Rio Carnival Parade Guide

Beija Flor float at the Sambadromo


Rio Carnival Parade Guide

This page provides information about the Rio Carnival Parade also known as the Samba Parade, which takes place in the Sambodromo, Rio de Janeiro.

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The highlight of the Rio Carnival is undoubtedly the Rio Carnival Parade, a totally unique event in the world. It is something everybody has to experience at least once in life.

The event is broadcast live to several countries. Watching on TV is cool but not half as much fun as being there. You have to mingle with the crowd, watch the Brazilians and Cariocas (the Rio citizens) and for the best and real experience even march with a samba school.

The Rio Carnival Parade is the review of and actually a fierce competition in between the samba schools. The judges and spectators watch the Parade in the Sambodromo.

The Rio samba schools are subject to strict hierarchy.
The top 12 schools (the Special Group) march on Carnival Sunday and Monday, six each night. The two nights are similar in terms of set-up, the only difference being the schools parading. These are the most glamorous parades, the ones which need to be seen.

Each year a school is downgraded from the Special to the Access Group (also called Group A), which comprises the 12 less successful schools which parade on Carnival Saturday, and vice-versa.
The 6 schools that score best in the Special category, earn the coveted honor of marching again the following weekend, at the Champions' Parade on Saturday.

There are further samba parades in the Sambodromo - The Children´s Parade on Friday and the Group B (Base Group) on Carnival Tuesday.

Rio Carnival Portela Samba School at the parade

The Rio Carnival Parade is not a street carnival, where people move chaotically about but more of a highly orchestrated show of vast proportions. Every parader has a specific role and place according to his costume in a particular wing of a particular section of the samba school he is parading in support of.

Each year each school chooses a different theme for the Rio Carnival Parade. It can be celebrating a particular period or some famous figures of the Brazilian history, highlight a special event or talk about anything really what might move the spirit and imagination; like a special animal or one of the elements, like water or fire (the theme of the Samba School Salgueiro in 2005) etc. The school has to illustrate the chosen theme through all its work - the samba tunes especially written for that year's theme, the richly decorated floats and the costumes of their 3,000 to 5,000 parading members designed by the school's Carnavalesco (carnival designer).

Rio Carnival Unidos da Tijuca at the Parade

The parade of every school is highly organized and designed. They line up in a unique way to present their pageant. The schools are divided into a number of sections and each section has a number of wings of about 100 people wearing the same costume. Sometimes even 2 wings (ca 200 people) have the same costume design. You will find more info about the role and name of some special sections on the other side of this page.

In between the wings, there are huge floats, most are pushed along by men from the community but some are motorized and have mechanical parts.The floats carry some special guests on top along with young and beautiful samba dancers in very elaborate, feather-rich costumes.

The costumes are extremely imaginative, colorful, elaborate and detailed. They are very original, designed and made from scratch each year. They have mirrors, feathers, metallic cloth, silk and sometimes gems or coins. These costumes take months to make and are begun to be put together roughly 8 months in advance.

Each samba school has its own distinctive colors and costume styles. The biggest and most elaborate costumes are worn by destaques, members chosen with honor by the samba schools to wear these special costumes.

Even though complete nudity is not officially allowed, sometimes floats carry topless or almost-naked beauties, male and female, wearing only body paint, lots of glitter and a smile.

You may think of the whole event as a tropical opera or rather of several operas happening on one night. It is beautiful to watch and the experience for the paraders themselves is so intense that the memories last a lifetime.

Rio Carnival Imperio Serrano Samba School

As mentioned, the Rio Carnival Parade is a really glorious competition, for which the scores are given by the judges. There are ten categories that decide which samba school will be the grand champion of the year: the drums, the samba song, harmony, development, the theme, the entire presentation, floats and decorations, costumes, the vanguard commission and finally the flag bearer and her escort. There are 4 judges of every category (altogether 40 of them) and they are spread along the samba avenue in their booths which are usually clearly marked with a sticker/banner called "Julgadores".

Scores are given on a scale of 5-10 (with fractions), 10 being the best one. They are counted and announced on Ash Wednesday, just after Carnival.

The best schools are, following the ranking of the last 5 years, in this order: Beija-Flor, Grande-Rio, Salgueiro, Unidos da Tijuca, Visa Isabel and Mangueira.

Rio Carnival Mangueira Samba School at the parade

Samba Schools

The samba schools are associations of people from the same neighborhood, usually a working class community of the favelas and bring a sense of community and belonging. They get together on a regular basis for rehearsals and samba nights and are actually not teaching institutions as their name suggests. The origin of the name "samba school" comes from the legend that the early sambistas used to rehearse in an empty lot near a teachers' college. "We also teach! Here the students learn to breathe and live samba!"

The schools have a huge impact on their neighborhoods, being the best organized entities in the favelas, with thousands of people joining the rehearsals and carnival preparations. They are often politically involved, too.

