Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
Why Carnival in Rio is special
Carnival
in Rio has been called the world's most famous party. A million tourists
join millions of Rio de Janeiro citizens ("cariocas") in enthusiastic
revelry spanning several days.
The
highlight is the Sambodromo parade. Close runners-up are the street
processions and masquerade balls. The Sambodromo is a 700-meter (half-mile)
long parade strip flanked by spectator stands and luxury boxes. On the
last Sunday and Monday nights before Lent, the seats are filled with
over 60,000 eager on-lookers.
The
attraction is the sounds and sights of the parading samba schools that
goes on from dusk to day break. A samba school has nothing to do with
education. It is typically a group from a poor neighborhood organized
to produce a lavish Carnival procession - for the fun of it.
Carnival calendar
Carnival
takes place during the days preceding Ash Wednesday, the first of 40
meatless fasting days preceding Easter (Carnival derives from "carne
vale" meaning "farewell to meat"). Although the official Carnival starting
day is Saturday, the partying begins in earnest the night before and
continues through Tuesday (Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday").
We have tribune and special chair tickets to the carnival parade.
