The Prague Post - Brazil readies first carnival since Covid

EUR -
AED 4.227921
AFN 81.915001
ALL 98.109906
AMD 445.651011
ANG 2.060282
AOA 1055.685733
ARS 1340.627588
AUD 1.794926
AWG 2.072229
AZN 1.961445
BAM 1.959559
BBD 2.331313
BDT 141.210882
BGN 1.953938
BHD 0.434352
BIF 3438.376292
BMD 1.151238
BND 1.483294
BOB 7.9782
BRL 6.350344
BSD 1.154635
BTN 99.956877
BWP 15.562123
BYN 3.778747
BYR 22564.272529
BZD 2.31939
CAD 1.583091
CDF 3312.112972
CHF 0.94079
CLF 0.0282
CLP 1082.163738
CNY 8.275679
CNH 8.272425
COP 4700.126455
CRC 582.908053
CUC 1.151238
CUP 30.507817
CVE 110.475964
CZK 24.821879
DJF 205.618004
DKK 7.459212
DOP 68.470155
DZD 149.97381
EGP 58.487973
ERN 17.268576
ETB 158.774315
FJD 2.610605
FKP 0.855702
GBP 0.85693
GEL 3.130823
GGP 0.855702
GHS 11.89271
GIP 0.855702
GMD 82.317384
GNF 10003.929619
GTQ 8.873946
GYD 241.561283
HKD 9.037083
HNL 30.155322
HRK 7.535544
HTG 151.536741
HUF 403.437703
IDR 19007.694196
ILS 3.974656
IMP 0.855702
INR 99.96088
IQD 1512.588425
IRR 48495.917487
ISK 142.995158
JEP 0.855702
JMD 184.066288
JOD 0.816248
JPY 169.323782
KES 148.741506
KGS 100.676031
KHR 4627.716452
KMF 492.152207
KPW 1036.114554
KRW 1589.422494
KWD 0.352613
KYD 0.962237
KZT 603.362175
LAK 24910.785792
LBP 103457.35587
LKR 346.962557
LRD 230.920965
LSL 20.84699
LTL 3.399308
LVL 0.696373
LYD 6.294183
MAD 10.538378
MDL 19.854604
MGA 5159.943022
MKD 61.528234
MMK 2417.260079
MNT 4124.899362
MOP 9.335627
MRU 45.640759
MUR 52.680676
MVR 17.734823
MWK 2002.158086
MXN 22.168137
MYR 4.929591
MZN 73.632862
NAD 20.846809
NGN 1789.827383
NIO 42.490401
NOK 11.650762
NPR 159.930012
NZD 1.942703
OMR 0.442665
PAB 1.1546
PEN 4.146254
PGK 4.827134
PHP 66.315362
PKR 327.631179
PLN 4.273276
PYG 9215.838636
QAR 4.211142
RON 5.0331
RSD 117.219689
RUB 90.379723
RWF 1667.327362
SAR 4.31991
SBD 9.601822
SCR 16.629605
SDG 691.321326
SEK 11.151759
SGD 1.485103
SHP 0.904693
SLE 25.845211
SLL 24140.897729
SOS 659.877291
SRD 44.725806
STD 23828.310422
SVC 10.103293
SYP 14968.229493
SZL 20.843345
THB 38.001216
TJS 11.401873
TMT 4.029334
TND 3.417927
TOP 2.696317
TRY 45.712456
TTD 7.846985
TWD 34.156066
TZS 3073.806262
UAH 48.39245
UGX 4161.947617
USD 1.151238
UYU 47.210563
UZS 14500.690386
VES 118.067207
VND 30126.181922
VUV 138.041577
WST 3.175818
XAF 657.229165
XAG 0.031974
XAU 0.000343
XCD 3.111279
XDR 0.817382
XOF 657.229165
XPF 119.331742
YER 279.399392
ZAR 20.807941
ZMK 10362.52649
ZMW 26.701685
ZWL 370.698293
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Brazil readies first carnival since Covid
Brazil readies first carnival since Covid / Photo: Mauro PIMENTEL - AFP

Brazil readies first carnival since Covid

After two bleak years of lock-downs and loss, Rio de Janeiro will hold its famed carnival this weekend for the first time since Covid-19 hit Brazil, promising a giant, glittering spectacle of pandemic catharsis.

Text size:

Shimmying to throbbing samba beats, thousands of dancers in sequin-studded costumes are expected to reclaim the "Sambadrome," the iconic beach city's dedicated carnival parade venue, which was turned into a Covid-19 vaccination center in 2021.

Canceled last year as the pandemic death toll surged in hard-hit Brazil, then postponed by two months this year over fears of another wave, the carnival show is now set to go on at last, with all-night parades Friday and Saturday nights.

"It will be a very special year. I'm just feeling, 'I'm alive, I did it!'" said Bianca Monteiro, the "drum-corps queen" of Portela, the samba school that has won the most times in the history of Rio's carnival parade competition.

"We want to pay tribute to those who died of Covid. It's been a time of so much suffering, money troubles, hunger... The pandemic caused so much tragedy," she told AFP.

Covid-19 has claimed more than 660,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States in absolute numbers.

But with more than 75 percent of the South American country's 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the average weekly death toll has plunged from more than 3,000 a year ago to less than 100 now.

Everyone participating in and attending the weekend's 12 samba school parades will be required to present proof of vaccination.

"I missed it enormously. I just love carnival," said Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes.

"It's a party that represents so much of what we are as a city and a country. Carnival shows the world a people that is joyful, unprejudiced, that embraces diversity, religious tolerance."

- Comeback carnival -

Behind the frenzied swirl of floats, feathers and barely covered flesh, Rio's carnival is tightly shaped by tradition and rules.

Each of the samba schools will have 60 to 70 minutes to tell a story in music and dance, to be evaluated on nine criteria by a team of judges.

The reigning champions, Viradouro, chose as their theme Rio's legendary 1919 carnival -- the first celebrated after the devastation of another pandemic, the Spanish flu.

Other schools chose themes charged with social messages, with Brazil facing divisive elections in October likely to pit far-right President Jair Bolsonaro against leftist ex-leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Eight of the 12 schools' themes deal with racism or Afro-Brazilian history, loaded issues in a country where the current president has faced frequent accusations of racism.

Their samba songs include treatments of the protests that erupted in the United States after the police killing of George Floyd in 2020; tributes to two "orixas," or deities, of Afro-Brazilian religion; and celebrations of the black samba singers Cartola and Martinho da Vila.

"Samba schools are (historically) a representation of Afro-Brazilian culture," said carnival historian Luiz Antonio Simas.

"Under the current government, which is closely aligned with conservative movements that are hostile to carnival, it's highly political to have this black, visceral carnival."

- Hydrating for tears -

The excitement of carnival's return is also tinged with fatigue for the samba schools, which spend the entire year preparing -- extended in this case because of the pandemic beyond the usual dates just before the Catholic season of Lent.

"There's a lot of pent-up emotion. We'll have to hydrate really well to compensate for all the tears we're going to shed," said Talita Batista, who will be parading for Portela.

The event is also expected to bring some relief for a tourism sector battered by the pandemic.

Rio hotels are expecting an occupancy rate of 85 percent, despite the fact the city has not authorized "blocos," the massive street parties that usually accompany the official parade competition.

Several smaller street parties are still expected to be held.

R.Krejci--TPP