(Rio de Janeiro) The 70,000 spectators massed in Rio’s sambadrome went through all the emotions on Sunday during the first of two nights of samba school parades, the culmination of the most famous carnival on the planet.
Blood-red skulls, chilling dragons: Brazilians like to scare each other while vibrating to the sound of percussion that shakes the stands.
Some sumptuous and oversized floats evoked childhood memories, including an old-fashioned merry-go-round suspended three meters high to open the Grande Rio school parade.
On the pink horses, no children, but intrepid riders in golden costumes who are not afraid of vertigo, under a sky lit up by the sparks sent through the air by the chariots.
A few meters further on, dancers wear cotton candy costumes that are more real than life, to the point of making their mouths water.
Earlier in the evening, the Imperio Serrano school had opened the ball with a huge float with protruding dragon heads.
But the parade at the Salgueiro establishment was by far the most chilling, with death embodied by dancers in black floaty suits and a couple of scarlet demons playing at splashing in a fountain.
” Happiness ”
This year marks the great return of the Rio Carnival in all its glory. In 2021 it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and last year it was postponed to April as street processions were not allowed.
It is also the first edition since the return to power of the icon of the Brazilian left, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in October.
Lula has also promised to restore Brazilian culture to its former glory, after the numerous budget cuts and accusations of censorship under the previous government.
“This carnival takes place after a historic election. After the darkness, we find hope for a better future,” confides to AFP Débora Soares, a 25-year-old model who takes a picture of herself in front of a huge golden float on which she is about to parade.
“With this change of government, we feel twice as happy,” adds Amanda Olivia, 34-year-old costume designer.
Samba schools, mostly based in favelas, wear the colors of an entire neighborhood.
They prepare all year long for their big show which cannot exceed 70 minutes, under penalty of having points taken away by ruthless jurors.
The 12 main schools (six parade on Sunday, six others on Monday) are evaluated according to nine very specific criteria, including the quality of the floats, the costumes, the choice of theme or the choreography of the ” comissao de frente », a group of outstanding dancers who open the parade.
” Goosebumps ”
“I have been marching since I was seven, but every time I enter the sambadrome, it’s like the first time, I want to cry and it gives me goosebumps,” told AFP Iaraci Santos, a 64-year-old nurse who does not hesitate to describe this 2023 carnival as “unforgettable”.
The new Minister of Culture, Margareth Menezes, paraded at the top of a float with the last school to set off in the night from Sunday to Monday, called Mangueira, which showed the richness of the carnival of Salvador de Bahia ( northeast), cradle of Afro-Brazilian culture.
If the night in Rio is marked by the magic of the parades at the sambadrome, the early hours of the morning are punctuated by the musical processions of the “blocos” which enliven the streets of the city, some attracting hundreds of thousands of people, for an unbridled party where alcohol flows freely.
In the neighboring state of Sao Paulo (southeast), the carnival was bereaved by a storm which killed at least 36 people after landslides and floods.