Held prior to Lent each year, the festival is a great fun and an extravaganza of color and festivities to which many thousands of people flock each and every year. The make-up of the carnival is quite extraordinary, with luxury balls and galas being held across the city and many carnival festivities taking place in the Sambadrome in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
With influences from African dance and the roots of carnivals in Roman mythology, the mix of cultures on display at the Rio de Janeiro carnival is extraordinary and is certainly a sight to behold for everyone who is involved with it.
The Rio de Janeiro Carnival celebration dates back to 1723 when it started out as a pre-Lent festival – much like many carnivals around the world. Carnivals were initially intended as religious celebrations and contained offerings to Roman gods. Modern day carnivals, however, are far removed from their initial roots and have become vast celebrations of enjoyment for local people to embrace the rich mixture of cultures which influence each and every carnival worldwide.
Rio de Janeiro Carnival
Today, the Rio de Janeiro carnival is perhaps best known for its famous carnival parade, which first took place in the 1930s. Since samba dance is the essence of the Rio de Janerio carnival, the parade is also called samba parade. Samba comes from an Afro-Brazilian dance. Some steps and motions were added to the dance for samba parade of the carnival and became what is known as Brazilian samba dance which is not a dance of couples.
The carnival parade starts on the Sunday evening and goes through until the Monday morning, with the majority of the carnival celebration taking place in the Sambadrome in downtown Rio de Janeiro.
The main purpose and attraction of the Rio de Janeiro carnival procession is the participation of many people from various samba schools – groups of people who have come together to participate in the carnival celebration for their “team”. Each samba school selects a theme to portray at the samba parade and designs their
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