The city of Rio de Janeiro will have no street carnival for the second consecutive year.
The mayor, Eduardo Paes, announced it on Wednesday after a meeting with representatives of the ‘Blocos’, the street comparsas, who for days claimed a definitive position on the party.
Finally there has been no way.
The increase in cases caused by the omicron variant (which is starting its journey in Brazil) discourages thinking about agglomerations.
Paes assumed that the street carnival, by its very nature and its democratic aspect, “does not allow any control”, so you do not see conditions that you can celebrate with the epidemiological data that will be within a few weeks.
The ‘Rua’ Carnival of Rio gathers in a few days more than 450 pads, some of which come to drag several million people through the streets.
The agglomeration is the essence of the party and control is practically impossible.
One day after the drastic decision of Rio de Janeiro, this Thursday the City Council of São Paulo, the most populated city in Brazil and that today it organizes the country’s largest carnival, has followed its steps.
A decision that was already expected.
The party requires a meticulous preparation by the authorities to guarantee safety and cleaning. The decision could not be taken at the last minute, partly because many Blocos were already going to start parading in January, even though the official carnival is from February 25 to March 1. The pre-carnival is another party itself. The main sponsoring company, the Brewer Ambev, also demanded the City Council a clear position and feared to see its image involved in a new health crisis. The mayor offered an alternative to try to save the furniture and benefit local musicians and artists after two very difficult years. Some of the most traditional ” bloci ‘would be selected and outdoor concerts were organized in seated enclosures where there could be capacity, vaccine passport, etc. With free admission, yes. The sponsors received the idea with good eyes, but the ‘Blocos’, which were already resigned to the cancellation, rejected it on a flat, considering that it ends with the essence of the street carnival, of spontaneous natural, anarchic and irreverent. Or it is done well or it is not done.
Despite the cancellation of the street carnival, the main international postcard of Carnaval Carioca is still standing. The parades of Samba schools in the river sambórome, with its huge floats and its spectacular costumes, have not been canceled. In fact, Samba schools continue with their trials full steam. The authorities trust that they can be celebrated because there is more feasible to make controls. For the Sambodrome more than 70,000 spectators spend each night, but all pay entrance and sit on a stand. You are thinking about a system to demand Vaccine proof and negative test of Covid-19. It would also affect the thousands of components that parade with each school. The mayor made a simile with football to defend that you can ‘save’ the Sambódromo: “If there is a Flamengo game in the Maracaná there may be a parade of Portela and all Samba Schools at the Samba Stadium, which It is Avenida Marqués de Sapucaí (the Sambódromo), “he said.
River is not the first Brazilian city to cancel the carnival.
The other great capital of the party, Savior, has already resigned the festivities of Momo.
The main Blocs of Recife and Olinda will not parade, in the absence of a definitive decision of the authorities.
