Since carnival is so important for Brazilians, here I present a little of history...
Carnival's roots go back to the ancient Romans and Greeks who celebrated the rites of Spring. In the Middle Ages, when the Catholic Church tried to suppress all pagan ideas, it failed when it came to this celebration. The Church incorporated the rite into its own calendar as a period of thanksgiving. The nations of Europe, especially France, Spain, and Portugal, gave thanks by throwing parties, wearing masks, and dancing in the streets. All three colonizing powers carried the tradition with them to the New World, but in Brazil it landed with a difference. The Portuguese had a taste for abandoned merriment, they brought the entrudo, a prank where merry-makers throw water, flour, face powder, and many other things at each other's faces.
Prior to 1840, the streets of Brazilian towns ran riot during the three-day period leading up to Ash Wednesday with people in masks hurling stink bombs and squirting each other with flour and strong-smelling liquids; even arson was a form of entertainment. In 1840, the Italian wife of a Rio de Janeiro hotel owner changed the carnival celebration forever by sending out invitations, hiring musicians, importing streamers and confetti, and giving a lavish masked ball. In a few years the masked ball became the fashion and the wild pranks played on the streets disappeared.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Bob Burquist won Brazil's Rio Vert Jam, the first stage of the Skating World Cup which was fought out on a special circuit, set up in Rio de Janeiro, local media reported on Sunday.
Burnquist, world champion in 2000, who won the same stage last year, won 92.33 points in his three shows in the final.
Burquist beat out the United States's Anthony Furlong with 90.67 points and three time champion Sandro Dias with 88.33.
The Rio event will share out 20,000 dollars. It was held on a skating surface, set up at the end of Lake Rodrigo de Freitas. This year is the first time the event has been recognized by the world sporting body.
In the inline skating section of the event, Vinicius Rosa, alsofrom Brazil, took back the trophy he won last year, beating out Felipe de Oliveira and Fabiola da Silva, who was the first woman to earn medals at the extreme sports competition the X-Games.
Brazil has squad to win World Cup again, says Pele
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pele is backing Brazil to retain the World Cup because they have more strength in depth than other top teams, like England or Italy.
"I think England has a good team this year, Italy has a very good team but of course Brazil is the favourite, without a doubt," Pele told Reuters on Thursday.
He gave his views about the likely winners of this year's tournament in Germany on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, a gathering of political and business leaders.
"Brazil has two teams. If they have to change a player it makes no difference. But if a team like England or Italy lose their best players through injury, they have problems to get replacements," said the triple World Cup-winner.
Pele was in Brazil's team at the finals in Sweden in 1958, the only time the South Americans have won the World Cup in Europe, and said there was an advantage for European sides this year, given that the finals are in Germany.
"Normally, with the Europeans playing in their weather, in front of their public it's always harder (for Brazil). But this year that could change," he said.
Pele tipped Czech Republic and the Ivory Coast as countries who could spring a surprise at the finals.
The tournament starts in Munich on June 9 and features 32 teams playing a total of 64 matches across Germany, culminating in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin on July 9.
In great shape and brash as ever, star wants 1,000 career scores
When Romario turned 40 on Sunday, he had a lot to celebrate. One of Brazil’s greatest players remains a scoring threat despite his age.
Romario, who led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title, wants to score 1,000 goals. The 21-year veteran needs 50 goals to reach the mark. His latest goal came Saturday in his team’s 2-1 loss to America in the Rio de Janeiro state championship.
He stunned fans by clinching the scoring title last year in the tough Brazilian league. He netted 22 goals, two more than 22-year-old Argentina international Carlos Tevez of Corinthians. Romario has already scored nine times in seven matches with Vasco this year.
He was honored Saturday before the match with a No. 40 jersey with the word “(King)mario,” on the back.
Heavy security planned for free Rolling Stones concert in Rio
Rio de Janeiro police are planning an unprecedented security showing for next month's free Rolling Stones concert at the famed Copacabana beach, authorities said Saturday.
Rio's state police said it was possible that up to 10,000 police officers would be summoned to work the Feb. 18 beachside show.
"We don't have the exact number yet," Lt. Col. Aristeu Leonardo said. "It could end up being less than that, but we know it's a special event and we will be prepared."
Nearly 1 million people are expected to attend the event, organizers said.
On New Year's Eve, 3,000 officers were called up to work when more than 2 million people gathered at the Copacabana beach to watch a fireworks extravaganza that officials said was the largest in the city's history.
