Carnaval Tuesday

On Tuesday night Laura and I met up with Vianney on Leblon Beach. We ended up just sitting on the beach for awhile, which was a pleasant, low-key way to end Carnaval. While we were walking around awhile later, we happened upon a crowd of people outside a club called Scala in Leblon, so we decided to stick around to see what was going on. It turned out that all the people going to the club had to parade for a stretch down the street in order to enter the club, sort of like a Hollywood red carpet deal. Though some guests came in regular clothes, quite a few of the club-goers were in full costume, and they seemed to really have fun parading in front of everyone. Huge costume parties like that are known as Carnaval balls, and they occur all over the city throughout Carnaval. The costumes at Scala tended to be more glamorous than silly or childlike. It was gay night, so there was quite a bit of cross-dressing, and that was also the only time during Carnaval when I saw women wearing barely-there costumes outside of a samba parade or bloco, and were they ever barely there. A few of the women had nothing more than a few strategically-placed jewels in only the most essential of places. One woman seemed to be wearing a light tan bikini bottom with a few jewels in the front and one or two in the back, but after a minute I realized that those were actually just her tan lines and that she was wearing no fabric whatsoever. Though I found that type of costume to be rather extreme, I have to say that it must take an incredible amount of confidence to be able to parade in front of a large crowd of people without any more substantial attire. However, even outside the Carnaval ball, one of the few places where that type of costume is deemed acceptable, I only saw a couple women wearing such things. The vast majority still wore more normal clothing. My friends and I never went to any Carnaval balls ourselves, but it was fun to at least watch Scala’s entrance procession for awhile.

A lot of Americans seem to think that all Carnaval in Rio consists of is lots of scantily-clad women and lots of obscene or otherwise objectionable behavior. I even had a guy at school tell me that he was surprised that I, as a girl, would want to go to Rio at all. That comment made me angry and has stuck with me ever since because he was so wrong in his perception of Rio.

Carnaval isn't nearly the spectacle that the media make it out to be. In fact, I think there are probably festivals in the US that are far rowdier than the Carnaval that I experienced was. You might attribute that to my rather quiet nature, but I really don't think that was the case. Throughout Carnaval I spent time with different groups of people from different countries in different parts of the city, but no matter whom I was with or where I was, things almost always turned out to be calmer than I expected. Other foreigners also had this impression, so I know it wasn't just me.

The blocos were fun and the parade in the Sambodrome was definitely the highlight, but other than that, everyone just seemed content to stand around talking and drinking with their friends. Not unpleasant by any means, but definitely nothing particularly out of the ordinary. One would think that with extremely cheap beer available everywhere, there would've been lots of problems with drunk people, but I really didn't find that to be the case. I only ever encountered a few obviously drunk people, and they always happened to be on the buses. Overall people were remarkably well-behaved for a festival that's all about indulging in all earthly pleasures before the deprivation of Lent.

As for the scantily-clad women, that myth definitely got debunked, as well. Average Brazilian women celebrate Carnaval in the same clothes that they would wear to the beach or out with their friends. Stereotypical Carnaval costumes are only acceptable in a few very specific settings, and even though those costumes are revealing, I generally find it difficult to associate them with the unclassy and overtly sexual connotations they seem to have in the US. The costumes are so beautiful, ornately decorated with jewels and feathers, and to me, at least, they seem to represent a celebration of life and beauty and the Brazilian spirit, rather than simply sex. The women at the Carnaval ball are, of course, the exception. Those costumes (or lack thereof) were clearly designed with only one thing in mind. My guess is that the Carnaval balls are where some of the wilder Carnaval behavior takes place, though I never went to one to see for myself. Even if that were the case, however, the Carnaval balls are specific, contained venues - hardly the city-wide display of sinfulness that so many Americans seem to imagine - and I question whether the behavior at Carnaval balls is really that much different from at any normal club.

Overall, my impression of Carnaval was that the media makes a far bigger deal out of it than it really is. I tend to be easily shocked, and all throughout Carnaval I kept expecting to be shocked by transgressive behavior, but that never really happened. Since someone as mild as I am can get through Carnaval without feeling the least bit uncomfortable, I think the media makes it into something far different from what it actually is. However, writing about how people calmly stand around talking with their friends doesn't make for a very interesting story, so instead they twist the truth to make it sound more exciting. Plus, Americans have come to expect sensational stories about Carnaval, so it makes sense that the media caters to their expectations. All that truth-twisting and sensationalizing sure makes for one inaccurate picture of Carnaval, however.

I'm happy I had the chance to be here for Carnaval. I never thought I'd have the opportunity, since hotel prices go sky-high during it, but living with a host family easily solved that problem. I liked participating in the blocos, and I loved going to the Sambodrome. being able to experience everything firsthand was really cool. However, I don't have any great desire to return to Rio for another Carnaval in the future, and, with the exception of the Sambodrome parade itself, Carnaval won't go down as one of my favorite memories of Brazil. It was simply too unspectacular. To be honest, I was a little relieved when it was finally over because it meant that the hordes of tourists who'd come specifically for Carnaval were finally going to leave.

Leblon Beach

at Leblon beach