Everybody is aware that this year we are celebrating 200 years since the Portuguese Royal family arrived in Rio, but how did Rio de Janeiro become what is known for today? Follows below a small summary of Rio de Janeiro historical events:

The Guanabara Bay was first discovered by explorers from Portugal in January, 1502, which is how the January River, as 'Rio de Janeiro' translates, gained its name. At that time, 'river' was used by the Portuguese for any larger body of water. Soon after, Europeans from all over were coming there, with French smugglers already taking advantage of the bay by 1519. The first permanent European settlement in the area, called France Antarctique, was founded in 1555 by French naval officer Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. However, Villegaignon was forced to leave two years later after coming into conflict with the rest of the settlers.



Portuguese knight Estácio de Sá officially founded the city in March of 1565, calling it São Sebastião do Rio de Janeiro 20 (St. Sebastian of the January 20th River). For many years, the city's common name was São Sebastião. Founded as a base from which to conquer France Antarctique, the French were driven out within two years. The exact site of Rio de Janeiro's founding is at the foot of Sugarloaf Mountain. As it evolved over the years, the entire city was relocated to the top of a hill, according to the Medieval European defensive strategy, bringing the current center of town in a southwesterly direction, an urban shift which continues to this day.

Sugarcane was the area's first product, with slaves from both Africa and domestic areas utilized for the labor. When higher-quality sugarcane from northern districts of Brazil became more popular, this industry went into decline. In 1763, the colonial administration was relocated to the city of Rio de Janeiro, and it remained mainly a colonial capital until 1808, when the Portuguese royal family had to flee from Napoleon's invasion, winding up in Rio. Thereafter the city served as the kingdom's capital, becoming the only European capital located outside of Europe.



Prince Pedro I >declared Brazil's independence in 1822, but by that time the city's economic and political importance was dwindling when compared to São Paulo. However, it remained the capital even after the late 19th Century, when the monarchy was thrown out and a republic established in its place.

Then, in the early decades of the 20th Century, Copacabana Beach's natural beauty combined with the allure of the Copacabana Palace Hotel brought Rio de Janeiro the reputation it retains to this day, as the ultimate beach vacation spot.




Belavista Brazil Carnival is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns

In Brazil’s Carnival, one of the most disputed unofficial titles is to know who was the ultimate Carnival Muse was for a given year. Brazil media, press, general public, and publicity agency decide who were the most beautiful drum queens or muses parading in Rio’s Sambadrome. There is no official title for this informal contest, but national and international media always try to find THE ultimate carnival Muse for a given carnival. But why does this vibrant contest even exists?

Muses and drum queen have lots to profit in the advertising business, if they are selected as the top Brazilian beauty during carnival. Carnival muses in Brazil are extremely well paid by the publicity market. Beer ads, real estate, cosmetics and fashion-wear, are a few segments that constantly rely on Brazilian beauties to support their brands. Actresses and models then legitimately see carnival as an opportunity to cash in the investment they have made along their carrier.

On the other hand, muse aspirants or wannabes project an image of success during these days that can actually be used all year long. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that! A famous quote by “The girl of Ipanema” songwriter states Vinicius de Moraes says: "The ugly will pardon me, but beauty is fundamental,". Nothing new since “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty” from Keats “Ode on a Grecian Urn”.




Many of the Carnival Muse contenders also see a chance to play important roles on TV soap operas, TV shows and even movies. Some of them, in the other hand, seek more visual approaches, aiming cover of men’s magazine. Nothing wrong with that too! Beauty has its place when appropriately depicted.

In 2008, Brazilian Carnival saw a multitude of muses, disputing this informal title. Below I listed a few muses that could be a contestant in this tight contest:

• Grazi Massafera, model and TV actress
• Natalia Guimarães, Miss Brazil representative and 2nd place in Miss Universe
• Mirella Santos – model
• Juliana Paes – TV , Theater and Movie Actress
• Sabrina Sato – TV presenter and comedian



Whatever is the chosen muse, (I leave you to make the final call), a point aggressively debated in many forums and blogs is why these beauties sometimes represent or misrepresent the Brazilian Carnival. I guess beauty speaks for itself, but Brazilian carnival is obviously much more than this. (In the collective unconscious abroad, Brazilian carnival is linked to nudity). Brazilian women are indeed magically esthetically gifted, and I personally think there is nothing wrong with that. Beauty has been worshiped since the Greeks, Romans, and even before, when our ancestors walked the African plains.

In essence, beauty is much more complex than dichotomist debates with simplistic approaches.


