A carnival is a Western Christian festive that occurs before Lent. The events happen during February and early March. Public celebrations happen in the form of parades or public street parties.
People wear different costumes and masks as they celebrate. The act of people coming together and celebrating promotes social cohesion and integration.
Different countries all over the world conduct their celebrations following their traditions. Specifically, we look at carnival celebrations in Brazil.
Brazil Carnival Celebrations
Brazilians value their carnival celebrations. People in large numbers gather together to mark this important day. Various regions in Brazil conduct their celebrations in different ways. It occurs in regions such as Bahia, Pernambuco, Sao Paulo, Minas, and Rio de Janeiro.
In Rio, the ‘Carnaval blocos’ who dress in unique costumes come out to celebrate in their way by playing musical instruments and dancing.
The Mud Carnival Party in Paraty
Paraty is a city in Brazil that is near Rio. Here, people mark their celebrations in an extraordinary way. During this time of the year, they have happy moments together by playing and covering themselves in thick mud. Year after year people celebrate and make it different and interesting.
People wrestle in the mud and having clothes on is an optional thing. The greatest thing about this party is that people play with mud, parade themselves in groups and dance to music with clouds of smoke in the air.
The event started in 1986 by some teenagers who were playing in the mangrove forest. Unfortunately, no one ever took notice of this amazing act and so they decided to go into cities covered with mud to attract people to join them.
During the next year’s event, the number of people increased. They paraded themselves and headed out to the city to gather more people and informing them about this great celebration.
The shopkeepers in the streets, however, complained about the act of them parading in the streets. The mud coated on the wall became a nuisance since it was hard to remove it after being smeared on the wall making the city have an eyesore look. However, this never stopped the celebration from happening and ever since till now more and more people gather for this event annually.
Importance Of ‘Bloco da Lama’
From an outside perspective, many people see the mud carnival party as just having fun and people throwing mud to one another.
This event holds important things towards the people who celebrate it as it brings joy and comfort to them. The mud helps clean the skin as confirmed by businessman,
“In addition to cleaning the skin, which is very good, it also brings happiness to the soul. You come with your family, everyone laughs, everyone has fun, everyone gets a little dirty and we share things, we go out on the parade and everyone knows each other and becomes friends. As a family, it’s the day of the year when we all become one family,” Businessman, says.
Tourists this year have come in thousands just to have a taste of how playing in the mud feels like and enjoy.
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