Carnaval in Rio- An Amazing Experience

In a group on Hive we were asked to look into celebrations in different cultures and share our experiences. I would love to tell you about my experience with Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, some celebration I won't easily forget!

Carnaval

Carnaval is a Catholic feast celebrated before lent (period of fasting) and the biggest carnaval in the world is in Rio. Every area of the city has their own Samba school that takes place in the carnaval parade. You can tell the samba schools apart by the colors they use. Each school designs a dance routine, costumes and decoration.

Tickets sell out really quick, but we managed to get tickets for a practice run before carnaval, so we could see what that practice looked like.

Even the practice is really impressive! It all takes place in the Sambadrome, an insanely large stadium that has like a street running through where all the samba clubs pass through dancing, with loud music and lots of Brazilian joy for life. It was a great experience even just to see a practice.

Party in the Streets

But arguably the best carnaval parties are in the streets. Since most people can't go to the sambadrome most people just celebrate in the streets! The streets are filled with music and people dancing. It is insane how well most Brazilians can dance, I felt a bit like a Dutch clumsy cow haha. We decided to celebrate in the vincinity of our hostel in Santa Teresa, near Centro. As we were told that bringing valuables like phones and cameras were only things you could lose I didn't take any pictures. But this picture should give you a good idea of how busy and happy it is!

[Source](https://www.thetravelmagazine.net/rio-carnival-rio-de-janeiro.html)

I Loved It!

Safe to say that I loved Carnaval, it was everything that I loved about Brazil: the music, the dancing, the friendliness of the Brazilians. Would for sure go again (maybe drink a bit less caipirinhas) and see this amazing cultural event.