The Rolling Stones will play in Rio just two days before U2 is scheduled to perform at Sao Paulo's Morumbi stadium _ on Feb. 20 and 21.
Organizers of the U2 concerts announced Friday they will sell tickets only through a telephone call center to avoid a repeat of last week's chaos, when nearly 100,000 fans overwhelmed stores and computer systems.
Heavy demand crashed the concert promoters' computers on Jan. 16, frustrating fans who had waited in lines for more than 12 hours.
Traditional Carnival celebrations in Brazil officially begin four days after U2's concerts in Sao Paulo
Tickets for Rio's famous carnival parade, the centerpiece of Brazil's annual pre-Lenten festival, sold out in record time Tuesday.
In just 20 minutes, vendors sold all of the 23,540 tickets available for Rio de Janeiro residents to attend the two-night parade, to be held Feb. 26 and 27.
Last year it took 48 minutes for tickets to sell out, according to the Independent League of Samba Schools, which organizes the parade.
Tickets still were available for buyers outside of Rio de Janeiro, and organizers estimated it would take 10 days to sell the remaining tickets.
The league reserves a large number of tickets for travel agencies and cruise ships that visit the city during carnival. Ticket scalping also is common.
The parade, held in Rio's 70,000-capacity "Sambadrome" stadium, features 14 community groups, each presenting an extravagant spectacle in an effort to impress judges and win the title of carnival champion.
While there's no prize beyond bragging rights, communities spend many months preparing for the parade. The groups are judged on criteria that include music, costumes, originality, floats, percussion and even the degree of enthusiasm among the paraders.
One of the most frequent questions I get from friends is "what is the date of Carnaval this year?". Well, believe it or not, it is not an easy question to answer. You have to be part astrologer, part mathematician, and part priest! Here is how you calculate the carnaval date:
50-47 days before the first Sunday after the first full moon after Vernal Equinox, or in layman's terms, Ash Wednesday is calculated as 46 days before Easter Sunday, and carnaval falls on the 4 days before Ash Wednesday. Complicated, no?
Carnaval Dates until 2040 2003 - March 1-4 2004 - February 21-24 2005 - February 5-8 2006 - February 25-28 2007 - February 17-20 2008 - February 2-5 2009 - February 21-24 2010 - February 13-16 2011 - March 5-8 2012 - February 18-21 2013 - February 9-12 2014 - March 1-4 2015 - February 14-17 2016 - February 6-9 2017 - February 25-28 2018 - February 10-13 2019 - March 2-5 2020 - February 22-25 2021 - February 13-16 2022 - February 26 - March 1 2023 - February 18-21 2024 - February 10-13 2025 - March 1-4 2026 - February 14-17 2027 - February 6-9 2028 - February 26-29 2029 - February 10-13 2030 - March 2-5 2031 - February 22-25 2032 - February 7-10 2033 - February 26 - March 1 2034 - February 18-21 2035 - February 3-6 2036 - February 23-26 2037 - February 14-17 2038 - March 6-9 2039 - February 19-22 2040 - February 11-14
The Brazilian Carnival (spelled Carnaval in Portuguese) is an annual celebration held forty days before Easter (marking the start of Lent), in Brazil. "Carnival" literally means "to put away the meat" it's root word being "carn" which means meat. It has some differences from its counterparts in Europe, as well there being variations across the large Brazilian territory. The Brazilian Carnival is known in Brazil simply as carnaval
Despite the Catholic inspiration, Brazilian Carnival is celebrated more as a profane feast than a religious event. Its origins are European, by a kind of carnival called Introito (Latin for entrance). The entrudo, as it was known in Brazil, could have been characterized mainly as a joke: to throw water (and later, other things) at other people, to "purify the body". The entrudo was prohibited, without success, in middle of the 19th Century, as it was considered violent by the upper classes (it is told that many people died from infections and other diseases, since even rotten fruits were sometimes thrown).
In the late 19th Century, the cordões (literally laces in Portuguese) were introduced in Rio de Janeiro, which consisted of groups of people who would walk on the streets playing music and dancing. The cordões were ancestors of the modern samba's school.
The blocos (blocks), another name for the cordões, are some of the current representations of the popular Brazilian Carnival. They are formed by people who dress in costumes according to certain themes, or to celebrate the carnival in specific ways. The schools of samba are truly organizations that work all year in order to prepare themselves for the samba schools parade.