Belavista Brazil Carnival is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns

One of the most common questions regarding carnival in Brazil, even amongst Brazilians is to know what are the official dates of the Brazilian Carnival. We know it’s not an easy task, since every year the carnival dates are different. In order to help your planning, we decided to supply you with all of the dates through 2030. We don’t want you to miss the best beach vacations of your life:

Carnival is a four day event that changes dates every year. It begins forty days before the Catholic holiday, Lent. The celebrations start Friday, prior to Ash Wednesday up until the following Tuesday. Ash Wednesday is a day used for recovering from the previous sleepless nights. However some cities in Brazil will present Carnival activities until the following weekend.



Here are the Carnival Dates from 2008 until 2030

Carnival in 2009: February 21st through February 24th
Carnival in 2010: February 13th through February 16th
Carnival in 2011: March 5th through March 8th
Carnival in 2012: February 18th through February 21st
Carnival in 2013: February 9th through February 12th
Carnival in 2014: February 3rd through February 6th
Carnival in 2015: February 16th through February 19
Carnival in 2016: February 8th through February 11th
Carnival in 2017: February 27th through March 2nd
Carnival in 2018: February 12th through February 15th
Carnival in 2019: March 4th through March 7th
Carnival in 2020: February 24th through February 27th
Carnival in 2021: February 15th through February 18th
Carnival in 2022: February 28th through March
Carnival in 2023: February 20th through February 23rd
Carnival in 2024: February 12th through February 15th
Carnival in 2025: March 3rd through March 6th
Carnival in 2026: February 16th through February 19th
Carnival in 2027: February 8th through February 11th
Carnival in 2028: February 28th, 29th, March 1, March 2nd
Carnival in 2029: February 12th through February 15th
Carnival in 2030: 4th March through March 7th


So, remember! Plan your ultimate jade beach vacation ahead of time. You will not regret the best luxury beach vacations of your life!

See magnificent picture of Rocinha Samba School dancer in China by Alexandre Vidal:




Belavista Brazil Carnival is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns

Today we are going to provide you with an important tip when traveling to Rio de Janeiro: Hotels or Vacation beach Rentals?

In case you decided for Rio, the best way to go for lodging is to stay vacation beach rental instead of a traditional hotel. The basic reason is that vacation beach apartments have proven to be a winning proposition for local and international tourists who seek for fun, quality, security and privacy in Rio de Janeiro. Many hotels do not allow guests or private invitees in their facilities. In beach vacation rentals, you are able to live the spontaneous life of a true Carioca (name given for those born in city of Rio), while taking profit of the comfort you deserve when traveling abroad. Dream tourists now desire a new kind of proposition for rental accommodations: the enjoyment of a true local experience. (Tourists in Brazil want to be able to wear tiny bikinis and flip-flops in fashion to the current trend.)



In Rio, there are several rental agency sites that offer these kinds of beach vacation rentals. You can for example choose between accommodations with hot tubs or with a warming oceanfront view for example. You can find furnished apartments and houses in best neighborhoods in town such as Copacabana, Ipanema, Flamengo, Leblon, Leme, Urca, Barra, Botafogo, and Lagoa. Today, there are hundreds of vacation apartments to choose from.

Vacation beach rentals in Rio may vary significantly: In most of the cases, you can choose between cheap, budget, economic, quality, luxury and super luxury units in different type of rentals like apartments, penthouses, studios, lofts, houses, condos, bedrooms and even villas! Prices also vary from US$ 30,00 a day for a room to several hundred US$ a week.

Next time when visiting Brazil, plan ahead. Search through the rentals company’s site, choose the vacation apartment, negotiate well the price and reserve the desired option. If you follow carefully these tips, you will have the romatic beach vacation of your life!

Cheers!

Ok, Carnival 2008 in Rio is over, but its repercussions are not! This years carnival had a new spice to the crowd, media, and samba schools judges to reflect upon: Was samba dancer Viviane Castro, a 25 year old model born in Luiziânia, in the state of Goiás naked or not?

The carnal controversy may be hot, but dead serious. Rio de Janeiro Major League Samba School Association (called "LIESA"), decided in 1990 that it was permanently prohibited to parade with "exposed genitalia", in every possible way: naked, painted, or decorated. If any member of a samba school was identified breaking the rule, a penalty would then be applied to that samba school which would loose 0.5 point during the parade contest. In reality, the aphrodisiac discussion goes back to 1989, as historian Iran Araújo points out: Ex-model Enoli Lara appropriately embodied the Greek Goddess Aphrodite on top of a float of União da Ilha Samba School in Rio Sambadrome totally naked (yes, not in a micro mini skirt, or tiny string bikini !! ) but wearing only high-heel boots and a veil. After that incident, LIESA decided to take some measures to avoid nudity in the following carnival parades.


