Kiratiana’s Guide to Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival
By Kiratiana Freelon, Contributing Writer
I’ve been living in Brazil for five years; and every year about 45 days before Easter, I always stop my life to participate in Carnival. There’s a lot to do over four days. Rio’s Carnival is this crazy mess and most tourists miss out on most of it because they just don’t know how elaborate it is.
Many think Rio de Janeiro only has an elaborate Samba school parade every year that features half-naked women. The Samba parade is only 20% of Rio’s Carnival and 99% of the thousands that parade are dressed in elaborate costumes. There’s the Sambodromo Samba Parade, Street Carnival, Bate Bola, Carnival parties, and a local neighborhood carnival that attracts more people than the one broadcasted on television. Most locals focus on one element of Carnival. I like to do everything. That means, on average, I am out from 8:00 am to 4:00 am from Friday until Wednesday. I also love the spontaneity of Rio’s Carnival.
According to locals, Rio Carnival is considered the cheapest in Brazil. The most significant cost for anyone will be the flight and the hotel or Airbnb. A friend came to visit me for Carnival for eight days and spent $1,300 on her flight. A flight for $1,000 was available but she would have traveled longer. While visiting, she spent $650, which included entry into the Samba Parade, a boat cruise, two nice dinners, transportation, drinks, and free Carnival partying. Without a friend for housing accommodations, Rio’s Carnival can be done for $2,500. I’ve heard crazy prices about Salvador’s and Trinidad’s Carnival.
Rio’s Samba Parade is my favorite part of Carnival because they represent Brazil’s Afro-Brazilian heritage. A Samba school is NOT a school. It’s a community organization that competes every year in the Samba parade. They were created by impoverished black people who wanted to celebrate their Samba music and religion of Catholicism and Candomblé during Carnival.
Each Samba school chooses a theme and writes a song that members sing while parading with floats. This year, the most prestigious school, Mangueira, paid homage to Jesus, certainly not the typical theme for a Samba school as the Catholic and Evangelical churches prefer that Samba schools not take on such themes. Mangueira’s theme, “The Truth Will Set Us Free,” honored a humble Jesus who would protest the police murders of people in Brazil’s most impoverished communities, called favelas.
The Samba Parade takes place on Friday through Monday, with the last two days being the best Samba schools. Persons can be a part of the parade rather than buying a ticket to watch. This year, I did both because a friend was visiting. I paraded with the Estacio de Sá Samba school, which paid homage to Brazil’s mining era.
My first Brazilian Carnival was Salvador’s street carnival in 2003. It’s the largest street carnival in the world and the music is very African. It took me some time to get used to Rio de Janeiro’s much whiter and bourgeoisie street Carnival. Rio’s Zona Sul/Centro street carnival is about “brincar,” an idea of playing in the streets as if you were a child. To do that, you have to dress up in a cool costume. A common mistake of tourists is not dressing up. It is then necessary to find your “bloco” or tribe. There’s a bloco that only plays Beyoncé music. There’s one that lasts 24 hours, parading through the streets of Rio. There’s another one in which people where LED lights. Most of Rio’s blocos aren’t made up of professional musicians. They are just friends who like particular music and get together to perform for Carnival. This makes Rio’s street carnival free and more democratic than others.
There are lots of parties each day of Carnival. The only problem is that they compete with everything else going on and it can be challenging to tap into them as a tourist. There is a party for every budget, sexual preference, race, age, and music preference. They even have parties for kids. These parties are not expensive, ranging from being free to $50.
There is so much to do at Rio’s Carnival, especially if you venture outside the main tourist places of Zona Sul and Centro. Gather up some of your best friends who are up for a similar wild time. Be sure to attend the Sambodromo Samba Parade, whether or not you participate in it.
Build up your stamina in advance. Brazilians have months of rehearsals and pre-Carnival, where they prepare for the big party. Be sure to include a day for sightseeing, including seeing Christ and Sugarloaf.