The best-known Brazilian Carnival celebration takes place in Rio de Janeiro, with its samba schools, blocos and bandas occupying entire neighborhoods. In Salvador and other cities of the Northeastern Region, there is another form of the Brazilian Carnival: the Trio Elétrico. A trio elétrico is an adapted truck, with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as Axé music and Maracatu.
During the Carnival, a fat man is elected to represent the role of Rei Momo, the "king" of Carnival, whose rule is one of fun instead of that of everyday authorities.
Recife, Olinda and other cities in the state of Pernambuco are transformed at carnival time with a rich mix of Brazilian dances, from the belly-bumping bate-coxa to the umbrella-wielding frevo, the regal maracatú and the extremely agile caboclinho.
The UNESCO World Heritage City of Olinda is renowned as one of the most carefree of Brazil's carnivals, while some of the smaller celebrations include: Bezerros, with ten days of parades by blocos (Afro-Brazilian drumming groups); Nazaré, which has 11 maracatus, as well as many cavalos marinhos (coco and forré bands); Triunfo, where everyone carries and slaps a harmless whip, travelling from house to house, eating and drinking; and Vitória de Santo Antão, where rival "clubs" vie for attention, dressed in their respective colours (the biggest clash is between O Camelo and O Leão, dressed in red and green, and yellow and blue, respectively).
Another of the local highlights is the maracatú dancing troupe in Recife, who enact a slave dancing tradition that goes back over the centuries to when their slave masters allowed them to administer their own coronations and elections. The head float bears the figure of an animal, followed closely by a float carrying the king and queen, the dama de passo, a doll that brings cheers from all members of the crowd, and the tirador de loas, who faces the crowd and chants in African dialect.
If you are planning to go to Salvador, you have basically two options to have a lot of fun: Buy a "abada" (shirt that gives you access to the different parades or "blocos") and go dance on the streets in a "Bloco", or buy a ticket to a "camarote VIP" and have the comfort of a restricted area with all conveniences and beautiful people.
Below you can find a list of "blocos" and "camarotes" of 2006's event:
BLOCOS (Name / Price / Date): Voa-Voa: R$ 450 (23/2) Bloco Skol D+: R$ 600 (24, 25, 26, 27 e 28/2) Eva: R$ 480 (26, 27 e 28/2) Crocodilo: R$ 520 (26, 27 e 28/2) Cheiro de Amor: R$ 500 (26, 27 e 28/2) Beijo: R$ 400 (26, 27 e 28/2) Ara Ketu: R$ 500 (25, 26 e 28/2) Timbalada: R$ 290 (25/2) Eu e Você: R$ 260 (24/2) Eu Vou!: R$ 460 (23, 24 e 25/2) Alô Inter: R$ 130 (23, 24 e 25/2) Tri Mix: R$ 180 (23 e 25/2) Nu Outro: R$ 220 (23, 24 e 25/2) A Barca: R$ 200 (23, 24 e 25/2) Happy (bloco infantil): R$ 160 (24 e 25/2)
Once again, Rio holds the world`s largest street festival - Carnival 2006 - from February 24 through 28. Many pre-Carnival festivities begin earlier, while the last event, the Champions Parade is on Saturday March 4 at the Sambadrome where the Samba Schools with all the contagious gaiety make Carnival quite unforgettable. However, the Special Group will enter in the Sambodromo on the 26th. Check the agenda!
AGENDA: Sunday - February 26th SAMBA SCHOOLS PARADE - SPECIAL GROUP 21hs - Salgueiro (www.salgueiro.com.br) 22h05 - Rocinha (www.academicosdarocinha.com.br) 23h10 - Imperatriz Leopoldinense (www.imperatrizleopoldinense.com.br) 24h15 - Caprichosos de Pilares (www.caprichososdepilares.com.br) 01h20 - Vila Isabel (www.vilaisabel.com) 02h25 - Grande Rio (www.academicosdogranderio.com.br) 03h30 - Beija-Flor (www.beija-flor.com.br)
Monday - February 27th SAMBA SCHOOLS PARADE - SPECIAL GROUP 21hs - Porto da Pedra (www.gresuportodapedra.com.br) 22h05 - Estação Primeira de Mangueira (www.mangueira.com.br) 23h10 - Unidos do Viradouro (www.unidosdoviradouro.com.br) 24h15 - Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel (www.mocidadeindependente.com.br) 01h20 - Unidos da Tijuca (www.unidosdatijuca.com.br) 02h25 - Império Serrano (www.imperioserrano.art.br) 03h30 - Portela (www.gresportela.com)
Are you travelling to Brazil to enjoy the carnival? Well, first of all, consider yourself a lucky person, I wish I could be in your place... Anyways, safety is always a huge concern, so here is a quick list of Do's & Dont's for you to enjoy this huge party:
• Take out with you only the money you intend to spend that day, and always have change • Take also an ID • It is important to have the address of where you are staying and a contact phone number in a piece of paper • Leave all jewelry and valuable objects in the hotel or in the place where you are staying • Wear comfortable snickers or sports shoes, never sandals • Try to stay always with your group • Avoid leaving the parade/bloco during the circuit • If you need to go through a trio elétrico, wait in a safe place until the music stops or until the trios has passed • Do not take cameras (only dischargeable) • If you are driving, don't drink • Before leaving, apply a large amount of sun block lotion • Eat well, but light • Drink a lot of water • Have fun!!!
