CARNIVAL TIME

Not many people know this, because who actually does any research on the Rio Carnival? You mention it and people look at you with eyes that have turned green from envy and ask, “Are you going? Have you been before? Lucky bitches.” To which we reply no and no. And we are not lucky. Anyway, the roots of Rio Carnival can be found in the Ancient Greek spring festival that honours Dionysus. The god of wine. It marks the beginning of Lent. Carnival means “without meat”.

Carnival made it first real appearance in Rio in the early 1600s as Entrudo, a festival introduced to Brazil by its Portuguese invaders. This involved a lot of throwing of water, mud, food and even semen and urine, but not much dancing.

By the 1840s Entrudo had given way to masquerade balls, which in turn gave way to street parades in the 1850s. The carnival as we know it, though, didn’t really come into existence until samba was born and, with it, Rio’s samba schools – the first, Deixa Falar, was founded in 1928. Without samba and without these schools, people would still be chucking food at each other and the world would be a much poorer place for it. So let’s all praise the baby Jesus and thank him for samba. As the Bahian superstar Carlinhos Brown, says, “We play not for money, but to celebrate happiness.” Brace yourselves for more exciting titbits like this.

The origins of samba can be traced back to the end of the 19th century, when immigrants from Bahia, one of the Brazil’s 26 states, brought with them the African-based religion of Candomblé – and the dances and percussive music associated with it. They formed a number of religious houses in the slums of Rio where they would play and dance their early forms of samba during their ceremonies.

There are more than 70 samba schools in Rio and all of them take part in the Carnival’s samba parade. Deixa Fala no longer exists, but it was founded in the district of Estacio, located in the hill above the area known as Praça Onze – the place now considered to be the “cradle of samba”. According to legend its members decided to classify themselves as a samba school because the dancers used to meet to rehearse in the empty car park of a teaching college. Sambistas do teach – “The students learn to live and breathe samba!” – they don’t, however, teach their “students” how to dance samba.

The parade’s structure originates from how the groups used to march through the streets during Carnival in the 19th century. Deixa Falar was, of course, the first school to parade and its members made their debut on Praça Onze in 1929. By 1930, five schools were taking part and the parade had turned into a contest –Deixa Falar are believed to have won for two consecutive years.

Presiding over the whole parade as Carnival King is King Momo. He is named after Greek mythology’s god of mockery, who according to legend, headed to Rio after being expelled from Olympus. Carnival officially begins when the key to the city is delivered to him. When he sambas everyone should samba with him. He is required to be tall and “wide as a house”. Until the powers that be of Brazil began worrying about obesity, the minimum weight for the contenders to this throne had to be 330lb. 

The next key member of the parade’s royal family is the Carnival Queen, who is chosen in a sort of beauty pageant. She is judged on her attractiveness, self-assurance, ease of expression, samba abilities and, above all, her carnival spirit. Only if she displays all these attributes will she be crowned queen. The two runners-up become the Carnival Princesses.

The competition the samba parade is founded on is fierce. To take part every school has to come up with a theme that must be reflected in their costumes. Past choices have included everything from astronauts to wild animals, and the schools are free to come up with a new theme each year or have a signature one. One group always dresses as nuns and holds parades, which start at a convent and then move around the city, during each of the four days of Carnival. Each school appoints a carnival designer and he or she is responsible for creating all their costumes as well as their floats. Some are so good at it they’ve become household names.

The rest of each school’s entry is divided into nine categories: the wing, the vanguard group, the flag-carrying couple, the whirling ladies (baianas), the percussion band (bateria), the vocalists, the queen of the drummers, the samba dancers and the stewards of the flow. They are all required to flaunt their strength, joy and vitality when representing their school.

The wings are the foundation of each school’s parade, and each has several groups of wings, which can number anything from 20 to 100 people. They all have the same role and wear the same costume, which must illustrate a particular aspect of the school’s chosen theme.

The vanguards are the opening wing of each school. They are a group made up of 12-15 dancers who parade in front of their school, introducing it to the crowd. They are the only ones whose costumes do not have to reflect their school’s theme and were originally made up only of well-dressed men.

The flag-carrying couple are made up of the porta-bandeira, whose role is to carry the school’s flag, and the mestre-sala, who is there to protect her. Originally, the mestre-sala carried a knife to protect the flag in case any members of the rival schools tried to damage it.

The whirling ladies, or baianas, are a group of at least 80 older ladies who are dressed in glitzy variations of traditional Bahian dress. Key to their outfits are their huge skirts as they are very good for achieving beautiful whirling. This group represents the soul of the samba schools and their African roots.

The queen of the drummers is a samba dancer who introduces her percussionists to the crowds. Her main role is to keep the hundreds of drummers that parade behind her motivated.

The samba dancers are the star turn of the parade; as their name would suggest, they dance the samba. And, on that note, the vocalists, usually male, sing, while the percussion band, the bateria, set the beat to which their school will parade with their powerful drumming.

Finally, the stewards of the flow are there to ensure that the flow and pace of their school’s parade is maintained – any gaps or delays and points are deducted. Each wing is therefore appointed a steward.

The samba parade is the biggest one to be seen during the Carnival. Nearly 30 years ago it moved from being held on the streets of downtown Rio to a stadium with a capacity to seat 90,000 spectators. It’s called the Sambodrome. Which sounds like Thunderdome. Which makes us think of Mad Max. And Tina Turner. It was designed by Oscar Niemeyer especially for the samba parade and was inaugurated in 1984. 

Text Natalie Dembinska