Rio Carnival is back

In 2021, about 215 million Brazilians mourned a carnival that is part of the DNA of an entire people: the edition was canceled due to the Covid-19 epidemic, which claimed 700,000 lives. And last year the carnival was postponed to April, the famous street processions, which could bring together hundreds of thousands of revelers … sprinkled with plenty of alcohol, were banned.

For this 2023 edition, the excitement peaked during the Parade of the Twelve Samba Schools, on February 19 and 20, in front of 70,000 spectators every evening and tens of millions of TV viewers.

At stake is the hotly contested title of Champion of the Greatest Carnival on the Planet, the Gathering of the Year for Brazilians, the Executioner, an enchanting arc of popular jubilation. The winning school for this 2023 Carnival will be known on February 22nd.

This 2023 edition was also the first since the return to power of left-wing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who in October defeated far-right head of state Jair Bolsonaro.

“The carnival represents the culture of an entire people. In the past, freedom of expression of our culture was suppressed.”says Carla Andrea Barbosa, a fifty-year-old fashion designer who has been working there for thirty years. Bolsonaro’s government has abolished the Ministry of Culture, cutting credits and censoring creations it doesn’t like.

Lula promised to restore her place of culture in Brazil, and as a sign of the time, the Minister of Culture, Margaret Menezes, floated out of the Mangueira School through the night from Sunday to Monday.