Carnaval da Bahia 2006 - The best brazilian Carnival
Brazilians have known for some time that Carnaval Salvador Bahia is unique. Although its style is the most imitated throughout the country (micaretas) there can only be one peak energy concentration of people party power. You don't have to dance in the streets to know that you are at the center of the greatest annual energy field created on the planet but it helps.
With 200 plus Carnival groups parading over seven days, you can't find more groups or more people anywhere than at this great people's party in Brazil's other great historic seaside City.
This year, the party is already setup! If you are planning to attend for your first time this huge cultural occasion, be prepared for the event of your live! For starters, here are some artist names that you should be aware...
Ivete Sangalo - Cerveja e Cia, circuito Barra / Ondina
Daniela Mercury – Bloco Crocodilo , circuito Barra / Ondina
Bell - Chiclete com Banana - Bloco Camaleao / Nana Banana, circuito Barra / Ondina
Margareth Menezes – Os Mascarados / Afropopbrasileiro, circuito Barra / Ondina
Clear blue sky and temperatures in the 30º C. It is in this Rio de Janeiro summer environment that Fashion Rio inaugurates the 2006 Brazilian Calendar, presenting the first collections for autumn-winter. The theme for this year’s edition of the Rio Fashion Week is “ Horticultural”, which basically focuses on mankind’s return to nature, valuing handcraft techniques in the middle of the 21st Century.
Once again, Gisele Bundchen (above)is expected to shine again during the show. Another model that all paparazzi are waiting for is Raica Oliveira (photo below), infamous girfriend of soccer player Ronaldinho. Later I will post more photos of the event.
After selling more than 40 million iPods all over the world, and responsible for almost 1 Billion songs downloaded at iTunes, Apples' iPod is really a huge success. Now they want to innovate even more the market, with this new launch, the iPod Flea! Check it out the video and enjoy...
I usually don't talk about software or technology in my blog, but since it comes from a good Brazilian friend of mine, why not!?
Ask Jeeves just launch a ringtone toolbar, called WHIPTONES. The idea is very cool: You download a toolbar and then you can download free ringtones and wallpapers every month for free! As they mention on the page, there is no subscription, no credit cards, nothing...
As far the tones, they have about 50.000 selection of ringtones, MP3 and monophonic files, to pimp your cellular. The only thing is that the service is only for US customers of AT&T, Cingular and T-Mobile.
Just to add an interesting fact about this year New Year's Eve in Copacabana, this year's event was celebrated with 24 tons of fireworks and more than Two Million people on the beach. Insane, isn't it?
As a Brazilian, it is always funny see this very traditional holiday in a "gringo" eyes... I extracted this text from the BrazilMax magazine, where Bill Hinchberger did a really good job sharing his experience in Brazil.
Rio de Janeiro - I don’t like crowds much. That explains why I’ve never seen the Rolling Stones. But some things everyone should experience at least once – damn the physical or emotional barriers.
One of those is Réveillon (New Year’s Eve) in Copacabana. So when a friend with a beachfront apartment in Leme invited my wife and I to a New Year’s party a few years ago, we abandoned our ritual of passage in her hometown of Paraty and opted for the fireworks and frenzy of the big city.
I was hardly the only gringo to make the pilgrimage. Untold numbers of foreigners are conspicuous among the over two million revelers who hit the beach on New Year’s Eve.
