The Brazilian Carnival, or as the Rio Carnival is often called, takes place annually in Brazil, in the former capital, Rio de Janeiro. The carnival is timed to coincide with Lent and begins 40 days before Easter. The carnival itself has its origins in pagan holiday Saturnalia. The pagan Saturnalia was dedicated to Saturn and was celebrated by the ancient Romans in connection with the end of agricultural work in December. During the Saturnalia, all work was suspended, classes at the school were stopped. In Europe, in the 4th century, the holiday, along with another holiday, Sol invicta (the Victorious Sun), was transformed into Christmas. In the carnival in Rio de Janeiro, the customs of Saturnalia intertwined with the festivities in honor of the arrival of spring.

Carnival in Rio was formed under the influence of several festivities: the Portuguese Carnival, which took place on the eve of Lent and the carnivals of Italy and France. In the 19th century, the Brazilian carnival took shape as a festive celebration with songs and dances, dressing up in fantastic costumes. Every year the carnival acquired new colors and new rhythms. In 1928, the first samba dance school appeared in Rio de Janeiro. The sambo dance has merged with the carnival, and now, traditionally, after the end of the carnival, no less magnificent celebration of the winning sambo school is held.

Carnival in Rio is first and foremost a competition various schools sambo dance. Sambo schools are preparing for the carnival and performances at the specially built Sambodrome (700 meters long street in Rio de Janeiro) all year round. During the carnival, processions of samba dancers take place at the Sambadrome. On both sides of the Sambadrome there are stands that can accommodate up to 70,000 spectators. Every year the carnival lasts 4 nights (starts at 21-00 and runs until the morning). Every night there are performances (processions) of 3-4 sambo schools (in total there are 14 sambo schools in Brazil).

Every Brazilian has not only a favorite football team, but also a favorite samba dance school. Carnival in Rio is the championship of dance schools. Each school, during the procession to the music of samba, plays out its own story on a conceived topic. All costumes are made to order original design, which is developed long before the carnival. The best choreographers direct the dances. The school must build an allegorical platform, decorated and dressed up no less than the participants in the carnival. Each carnival school in Rio is represented by a princess who is at the very top of the platform.

Carnival Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro

In 1984, a unique building was built specifically for the carnival on Marquis Sapukai Avenue. The stands of the Sambadrome can accommodate about 70,000 spectators. 40 thousand places are equipped with tables. The sambadrome is divided into sectors that differ in infrastructure and the panorama of the carnival that opens from the sector. The most good places to watch the carnival, in the ninth tourist sector. The ninth sector has a special service with which you can leave the carnival at any time. The cost of a ticket to the carnival in Rio in the 9th sector costs 1000 dollars.

Rio Carnival Champions Parade
The final stage of the carnival in Rio de Janeiro is the parade of carnival champions in Rio. Only winning Samba schools participate in the parade. In terms of its beauty, it is not inferior to the main procession and the opening of the carnival. Each school at the carnival parade can demonstrate all their dance skills. The action takes place under the deafening beat of drums. The procession of the school takes place not only in the rhythm of dance, but also with a theatrical performance on the platform. The carnival procession is accompanied by the singing of the school anthem.

Video of carnival in Rio
The published video of the carnival in Rio shows the passage of the participants of the carnival in 2013 along the Sambadrome. The carnival amazes with an abundance of colorful costumes. About four thousand people take part in the carnival. To the sounds of an incendiary dance, dancers and dancers of the best samba dance schools pass in front of the audience and the jury. Participants in original costumes, decorated with colorful feathers, perform an incendiary samba.

Carnival in Rio in 2014 and beyond
Carnival in Rio in 2014 year will pass from March 1 to March 4 at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2015 will be held from 14 to 17 February at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2016 will be held from 6 to 9 February at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2017 will be held from February 25 to 28 at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2018 will be held from 10 to 13 February at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2019 will be held from 2 to 5 March at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.
Carnival in Rio in 2020 will be held from February 22 to 25 at the Sambadrome of the city of Rio de Janeiro.

Festival in Rio de Janeiro most big celebration in Brazil. Residents of the country are waiting for this holiday throughout the year. One festival has just ended, and they are already looking forward to and preparing for the next one. The season of the main holidays in this amazing country, starts at Christmas, captures, and ends with the annual carnival. In Brazil, the carnival begins almost immediately after the celebration, and ends 2-3 weeks later than the official end date of the holiday. At this time, according to the established tradition, no decisions are made important questions and no work is done. The whole country is in a festive mood.

Everyone knows that the carnival in Rio de Janeiro takes place every year in different time. Despite the fact that this is a pagan holiday, the date of its celebration is calculated according to the calendar. Catholic Church. The date of the carnival is calculated on the Easter holiday, counting back from it, to New Year holidays 7 weeks. The resulting date will mean the time of the festival, which takes place over several days. Thus, this year, the festival in Brazil will be held from 8 to 15 February. The beginning of Lent, according to the Catholic faith, means the end of the festival.

