Schnecken on the run

The infamous carnaval is celebrated in different styles throughout Brasil.  6 particular cities provide prime party opportunities.  We opted out of the raging action of RIO de Janeiro and Salvador and headed north to Olinda.  Why do people celebrate carnaval?  To be BAD..really BAD and pay homage to the king of carvaval–KING MOMO!  Carnaval celebrators need an outlet of sins before the commmitement of the 40 days of lent.

A brief historical lesson, as the story goes, is that carnaval stems from as far back as the middle ages.  These pagan cave rockers used carnaval as an excuse for a spring welcoming festival.  With portugese and spanish colonization, they tried to tame down these wild soirees with their refomation tactics–but the party ball kept rolling and in Brasil, exciting mixtures of indian costumes and african rhythms were incorporated into the chaos.  The main theme of  carnaval is pure joy and happiness for the millions of people that make an appearance.

The exciting vibe in Olinda was fueled by SAMBA schools and their strong samba percussion group;  along with dancing, floats and decorations.  It is a hard one to explain, but the mayhem starts when the announcer introduces the school and then the PUXADOR stars the samba.  When the samba school starts, huge marching bands with brass and percussion intstruments start moving down the street together.  Then the puxador guides the school with an amazing voice as he (mostly males) sings a theme song.  The people around go crazy jumping, singing and samba dancing–it is a frenzy of activity.  An aerial view must be outrageous because the streets are packed with people, moving together like a living organism.  People support the samba school of choice and then follow the moving BLOCO thru the city streets.  It is loud and very contagious. It is neat to know that a story is being told by the samba schools, they offer some sort of unifiying theme– social or economic awareness.  There are judges judging and the winning samba school becomes the new heros.  Samba schools are highly important and very significant for Brazilians.  There is MUCHO high energy surging around and constant  action to be witnessed.

The focus in Olinda is not only on the samba schools.  For 5 solid days there is frevo music being played (fast-paced, popular music) and many different types of BLOCOS and costume groups parading thru the cobble stone streets.  The opening ceremony is a bloco of more than 400 `virgins`–men dressed in drag and out to impress the crowd.  The organized events in Olinda are for shock value; risky, prude and beautiful!!

Totally bizarre and unexplainable events, incessant random kissing displays and heaps of happy gays, transexuals and just sweaty hip shaking straights.  Thommy and I were still in overload from 4 full carnaval days and nights, it is no wonder that humans need lent after a world shaker event like this!