In the collective global consciousness, Copacabana’s commemoration ranks up there with California’s Tournament of Roses parade, the countdown in New York’s Times Square, Vienna’s New Year’s Concert, and dips into freezing oceans by the notorious Polar Bear Clubs. As a Brazilian party attraction, Réveillon is beginning to rival Carnaval.
Everyone shares the dream – irrespective of race, gender or political orientation. The California-based group Global Exchange organizes politically-correct “reality tours” that combine the chance to ring in the “New Year with millions of Brazilians in Rio's traditional carnaval style, on Copacabana beach!” with visits to “organizations that work with Rio's street children who often fall victim to police violence, drug trafficking and sex tourism,” as the 2005 copy put it.
Taking care not to fall victim to any such realities, my wife and I took leave of our friend’s bash and stepped forth onto the sand. The first impression was striking: a sea of white-clad humans against the murky black backdrop of the Atlantic Ocean and the midnight sky above. We ran an obstacle course to the surf, dodging people digging bunkers in the sand – some large enough for a platoon of soldiers, others small and intimate but no less well structured to protect the candles that would burn inside from the steady off-shore breeze.
All of this - the white costumes, the candles - constitutes part of the ritual homage to Iemenjá. For an outsider, this public manifestation of Afro-Brazilian religiosity presents perhaps the biggest attraction of the night. Indeed one US tour operator attracts travelers with this promise: “Have a consultation with an Umbanda priest or priestess (pai-de-santo or mãe-de-santo) who offer their services free of charge on this special occasion.”
I wasn’t offered any free (or paid) spiritual services that night, but I do understand how elusive and even mysterious Candomblé and Umbanda can seem. When I lived in Rio, I remember seeing melted candles and offerings in streetside cubbyholes and on corners, but I never managed to catch anyone in the act of laying out such a spread. I’ve accompanied a Candomblé ceremony and even once visited the late but still famous Mãe Olga in her terreiro in Salvador, but such access is by invitation only. You can’t just saunter in, as you might into a Catholic Church or even one of the Igreja Universal’s converted movie theaters. (Speaking of which, the above mentioned tour operator adds a curious warning for prospective New Year’s revelers: “Be careful of impostors who may try to rope you into an evangelical Christian sermon while purporting to offer ‘spiritual counseling.’ Their job is to lure you away from the supposedly evil African-inspired rites. “)
My vote for the most powerful deity since Yahweh goes to Iemenjá. Besides New Year’s in Rio she also stops traffic on February 2 in Salvador’s Rio Vermelho neighborhood; the numbers in Bahia perhaps can’t rival those in Copacabana, but they sure cram a lot of people into that little praça. My own true encounter Iemenjá was less public. I was on the beach in Arembepe, the spot north of Salvador that enchanted Janis Joplin and her hippie cohorts. I swam out to a reef and scampered up onto the surface above the sea-line behind my friend Washington Santana, artist and Iemenjá adept. To get his goat, I had just made a little quip about the Queen of the Sea... when a wave washed over the reef and swept me down the rocky slope. I butt-surfed it down, scraping up my backside something awful. Never again will I take Iemenjá’s name in vain.
In Copacabana, Iemenjá took much better care of me. Putting some distance between us and the multitude, my wife and I backed slowly into a pretty vacant stretch of sand – almost into a temporary barrier. Looking over the fence, I discovered why we were alone. There stood one of the rocket launchers that would shoot the celebration’s famous fireworks to kingdom come. We got out on the double. Thank Iemenjá that we were quicker than the mechanic José Maria Martins who died as 49 others were injured in a fireworks accident in 2001.
Don’t worry. The rockets are shot from offshore now.
Brazilian culture, news, fashion, eletronic music, samba, places to hang out, beaches, and much more... Everything you should know about Brazil, but couldn't find it on the web.
RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil's Bob Burquist won Brazil's Rio Vert Jam, the first stage of the Skating World Cup which was fought out on a special circuit, set up in Rio de Janeiro, local media reported on Sunday.
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Pele is backing Brazil to retain the World Cup because they have more strength in depth than other top teams, like England or Italy.
In great shape and brash as ever, star wants 1,000 career scores
Monday - February 27th
• Take out with you only the money you intend to spend that day, and always have change
Brazilians have known for some time that Carnaval Salvador Bahia is unique. Although its style is the most imitated throughout the country (micaretas) there can only be one peak energy concentration of people party power. You don't have to dance in the streets to know that you are at the center of the greatest annual energy field created on the planet but it helps. 