The Brazilian carnival originates from the Portuguese holiday Shrovetide. The Portuguese have been celebrating this holiday since the beginning of the 15th century, during which people threw rotten eggs at each other and sprinkled them with flour. Thus, they demonstrated their complete emancipation. By the end of the 19th century, the festival in Brazil gained great popularity and various performances. During the carnival period, competitions are held every night on the central dance square of Rio de Janeiro samba performers. For the sake of the festive procession, in the capital of Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, a huge * sambadrome * was built, accommodating about 100 thousand spectators. The carnival is supervised by a strict jury, which evaluates every movement and every word of the participants of the holiday, and, according to the results, chooses the winners of the festival. The presentation of each samba school is given no more than 90 minutes, during which each of them demonstrates its skills in full. Every year about half a million tourists come to the carnival in Brazil. different countries of the world who want to look at this beauty, and some, the most desperate, to participate.

Brazil has never seen such a carnival as in 2014. The scale of the festive show, amazed even local residents. It was a chic colorful performance, which was attended by all samba schools in the country. Each of them presented entire performances on a particular topic. The costumes and the quality of the performance exceeded all expectations of the audience. Bright colors and a huge amount of sparkles, a loud roll of drums, to which they dance samba, and painted residents of the city. All this leaves an unforgettable impression. Seeing such a spectacle once, you remember it for a lifetime. The beginning of the festival is held according to a long-established tradition, according to which the mayor of the city passes the keys and rule of the city to the elected king of the carnival. During the official period of the holiday, which is 4 days, the city is ruled by *king*.

After the solemn part, crazy fun begins, looking at which hardly anyone will guess that every movement of this holiday has been rehearsed for many months. Carnival in Brazil will leave wonderful memories for its spectators and participants.

Official website of the festival: www.rio-carnival.net

Photos from visitbrasil.com

So. one). I'll start with the purchase of tickets for the Carnival and the location of the seats at the sambadrome. With the purchase of tickets through the Internet site, I had some misunderstandings and even had to turn to the guide Anna, who lives in Rio and is aware of all these matters (I found this guide on the Internet). I wanted to sit in the front row so that I could see the whole procession at arm's length. This compartment is called the Frieza. Frieza "A" comes first - this is the very first row, along the fence. Frieza "B" follows him and Frieza "C" follows him. Each row is 1 step higher than the previous one.

I bought a ticket for the Parade of Champions..... that is... the carnival itself goes on for 5 days, from Monday to Friday, (from 21.00 to 06.00) where the jury selects the best. Further .... a week later (March 4, 2017) on Saturday, a separate parade of those who won was held. The cost of a ticket to Frieza A was from $500 to $600, depending on the sector. I was offered Sector 9 for $570 and Sector 7 for $530. So the difference is $50. When I asked to explain why such a strange price, it turned out that there were judges in Sector 9, and when the next Samba School approaches the 9th sector, the dancers begin to try their best ... because everyone wants to win. And before and after the 9th sector, all types relax.

Then, a little higher is the VIP Lodge. ....they are the only ones under a canopy... and if it rains, then everyone will stand like wet chickens, and it will be warm and cozy there. I don’t remember exactly how much a ticket to this box cost, but something around $ 1,000. (but that's the price of the Parade of Champions)

Then, a little higher is the Grandstand with many rows, these seats are the cheapest. But the view from them is the same. If I, standing in my Frieza, saw all the smallest details of costumes and other things, then I can only guess what is visible from the stands. Most likely, people saw just a bright, colorful mess. But what can you do ... what a price, such visibility. (see photo)

What annoyed and amazed me the most was the fact that some people were constantly scurrying back and forth along the promenade and terribly interfered with watching the carnival. Their bald heads, elbows, heads, constantly fell into the frame. (see photo). I didn't understand, who is it? who are all these people? why do they go back and forth and get in the way? By what right are they there during the procession? Really, having paid big money for tickets, we do not have the right to watch the carnival normally. ? And there were some hoses lying around (maybe with water) and from time to time some people dragged them back and forth, also getting into the frame. I asked the guide if this kind of garbage always happens during processions, ...... it turned out that it only happens during the Parade of Champions. And when there is a competition, there are no extra people on the promenade with judges. They are strictly following it.

2) DANCERS...... In the photo you can see how some of the dancers took off their costume details (namely headgear). Of course, I understand everything and really sympathize with them... it's hot.. +30,... it's hard....... BUT... ...we viewers paid a lot of money for tickets.. we flew to this fucking Brazil 20 hours... and we want to see a quality Show. We have the right. And be so kind as to walk along the promenade, as it should. Just imagine... there is a block of dancers (30-40 people), all in the same costumes (see photo), reflecting the idea and concept of this Samba School ....... and now two vermin take off their hats and spoil the whole view. Others do not allow themselves this! Sometimes the nerves could not stand it and I wanted to shout - Put on a hat bitch!