See below Vivane Parading with Sao Clemente Samba School in Sambadrome




Viviane Castro, who paraded as a Drum Queen for Sao Clemente Samba School, at Rio Sambadrome, was costumed as a native indian as they appeared to the Portuguese. (The samba group chose as their parading theme "enredo", the arrival of the Portuguese court to Brazil). In addition to a marvelous necklace and head-piece, the model innovated with a 1.6-inch ( 4 cm ) "sex cover," or patch, believed to be the smallest in Rio parading history. The problem was that after a parading for a few minutes, the glued on patch fell and she indeed paraded wearing the same clothes as the natives indians from Brazil's discovery period.

This stimulating controversy was sufficient to give her 15 minutes of fame. Viviane's suggestive parading became the most talked upon theme during Rio´s carnival, covered by national and even foreign media channels, like CNN.

São Clemente Samba School was penalized having 0.5 point taken off her scores by these contest criteria but even São Clemente directors admit their parading was not so luxurious as in the past years. The samba school was downgraded to what is called "Grupo de Acessos", or Access Group, that parades one day before the major samba schools scoring the last position with 387,5 points. The school also had another penalty for having an extra float-car, loosing one entire point. The schools directors agree the schools downgrading had nothing to do with Viviane 4 cm patch, since they lost important points in several other categories such as Harmony, Samba theme, and Floats.

For the 25 year model of Goiás, the voluptuous controversy seems to be paying off: She was recently invited to pose to Playboy magazine, participate in several celebrity talk shows, and is supposedly dating São Paulo worldwide famous soccer player Adriano, also known as "the Imperor".



One thing is for sure: Developments of Rio´s carnival can last many days, months and even years. Watch out for what you do and be careful with the magic that can hypnotize even the coolest hearts!

Cheers!

This is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Now we understand the origins and costumes of Mestre Sala and Porta-Bandeira, Master of Ceremonies and Flag Bearer, we will finish to explain some of their main attributions.

The main function of Flag Bearer - porta-bandeira [porta bandayeera] is to present to the crowd, judges and press, the Samba Schools Flag. Every Samba School has a distinctive flag and color, by which their community is represented. Mangueira Samba School for example has as its traditional colors the green and pink. During the parading in the Rio Sambadrome, the Porta-bandeira waves and swirl the banner unfurling it in graceful gestures and reverence, while the Mestre- Sala offers his protection.



For this gesture, the judges will give notes of between 3 and 6 for their presentation and between 2 and 4 for their costumes. The couple do not dance samba but lead with grace and lightness the flag, rapidly spinning around each other in systematic swirls and paces combined with casual and elegant gestures. The Flag-bearer earns points for her lightness, her grace and her noble and presumptuous attitude. Also, during the parade, she kisses the Samba School Flag, in a sign of respect and pride.


The Master of Ceremonies, whilst courting and presenting his flag-bearing partner, protects and exhibits proudly the banner of his samba school. Another attribution of the Mestre-sala is to draw everyone’s attention to `his queen´ and make sure the School Flag attracts photographers´ and media attention. Another interesting aspect of the couple is their samba steps. Unlike other samba dancers, their choreography is refined and delicate, resembling the court dances of France aristocratic palaces. She should “slide” and not dance a true samba, while parading as experts note.




Samba historians say the “Maçu” was the first official Master of Ceremonies In Rio carnival. He learned the dance steps and movements with Hilário Jovino Ferreira, Getúlio Marinho and Teodoro, legendary samba dancers from the past. Another curiosity of samba history is that many of the first Porta-Bandeiras in early days were men. It was only later on that women picked up that post. Other samba historians point Ubaldo from Portela as the first Mestre- Sala.

In modern days carnival, Selminha Sorriso from Beija Flor</b> can be considered as one of the best Flag Bearers ever. She has won for several years the maximum number of points possible during the contest: 10 points.

Below we see the couple from Rocinha Samba School in 2008.




Finally, it is worthwhile noting that in common with the Samba School Drum Queen, both posts confers high status to participants. Young kids in the samba communities strive to reach these posts. This couple is so important in a Samba School that in a parade, there are more than one Mestre-Sala and Porta Bandeira couples. Some schools have 3 couples during one parade.


This is a non-commercial blog devoted to wonders of Rio de Janeiro, with a focus to the Brazilian Carnival. Our sole objective is to describe how Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is magically created, its artists, dancers and musicians that make up the world’s largest show. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or concerns