populars and the noblesse, which could break free from their obligations and throw small espheres of wax, containing parfumed water, against their peers.
This feast, called entrudo, was brought to Salvador when the Royal Family was forced to move to Brazil; the natives, short of parfumed water, quickly made an adaptation: they would use rotten eggs and dirty water.
Because of this mess, the entrudos were prohibited, and that feast was replaced by Carnaval, a party which used to occur in Nice and Veneza at the same epoch as the entrudos; the European carnival had people in costumes and fantasies, and the peak of the party, people paraded around the streets singing, dancing and joking.
Again, the Brazilian creativity came into place: they mixed up entrudo and carnaval, and created a celebration with fantasies, dance, parades and, above all, the sense that the laws were temporarily laxed and everyone is allowed to have fun. So, the Brazilian carnaval was born.
To date, carnaval in Brazil is basically the same: a period of feast, when people may forget some social rules and just have fun; an evidence is that carnival is referred to as folia, which means something like "mess", or something with no rules.
Most Brazilian cities have carnival, either promoted by the governments or, spontaneously, by the populars; if everythin else lacks, people just meet in a large area, turn a loud sound on and start dancing and throwing objects against whoever is closer.
Officially, carnival lasts from previous Friday through the Ash Wednesday; many people start early and finish late, though.
The Sunday of Carnival will fall on the following dates: 2004:February 22nd; 2005:February 6h; 2006:February 26th; 2007:February 18th; 2008:February 03; 2009: February 22nd; 2010:February 14th.
Some cities don't just have a carnival; they claim to have THE carnival.
Three cities claim to have the best carnaval in Brazil: Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Olinda-Recife.
Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Besides being a popular feast, Carnival in Rio is a show business; people having fun is just part of the business.
Most events in Rio's carnival happen either in ball-rooms or in the sambodrome.
The Balls
Since a few weeks before the official start of Carnival, several clubs promote pre-carnival balls; these are called "bailes pre carnavalescos", in case you want to search the newspapers.
As carnival approaches, these balls pop up all around the city. Many are suitable for entire families, some are even dedicated to children. Most balls, however, start after 11pm and are adult oriented; the most famous of such balls is the Gala Gay (read this commercial description of the Gala Gay to have a better idea of what goes inside).
The most famous balls are frequented by tourists, national and foreigners; the organization, as well as the government, have a special interest in keeping these events safe.
The Parades at Sambodrome
Certainly, the most known Carnival event of the world.
Sambodromo is the name of the domus built for the parades of carnival (under the structure of the sambodrome, there are schools which attend children the rest of the year). Like a football stadium, the audience must pay to enter, and the prices, which vary according to the location of the seat, may be expensive; going to the sambodrome usually takes much savings effort for the average Brazilian salary-people.
During two nights, fourteen samba schools (the collective of people is designated as a "school") parade along the sambodrome; seven schools perform the Saturday, the other seven come on Sunday. Official judges analyse the performance of each school under several criteria (rythm, coesion, costumes, timing, audience response, etc), a grade (from 0 to 10) is given, the school with more points is the winner.
Every carioca loves a soccer team; likewise, every carioca loves a samba school.
The work to be the best school next year starts as soon as the last parade is finished. Most of the hard work is done by humble people who save their last pennies to have a nice costume. The song theme is composed months before the parade, and countless rehearsals must be attended by the school members (the rehearsals take place during nights and weekends).
The votes of the judges are tallied up in the presence of the school members, and the quarrels about biased votes are inevitable. Seeing their school being the champion is, for some people, comparable to seeing Brazil winning the World Cup.
Even though it's the efforts of these humble people that the school depends on, business sense opened space to qualified strangers. Famous artists (particularly beautiful women) are invited to join schools, in an attempt to captivate the masses. Also, one may buy a place in certain less ostensive groups of the school; knowing how to samba is not a requisite, foreigners are welcome.
Carnival in Salvador
Baianos, the people from Bahia, are known in Brazil as those who most love parties. Almost every event is reason for a party, which should last as long as possible. Baianos do not deny this fame.
So, it is not a surprise that Salvador has one of the best carnivals in Brazil.According to Guinness, with 2,000,000 people (including 800,000 tourists), Salvador has the largest street carnival in the world.
While in Rio most of the carnival happens in ball-rooms and in the Sambadrome which require people to pay to participate, in Salvador most events happen in the streets and beaches, and are free for all. As a consequence, the carnival in Salvador goes on, non-stop, for nearly ten days. Small groups called "blocos" pop up everywhere in the city, and they are soon followed by locals and tourists.
A tradition of the carnival in Salvador are the "trios eletricos" (electric trio). Back in 1950, two persons, Dodo and Osmar who today are legends of Brazilian carnival, put high power speakers on top of a Ford 1929 and drove around town inviting people to follow the rythm; it was a massive success.
In 1951, the electric duo was joined by Temistocles Aragao, and the first Trio Eletrico was formed. Ever since, several trios were formed in Bahia, with much more sound power, on top of much bigger trucks; to follow a trio eletrico, just join the crowd, mind your ears, and let it go.
Several of the most popular musicians in Brazil are from Bahia, and they do come back for carnival. So, you may come across free shows by Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Daniella Mercury, Gal Costa, Maria Betania and several other singers and groups; a sure presence is of Carlinhos Brown and the Timbalada band, which was made famous by Paul Simon a few years ago.
Carnival in Olinda and Recife
Olinda and Recife are two neighbour cities in the State of Pernambuco; visit that page to check out the official site and the most important newspapers of Pernambuco.
While carnival in Rio has become a mega show business, and carnival in Salvador has a participation of the local musicians (who, wanting or not, carry the word "business" with them), the carnival in Olinda remains almost totally popular.
Carnival in Olinda is made almost totally by the anonymous people. The city governments of Olinda and Recife mount some stages for artistic performances all across the cities, but most of the fun takes place in the hills of Olinda.
The blocos start playing moving at random anytime, anywhere; the blocos are humble, usually less than ten people with old instruments; however, soon there is a crowd following the block. It is not unusual that a block meets another (casually), and the crowds gladly swap leaders.
Some bigger and older blocks attract a captive audience; every year, groups of friends decide to form a new block, many of which last only one carnival. One is never far away from a block during the carnival days in Olinda and Recife. Several blocks have a satiric theme (e.g., blocks criticizing Bush or bin-Laden), but never are ideologies taken seriously.
Some caveats: Olinda was built on hills, some of them very steep; the party takes place in the streets of the city, and a consequence of this is a shortage of toillets; some people exagerate in the concept of a "unruled carnival".
In Recife, the most important carnival event is the "Galo da Madrugada" (Rooster of the Dawn). It's just that: a huge statue of a rooster goes ahead, and a huge crowd (over 2 million people) follows it, singing and dancing; this is a completely spontaneous event, which started small and grew just by word or mouth
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