3) TIME. On many sites I read such information that the passage of one school takes 1 hour. So this is not entirely true. In fact, it is somewhat longer in time. It all started at 9 pm .... and after passing the second school, I looked at the clock, it was 00.40, that is, by one in the morning only 2 schools had passed. And there are 5 of them at the Parade of Champions. The last school was already at 6 in the morning. It's good that I slept during the day, otherwise I would not have survived. There are breaks of 20-25 minutes between the processions of the Samba Schools, at which time you can go buy a hot dog, drink something or just take a walk along the sambadrome.

4) THE WEATHER....... It rained almost every evening!! Previously, this time of year was considered the dry season. The locals said that they have had such garbage for the past few years. Humans have corrupted the planet and the climate is changing. And as before, there will never be again. But I was fabulously lucky .... despite the fact that on that day, according to the weather forecast, a thunderstorm and a downpour were promised ....... it was not there !! ...................... Umbrellas are NOT allowed to be brought to the Sambadrome. Only raincoats. And even if you still carry it in your bag (no one searches the bags), they won’t let you open it anyway. The guards will come and force you to close.

5) TRANSFER to SAMBODROME. There and back transfer on a special tourist bus costs 100 USD. When I first heard this figure, I felt sick .... Well, it's fucking expensive. Although to go there (from Copacabana) 10 minutes (30 traffic jams). Even the map shows that the sambadrome is quite close. The bus circles the Copacabana area and picks up tourists from various hotels. Then he goes to the sambadrome. You can of course take a taxi, but taxis are not allowed close to the sambadrome, only tourist buses. Private cars can't get through at all. You can also take the metro, of course, but the metro is far away and you have to walk in the heat. But this is not scary, but the fact that then you have to return at night through not quite safe areas of the city. This is fraught with the fact that you can lose your camcorder or camera. And since I traveled alone (and the camera is not cheap), I had to take a transfer by bus. Although the idea to go on foot to the subway was. After all, I naively believed that most of the people do not sit out to the end and leave, in orderly rows to the metro, where
sometime around 3 am. Haha. No matter how. No one left until 6:30
morning!!! Until the last chords of the music faded.

6) COSTUMES ... My blue dream was to grab some detail from the costume and take it with me as a memory of the carnival. After all, after the procession, many dancers immediately take off their costumes and put them in a pile right on the asphalt. (but not all. Many take their costumes with them). The problem was that the area on which the platforms rolled out after the procession was cordoned off with bars and formidable guards stood at the gate. Breaking into the square through them was unrealistic. And yet, there is a chance to take possession of such a suit. You just need to stand there at the gate and wait...wait...wait..... And maybe luck will smile at you.... from time to time dancers came out of this gate, and you could beg a suit or a hat from them. When I approached the gate, I saw how several tourists were dragging hats, feathers and something else. In short, someone was lucky that night! But not to me. I stood for 15 minutes at the gate and left with nothing.

That's like all. I really liked the carnival. An elderly German was sitting next to me, who admitted that he was coming to the carnival for the tenth time. !!! And you know, I understand it. It's worth it!

Carnival takes place forty days before Easter, it becomes a symbol of the onset of fasting, in which it is forbidden to eat animal products. It turns out that the carnival is a kind of farewell to this pleasure.


There are two versions of the word carnival. Firstly, it is believed that it has its roots in Christianity, in this case it has its roots in the Latin words "carne levare", which means "eliminate meat" and this has a logic, because. You can't eat meat during fasting.


The second version says that "carnival" comes from "carrus navalis", meaning "sea ship". This is a kind of ship that has wheels, as the Romans called it, a ship on wheels. This is the same ship on which the priest of the Supreme deity Bacchus sits in the procession.


Another interesting fact is that the Brazilian Carnival turns out to be an imported holiday from Portugal. The Brazilian carnival is similar to the Portuguese Shrove Tuesday. Street festivities, fun, competition, etc. are accepted. The main thing that carnival took from Maslenitsa is the celebration some time before Lent, which is considered a period of release and redemption. Then it was supplemented with the features of Italian and French carnivals, thanks to which lush and bright costumes, masks, and dances appeared.


In 1916, an incendiary samba dance was specially invented for this celebration, and even schools for it arose. The main action of the carnival takes place in the very heart of Rio de Janeiro, where spectacular competitions between the elite of the various samba schools take place on a boulevard approximately seven hundred meters long. This alley is called "Sambadrome". It was built back in 1984 and is a road that is fenced, on both sides there are stands watching the celebration.


Brazilian Carnival - the most significant event country. They carefully prepare for it. Schools annually choose a specific topic for performances: costumes, choreography and composition in general. Usually about three or four schools compete on this night, one includes about five thousand dancers. The carnival takes place over four nights from nine in the evening until sunrise.


Carnival is one of the most impressive events in its scale, filled with bright colors and enthusiasm. Once in the cycle of people dancing sambo, dressed in multi-colored feathers, even a simple passer-by will not be able to resist joining the general celebration of life.