What happens at a Brazilian carnival?
Carnival is celebrated throughout Brazil. Each carnival is unique but there are unifying elements: all involve music, dancing, processions and costumes. Bruce and the crew experienced Carnival in Benjamin Constant: one of the first Brazilian towns on the Amazon. During the carnival it is customary for men to dress as women and Bruce jumped at the chance to enter the 'Queen of the Carnival' competition, which awards a crown to the best-dressed 'woman'.
Read Matt N's blog on the carnival
Bruce runs for Carnival Queen
Carnival is celebrated at the same time throughout Brazil, just before the start of Lent, and the music, dancing and rituals draw on a mix of the cultural traditions of Brazil. It is common for carnival to involve a transgression of social norms: for example, men dressing as women.
Watch Bruce's video blog
Carnival history
The word carnival originates from the Latin "Carne Vale", which translates as 'farewell to the flesh' - a meaning that reflects the role of carnival in the Roman Catholic calendar as a final celebration of indulgences of the flesh (food, drink and other earthly delights) before they were renounced for Lent. The carnival festival actually pre-dates these Christian associations, with possible origins in the ancient Greek spring festival in honour of Dionysus (the god of wine), and then adopted by the Romans in honour of Bacchus and Saturn.
The Roman festivals, in common with Brazilian carnival, involved drunken revelry and transgressive dressing: the Roman masters wore their slaves' clothing and vice versa - breaking socially accepted codes for status rather than gender (as occurs in Benjamin Constant).
Bruce playing football in his drag outfit
Carnival arrived in Brazil as the Portuguese Catholic festival and was first celebrated in Rio in 1840 in a very different form to what it has become today. Initially, carnival in Rio was a masquerade ball and later became a street parade involving horses and military bands. Today, carnival is associated mostly with revelry, costumes, dancing and music. It is organised by the samba schools, which are neighbourhood associations, which in addition to teaching samba, provide a variety of community needs such as educational and healthcare resources.
Read Matt N's blog
The Music of Carnival
The first carnival in Brazil was set to European polkas and waltzes. Samba, the music now intrinsically linked with Brazilian carnival, was not initially part of the Brazilian celebration, but arrived with the influx of black Brazilians following the abolition of slavery in Brazil in 1888. As a music form it combines Angolan semba, European polka, Cuban habanera and other styles. Samba was first used in carnival in 1917 and its fusion of musical style reflects many of the people and cultures of twentieth century Brazil.
Another recent musical form along the Amazon is 'brega', which translates as tacky. This is very commonly played in carnivals along the Amazon, in towns such as Benjamin Constant. It is played very loudly, danced to very sexually, and its lyrics often involve crass sexual references and occasionally violent narratives. Brega is wildly popular along the Amazon, with brega groups such as 'Black Knickers' able to sell out stadiums.
