Officially, Carnival begins on the Saturday before Lent and continues for five days until Ash Wednesday. However, Carnival celebrations often extend beyond the official dates.

Carnival in Brazil is a celebration for all its inhabitants. Even many local celebrities take an active part in organising and staging it, and are not shy about showing off their bodies.

The Rio de Janeiro Carnival is a samba parade and theatrical show held at the Sambódromo in the city centre for large crowds, where different famous schools compete for the title of winner. Each school demonstrates its skills for 80 minutes to the deafening beat of the drums and the singing of its own anthem, revealing the content of its presentation through costumes and dance. Qualified judges assess each school’s performance.

People here start preparing for this holiday from childhood. And in the shops you can buy carnival costumes for children from the age of one.

According to Sergey Skorokhodov, associate professor at the Department of Marketing and Sports Business at the Government Finance University of the Russian Federation, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is the most famous and popular event associated with Brazilian samba.

Every year, for five days before the grey weekend, an epic show is held in the streets of the city, with the participation of the local samba schools. The schools prepare for the carnival for months, creating colourful costumes and choreography. In the parade, each school shows its uniqueness and competes for the best title.

“The Maracana Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro is the famous place where the samba schools parade during Carnival. The Sambódromo is an arena specially built for carnival parades, with a capacity for up to 90,000 spectators. Here, all the samba schools parade through the huge stands, showcasing their performances,” said Sergey Skorokhodov.

Carnival in Brazil combines the traditions of different ethnicities and cultures. The Italian colonisers also made a small contribution to Brazilian traditions, which is not surprising since the Venetian Carnival was famous in their home country. But the greatest influence on this action was exerted by African slaves, who gave a certain flavour to the dances and Carnival.

Thus, gradually, at the crossroads of different cultures, the famous Brazilian carnival and samba dance was formed. In each era, the holiday occupied an important place in the culture. During the reign of the rigid Catholic religion, Carnival in Brazil was an outlet to have fun, at least for a day, and forget about the strict rules. At the same time, the dance helped to preserve the original folk traditions, against which the Church fought fiercely.

Carnival is a kind of symbol of Brazil, where such different cultures have met, interestingly synthesised into one, very original and different from everything else.

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