Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is a festive time in which street parades, music, and celebration among millions of party-goers are to be found everywhere in the streets. Carnival is a traditional cultural event that has become very commercial for Rio in modern times. Traditionally, it is rooted in the time just before the Lenten fast of Roman Catholicism, a period of 40 days before Easter. Carnival was a type of last-chance celebration of feasting before the 40 days of fasting that Catholics all over the world would undertake. In Latin America, where Portuguese Catholics had settled in years prior, Carnival became an event all on its own,

However, it has been said by some commentators that Carnival also has some non-Christian roots, considering that the pagan Romans also had a festive celebration of wine in which they worshipped Bachus. Then there is also the influence from Africa, of samba music, which has come to characterize the Carnival festivities over the years. In short, Carnival in Rio has a lot of influencesnot just Catholic.

McManus notes that tradition of Carnival grew out of the Parisian masque festivals in Europe, and were really begun in earnest in Rio by Portuguese who wanted to mimic the European holiday. Yet, the people of Brazil had to give it their own special and unique flavor: thus, they morphed it into a version uniquely their own over time, adding in elements from the people's African and indigenous cultural backgrounds (McManus). Parades, costumes, music, dancing, balls, and more are all part of the Carnival in Rio to which half a million tourists from around the world routinely come year after year (McManus). Demographically speaking, however, the largest participants in Carnival in Rio are from the black community, as they see in it a celebration of their African roots, thanks to the samba music that dominates Carnival today in the street parades and in the main stadium where competitions are held (McManus).

To really understand the various cultural influences of Brazil and Rio, one can look at the art that has emerged from that region. For instance, the art of Kehinde Wiley represents the Afro-Brazilian Baroque culture that is really at the heart of Carnival (KehindeWiley). His art is vibrant, eclectic, colorful, and assertive. Carnival is all of these things and more. Carnival is a celebration of life in Rio, a celebration of diversity; a moment of fun, excitement and community for hundreds of thousands of people and tourists. It can be described as a last bit of celebration before the serious work of Lent begins, but it has taken on even more significance beyond its original religious context. Rio is now known more for its Carnival than for anything else. The Afro-Brazilian influences of Wileys work represent the people who mainly promote Carnival today, and the Baroque influence represents the traditional European and Catholic influences that helped make the Carnival a reality in the first place. The blend of cultural influences found in Carnival are thus reflected well in the artwork of Wiley, who brings these influences to his visual style of creating works that represent the Brazilian culture in todays day and age.

Rio Carnival on Twitter helps to summarize the festivities with this tagline: parades, dancers, shows, pics, photos, news, blogs, bloggers, hotels, cheap flights, apartments, accommodation. And the Brazil Carnival Group on Twitter states that we deliver an unprecedented brand of high-end (VIP) tour excursions at the sexy world-class Carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro & Salvador Brazil. The emphasis is on appealing to tourists and showing them an exotic time. Pictures are posted of men and women in various states of undress or covered in body paint and other dazzling costumes. There are pictures of blue oceans, white sandy beaches, large hotels, and posts about how...…by the Portuguese traditions rooted in Roman Catholicism, but over the centuries the culture has turned back towards the indigenous culture that existed before the Portuguese arrived. There is also the commercial aspect of the celebration that has made it into a big money-maker for local businesses, as many tourists come from around the world to witness the Carnival at Rio. In this sense, the Latin American culture has reached beyond its geographical borders through the processes of globalization to attract people from other nations and cultures to take part in the festivities.

Yet, the festivities grew out of a wider awareness of and appreciation for a religious seasonLent. The festivities were meant to honor the god of wine prior to the season of fasting in which Catholics in Latin America would fast for 40 days in preparation for Easter. Today, there is not much emphasis on the religious context in which Carnival was once situated. This is obvious in 2022 in the fact that Carnival is being held after Easter instead of before Lent. But because it was canceled in the year prior due to Covid, many people are demanding that it be brought back and the actual dates do not really concern people that much.

In conclusion, Carnival in Rio is a huge cultural event that draws hundreds of thousands of people from around the world to join with the millions more locals of Brazil who come to hear the music, see the competitions, take part in the parades, witness the floats and exotic good times, and have a bit of fun. Tourists are targeted by companies online who want to sell the event as an exotic experience unlike anything else on the planet. The Carnival may be rooted way back in the tradition of feasting before a long fast for Lent, but today it takes place regardless of whether one will be fasting for Lent: it has become a cultural…