After the restrictions imposed by the corona pandemic, the Rio Carnival is back in full force. In 2023, the city officially breaks with the unwritten law of an apolitical party: after the storming of the government district, the mayor of the metropolis calls for a “carnival of democracy” to be celebrated.
Skimpy costumes, imaginative floats, thrilling rhythms: in Rio, the world-famous parades in the sambodrome carried the spectators away. The samba schools dedicated their parades on Friday and Saturday to the history of the competition, African gods and the Amazon region. With the school “Arranco do Engenho de Dentro” a man paraded as a flag bearer for the first time. The twelve top schools perform until the early hours on Sunday and Monday.
Among others, well-known samba composers and singers were honored. Tens of thousands in the stands and in boxes as well as millions in front of the television in Brazil and worldwide usually follow the parades on the oversized catwalk. The carnival also delighted the crowds in other Brazilian metropolises such as Recife, Salvador and São Paulo.
The Rio Carnival is known as the “biggest party in the world”. The city expects revenues of around 810 million euros, the tourism agency Riotur expects up to 5.5 million carnival fans in the city. The hotels recorded an occupancy rate of 91.5 percent. After two years in which the corona pandemic had prevented or restricted the festival, Mayor Eduardo Paes said: “Thanks to science, medicine, the public health system and those who have been vaccinated, we can celebrate life again, celebrate ourselves in the Meet the Rio Carnival.”
The street carnival had been canceled in the past two years, and the parades in the Sambodrome had already taken place again after a postponement, at least in April 2022. Now the carnival is back in full force.
The city approved 445 parades of carnival groups – so-called blocos – this season – from neighborhood groups to mega blocos, which, like on Saturday, attract hundreds of thousands in the center. There is a lot of suppressed energy from the past few years, Fernando Pellon said. He and his partner prefer to go to the blocos early in the morning. It’s midsummer in the southern hemisphere, and it’s particularly hot at the moment – the perceived temperatures can even be over 50 degrees due to the humidity.
But the Rio Carnival is also more than a hot party: after the storming of the government district in Brasília on January 8, Mayor Paes proclaimed the “Carnival of Democracy”. It is necessary to celebrate democracy, Paes said at the opening on Friday. An unwritten law actually states that the parades in the Sambodrome must not be overly political.
Every samba school takes you to another world – usually one where everything is fine. The “Acadêmicos de Vigário Geral” school, for example, took many with them into childhood with the theme “The Fantasy – Factory of Joy”. But there have also been political comments in recent years, for example the winning school “Mangueira” 2020 criticized the government of then President Jair Bolsonaro.
The blocos have always formed a parallel carnival to the strictly regulated parades, in which a jury awards marks like in figure skating. This year, however, they are also remarkably organized: they had a lot of time to prepare. But the Blocos have also retained their spontaneity. In social groups, fans exchanged information about where a certain bloco was at the moment. “We’re constantly looking to go to as many blocos as possible,” said Samara Curi. “We thought people would be discouraged after the pandemic. But nothing has changed. That’s great.”