I could go through and explain to you all about the origins of Carnaval, the regional differences, and how Carnaval works in Rio. However, someone already went ahead and did that on Wikipedia, so here's the link if you are interested!
Instead, I'll tell you what I am going to see on Sunday. For two nights, the highest-ranking samba schools parade in the Sambodrome in front of revelers, tourists, and judges, and based on a huge amount of factors (costumes, music, dancing, etc), the best school wins for the year. There are 12 schools that compete for the honor, and 6 perform on Sunday and 6 on Monday.
Eli and I will be seeing: Sao Clemente, Porto da Pedra, Salgueiro, Portela, Mangueira, and Viradouro. I am excited because we've been to Mangueira for rehearsals and I know the lyrics to their song, and Salgueiro and Sao Clemente are really great schools. Also, Viradouro is the samba school at the center of the Holocaust controversy (see yesterday's post), so it will be interesting to see how that goes down.
This year marks the bicentenial of the Portuguese court arriving in Brazil, so a lot of the schools are incorporating that theme.
Sao Clemente's main theme is to honor Dom Joao VI and the arrival of the Portuguese court to Rio.
Porto da Pedra's theme is to mark 100 years of Japanese immigration to Brazil, using imagery of Japanese traditions and the effect of Japanese culture on Brazilian culture.
Salgueiro's theme is "O Rio de Janeiro continua sendo," roughly, "Rio Keeps on Truckin." They will use symbols of Rio's history and cultural traditions.
Portela's theme is about saving the environment, honoring nature, and the efforts being made to protect the planet.
Mangueira's theme is 100 years of frevo, a type of music from the Northeast of Brazil. The school will honor the Carnaval traditions of Recife and Olinda, including frevo and capoeira.
And of course, Viradouro's theme that has come under fire is "It gives you the chills." In the description of the theme, however, they claim they will celebrate the good, and the bad things that give you the chills. They're pretty screwed right now though, so we'll see how they fare.
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