Carnival in Rio – magnificent costumes and floats, rousing songs and sounds: the world-famous parades in the sambodrome have begun in the Brazilian coastal metropolis. It all started on Friday evening (local time) with the “Arranco do Engenho de Dentro” samba school.
But the samba schools also showed themselves to be modern: for the first time a man paraded with the “Arranco” as the flag bearer in the sambodrome. The twelve top schools perform until the early hours on Sunday and Monday.
Tens of thousands in the stands and millions in front of the television in Brazil and around the world usually follow the parades on the oversized catwalk designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer in the 1980s.
Carnival is also a huge source of income for Rio
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.
Carnival is also celebrated in Sao Paulo, further south – after the world-famous and colorful celebrations had been restricted or canceled across the country in the past two years due to the corona pandemic.
But now the carnival is back in full force. The Rio city council alone approved 445 parades of carnival groups – so-called blocos – this season. As early as Friday afternoon, the first official “Blocos” like the traditional “Carmelitas” in the bohemian district of Santa Teresa were parading through the streets of the coastal town or playing in the squares.
Tens of thousands of “Cariocas”, as the inhabitants of Rio are called, and tourists got in the mood for the carnival last weekend with musicians and dancers on the streets of various parts of the city. It is midsummer in the southern hemisphere, and it is particularly hot at the moment. The thermometer showed 41.8 degrees on Friday, the perceived temperature, which differs from the actual due to humidity or wind, was 53.8 degrees.