Carnival In Brazil

5 Pages 1164 Words

Located in the continent of South America, Brazil is one of the world’s largest and most populous countries. The country’s capital is Brasilia and its largest city is Sao Paulo. Brazil is an exotic country with beauty that not only comes from the culture but also from its geographic attributes. Attributes such as “the distinctive dome shape of Sugar Loaf Mountain in the city of Rio de Janeiro” (http://Encarta.msn.com). Brazil is also a home to a very diverse population of people. The people of Brazil vary in nationality ranging from Native Americans, Portuguese settlers, and African slaves. This ethnic mix between the three groups resulted in the creation of some very distinctive Brazilian culture forms, especially in music and architecture.

Every year the people of Brazil remind themselves and the world how uniquely and culturally diverse they are by holding an annual festival throughout the country. This festival or in simpler terms, “party”, is known as Carnival. The word carnival comes from Latin, “Carne Vale”, or “Farewell to the Flesh”(http://www.afropop.org). Depending on where the Carnival is being held throughout the country, that is how it is named. For example, if the carnival were being held in Rio de Janeiro, it would be called the Rio Carnival (O. Jeanlouie).

The “Grand” festival, Rio Carnival, is held each year in the city of Rio de Janeiro. Residents of Rio refer to the city as “Cidade Maravilhosa!” or “Marvelous City” in Portuguese. The origin of Rio Carnival goes back to 1723 when the Portuguese and Spanish migrated to Brazil and brought their culture with them (http://www.irenescorner.com).

During the liturgical period of Lent, they celebrated “o entrudo”, a festival that started on Ash Wednesday. During this four day long festival, at the time, people amused themselves by throwing water on each other. Over the years as these Portuguese settlers celebrated entrudo, black p...