Knowra Brazilian Carnival Brazilian Carnival Brazil’s annual festival held before Lent, celebrated through parades, music, dancing, and regional traditions. Its largest events include Rio de Janeiro’s samba-school parade and Salvador’s street celebrations.
Rio Carnival : Rio de Janeiro’s Carnival, known especially for its elaborate samba-school parades and blocos. Its Sambadrome parade is the festival’s most internationally recognized spectacle.
Samba school : A community organization that prepares performers and floats for samba parades, especially during Carnival. Samba schools create the elaborate competitive parades associated with Rio.
Shrovetide : The period immediately before Lent in some Christian traditions, traditionally associated with feasting and celebration. Brazilian Carnival developed within this pre-Lenten calendar.
Brazilian national identity : The shared narratives and symbols through which people understand Brazil as a nation. Carnival has become a prominent symbol of Brazil, though its regional forms complicate that image.
Lent : A Christian season of preparation and penitence before Easter. Carnival’s feasting and revelry precede the restraint associated with Lent.
Salvador Carnival : Salvador’s street-centered Carnival, featuring large sound trucks, live music, and blocos. Its trio elétrico processions make the city’s celebrations distinct from Rio’s samba-school competition.
Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí : A purpose-built parade venue in Rio de Janeiro designed for samba-school performances. The venue structures Rio’s parade as a ticketed, judged spectacle.
Entrudo : A Portuguese pre-Lenten street festival involving public play, including the throwing of water and other materials. Entrudo shaped early Carnival festivities in colonial Brazil.
Cultural appropriation : The adoption or use of cultural elements by people outside the culture from which they originate. Carnival costume and performance debates can involve unequal power over cultural symbols.
Mardi Gras : A pre-Lenten celebration, especially associated with New Orleans and other places shaped by French Catholic traditions. Mardi Gras shares the pre-Lenten calendar but follows different local histories and customs.
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