Carnaval 2009

As most people know, February is a great month in Brazil - it is the Carnaval, time when everyone goes party. Not everyone, of course, but the fact that Brazilians have a 4 and a half day of holidays is a big deal there. Even the ones who don't like partying, they use the mini vacations to go to the beach, or visit their families, or do something nice and use those days. It is a nice time to be in Brazil: crowded beaches, drunk people, the water is gone (because the city has more people than it can handle) and lots of fun.
This year, for the first time, I missed this event in my life. Is something you don't notice when you are living there, mixed with your culture, but after 2 years living abroad, I could see how awesome Carnival is. And I learned more about it too, what thrilled me more is the huge load of life and history and energy that Carnaval brings from all parts of the country. For example, I've always seen frevo as part of the Carnaval in the Northeast, a very exhausting & beautiful dance, but while here I learned why people dance like that and the reason why they use umbrellas.

It is because a long time ago, in that part of Brazil, samba schools were so competitive that when they met each other in the parade they started fighting, but the police always got violent and tried to stop them of doing it, so what those very creative people did? They pretended they were only dancing - using disguising capoeira movements - and used umbrellas as guns (if they had knives in the umbrellas or not I don't know) - so then they could fight unnoticeable from the police. How cool is that?

In Rio and Sao Paulo, where are the most popular samba schools, there is a reason and order to the samba cars (or floats) to go, timing, coordination, spacing, flow, union. There are rules for the dance of the Mestre Sala and Porta-Bandeira. And everything builds a beautiful and alive palette that grows in the avenue.

Funny thing is that I never cared that much for the Carnaval. But being here, where nothing happens, and the local culture is hockey and nothing else, it made me think about the richness of my country, miss it. Saudades...