The schools raise money from ticket sales, television broadcasts and dance events. Some of the money given by members and sponsorships comes from illegal gambling.

The Parade starts at 9 p.m. and goes on until sunlight the next day, around 5-6 a.m. Each samba school has a time of 60 to 75 minutes to make it through the run-way.

Take part and parade in a costume!

2010 Rio Carnival Parade Order and Schedule

Who is who
in the Parade

King of Carnaval (King Momo)
"Momo" is the name of the god of mockery in the Greek mythology, and according to Carnival tradition, King Momo should be jolly and as big as a house. Legend suggests that he was expulsed from the Olympus to come and settle down in Rio, the city of Carnival. Carnival officially opens in the delivery of the key of the city to King Momo. When King Momo sambas, everything - sequins, feathers and flesh and all people should also samba with him. He will be opening all major Carnival events including the Rio Carnival Parades.

Participant of the parade from Vila Isabel

Queen of Carnival and the Princesses of Carnival
The Queen of Carnival is chosen by contest based on her beauty, self-assurance, sociability, ease of expression, congeniality and samba abilities, but overall must have the "carnival spirit".  The 2nd and the 3rd place candidates in the Queen of Carnival contest are named Princesses of Carnival.

Carnival Designer (Carnavalesco)
This is the individual who is responsible for the artistic work of designing, producing and directing the school's parade. Sometimes they chose and write the theme too. They design every costume and float, chose and supervise the purchasing of materials, supervise the construction and manufacture of floats, costumes and accessories. They can earn a lot of money, in a top school. The names of the top carnival designers are as well known as the names of top film directors. They have their own idiosyncratic style, some being known for being very futuristic (Salgueiro), baroque/rococo ( Imperatriz , Mangueira), or have a special preference for a particular topic (like Beija-Flor´s preference for anything native Brazilian-Indian).

Wing (Ala)
A group of 20-200 people wearing the same costume. The costume will illustrate an aspect of the school's theme. Every wing has a president who is responsible for the costumes and co-ordination of all the wing´s members.

Vanguard Commission See photos
A group of 12-15 dancers with a highly choreographed routine, who parade at the front of the school "Introducing" the school to the crowds. Their costumes do not have to reflect the schools theme. Originally they were only well-dress men. Recently they have become a spectacle on their own, with great choreographers.

The Flag Bearer and her Escort
She is carrying and presenting the school's flag, while they are dancing down the Sambodromo, as the symbol of the School. He is there to protect her (originally he had a knife to make sure that the other schools are not damaging the flag, loosing the competition). Their dance is the most elaborate and elegant. The schools have more than one couple of flag bearers but only the front one (in front of the drummer group) is important and gains scores.

Participant of the parade from Unidos da Tijuca

Baianas
Older women dressed in glitzy variations of the traditional costume of Bahia with big skirts having tubes inserted inside so that they lend themselves for some beautiful whirling. Whirling along the avenue, they represent the soul of the samba schools, their African roots. There is a minimum number that must parade or the school gets penalty points (80 minimum in the Special Group). They are old people of the community, who have already been with the same School for many years like samba dancers. This is an honor and the samba school pays for their costumes. They are much respected and often get a round of applause when passing. Today only women can have this role while in earlier years men started to dress in those costumes, too.
Some schools (like Beija-Flor, Grande Rio, Salgueiro, etc) also have wings of little Baianas (baianinhas) of young girls.

Drummer Group (Bateria)
This is the heart of the School. It lends life and energy for the whole parade. A community wing, thus the costumes are paid for by the school. The Head of the Drummer Group chooses who is going to play in the group in a continuous audition at the rehearsals during many months before Carnival. The group's costume will reflect the theme, sometimes they are so big that it's hard to play. There are overhead mikes carried alongside the group and a sound truck with the singers. A school with a very good drummer group is a more then likely candidate for the champion´s title.
There are traditional ones, using the same elements for decades (like Mangueira, Portela, Imperio Serrano). In the 80s, Mocidade however bought some new form for their drummers along in the rhythm they played. And so, some other schools (like Viradouro, Grande Rio, Porto da Pedra, Beija-Flor) started to use further innovation using totally new components (going as far as using funk), like high choreography. This seems to be very successful.

Queen of Drummer Group
A beautiful female samba dancer in front of and introducing the Drummer Group to the crowd. She is supposed to motivate and inspire the hundreds of male drummers behind her.

Samba Dancers (Passistas)
A small wing of the finest samba dancers in the school - no more than 15 or 20. It's very hard to dance the samba at Rio´s speed whilst moving forward at nearly walking pace for 1/2 km: the samba dancers are a star turn. They are chosen through competition each year.

Stewards of the Flow (Harmonia)
Each float and each wing has a number of dedicated stewards to ensure that the flow is kept up. They will wear the T shirt of their wing or float. There are penalty points if the school takes too long to parade and points are lost in the Rio Carnival Parade if there are any gaps between or inside the wings.

Buy your 2010 Rio Carnival
Parade tickets here