[IN IMAGES] Brazil: Rio carnival is back
The mayor of the city of Rio symbolically hands over the key to the city to "King Momo", April 20, 2022. © AP - Bruna Prado
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
Suspended last year and postponed this year due to the Covid pandemic, the famous carnival in Rio de Janeiro began on Wednesday April 20 in an electric atmosphere.
Syncopated rhythm, percussion, and of course more or less naked dancers in the streets, the party settles down for a few days in Rio.
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On television, even the commentators do not hide their joy.
After two long years, Carnival is back in Rio.
On Wednesday, the first samba schools got the ball rolling.
These were so-called “second division” formations to warm up an audience happy to reconnect with the party.
As tradition dictates, the mayor of Rio, Edouardo Paes, kicked off the festivities, handing over a huge key to the city to "King Momo", a jovial character dressed in a blue disguise, in the middle of a shower of confetti.
The mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes and “King Momo” during the traditional ceremony to hand over the keys to the city.
AP - Bruna Prado
The return of carnival festivities is a relief for the city's economy, which relies heavily on tourism.
AP - Bruna Prado
The high point of the carnival will be the parade of the 12 most famous samba schools on Friday and Saturday.
More than 70,000 spectators are expected in the stands of the sambadrome to attend this colorful spectacle, to the rhythm of percussion, and animated by thousands of dancers in the most fanciful and daring costumes.
The sambadrome, here in 2013, is a structure made of bleachers that surround a 700 meter long track.
Twelve schools will parade there, six on Friday and six on Saturday.
AP - Felipe Dana
The themes of this year's parade revolve around the fight against racism and the African roots of the samba universe.
Traditional Feira das Yabas carnival in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro, which celebrates the African roots of the samba universe, April 17, 2022. AP - Bruna Prado
But there will also be tributes to the victims of the Covid-19 pandemic which has killed more than 660,000 people in Brazil.
More than any other event, the carnival symbolizes the return to a certain normality in the country, a normality that no one knows how long it will last.
Rio City Hall has not authorized the street carnival.
Some "blocos" should still scroll.
AP - Bruna Prado
► To read also: Brazil: partial cancellation of the Rio carnival due to the increase in Covid-19 cases
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