A carnival is a celebration combining parades, pageantry, folk drama, and feasting that is usually held in Catholic countries during the weeks before Lent. The term Carnival probably comes from the Latin word "carnelevarium", meaning to remove meat. Typically the Carnaval season begins early in the new year, often on the Epiphany, January 6, and ends in Februrary on fat Tuesday (hence f Mardi Gras in French).
Probably originating in pagan spring fertility rites, the first recorded carnival was the Egyptian feast of Osiris, an event marking the receding of the Nile's flood water. Carnivals reached a peak of riotous dissipation with the Roman BACCHANALIA and Saturnalia. 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. Popes sometimes served as patrons. 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.
Not only did the Portuguese have 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), but the Negro slaves also took to the celebration. They would smear their faces with flour, borrow an old wig or frayed shirt of the master, and give themselves over to mad revelry for the three days. Many masters even let their slaves roam freely during the celebration. Since the slaves were grateful for the chance to enjoy themselves, they rarely used the occasion as a chance to run away.
Pre-Christian, medieval, and modern carnivals share important thematic features. They celebrate the death of winter and the rebirth of nature, ultimately recommitting the individual to the spiritual and social codes of the culture. Ancient fertility rites, with their sacrifices to the gods, exemplify this commitment, as do the Christian Shrovetide plays. On the other hand, carnivals allow parody of, and offer temporary release from, social and religious constraints. For example, slaves were the equals of their masters during the Roman Saturnalia; the medieval feast of fools included a blasphemous mass; and during carnival masquerades sexual and social taboos are sometimes temporarily suspended.
Rio de Janeiro has the biggest and best known pre-Lenten carnival in the world - its most colorful event is the Samba School Parade. The samba schools taking part in the parade in a street built special for this. Each school has about three to five thousand participants - who are overwhelmingly poor people from the city's sprawling suburbs (Copacabana or Leblom do not have in big samba schools!). Every carnival Rio's samba schools compete with each other and are judged on every aspect of their presentation by a jury. Each samba school must base its effort around a central theme. Sometimes the theme is an historical event or personality. Other times, it is a story or legend from Brazilian literature, a historical theme or even political satire. The samba song must recount or develop it, and the huge floats must detail the theme in depth.
About money. Samba parades to not come cheap. Carnaval is in reality a business. A group of people controls each school and some make good money from it. I remember some friends paying $250 for cheap costumes to be in an "ala" (wing) of the big parade. All samba schools have "practice parties" called "ensaios" for which they sell tickets. The state and city governments also contribute a good sum, to stimulate tourism. In the last 20 years a major source of funding has been the "bicheiros" (bosses that run the numbers games) and the drug cartels, mostly located in the slums. These people see sponsoring a Samba School as a way of gaining prestige with the local populations, a kind of Public Relations campaign, I guess.
About the Big Parade in Rio. I lived there for 10 years and only went once to the parade. Our cousin, Biga, was in town and we decided to go down to the Marquesa de Sapucai and checkout the action. Well, first of al, the only thing available was the cheaper seats at the end of the parade (Praca da Apoteose?) up high and too far for good viewing. After 3 hours of waiting and only one and a half samba schools, we decided to walk down to Rio Branco street and check out the floats. As we were going past a big government building a guy came up and asked it we wanted to get into a very good spot. How much? The "fee" was about 50 cents a head, so thanks to this example of "jeitinho" and private enterprise by a government nightwatchman, we went through the building and were deposited in the middle of the TV and press section at the beginning of the street, about 10 feet from where Gloria Maria (Globo TV reporter) was doing interviews. So I spend the rest of evening sitting on the curb watching the Samba schools go by at a distance of two feet.
So if you must see the big parade at the Sambodromo in Rio, get a ticket for one of the boxes, which are up high and from where you can see the colors and dancing, and have food, beverages and bathrooms. A good alternative is to watch it on TV. My recommendation, however, is to skip Rio's Carnaval altogether and go see the Street Carnavals in the Northeast.
