Home » Travel & Places » South America » Brazil

Brazil's Magic Island: CARNAVAL!

Ranked #7,683 in Travel & Places, #204,961 overall

Floripa's Grand Celebration

The image to the left is the 2012 artwork theme for União da Ilha da Magia (Magic Island Union), one of the five samba schools in Florianópolis that is preparing for Carnaval. Their theme is Una Bella Storia (A Beautiful Story), which language buffs will know is not Portuguese but Italian, a bit of a giveaway that their theme is about Italian contributions to Brazilian culture. When people hear the word Carnaval, what typically comes to mind is Rio de Janeiro. But there are amazing Carnaval celebrations all over Brazil. This lens is going to focus on Carnaval where I happen to be located: Florianópolis, on the Island of Santa Catarina, just off the southern coast of Brazil (south of São Paulo). It will be updated with photos and video clips leading up to and during the actual celebration that takes place February 18-21.

What exactly IS Carnaval, Anyway?

A (very) brief history

Floripa Carnaval 2011. Source: http://marciamello.com.br/blog/1125/qual-o-seu-destino-neste-carnaval/Carnaval (okay, we spell it Carnival in English and call it Mardi Gras) is a largely Catholic phenomenon that takes place just before Lent, which in turn is comprised of the forty days leading up to Easter. Lent, as you probably know, is a time of reflection when folks are supposed to refrain from having a lot of parties or indulging in the things that distract us from focusing on importance and meaning of Easter. So, what better way to get ready for forty days of piety than to have the biggest party you can imagine! Think of it as getting all of that out of your system so you can re-tune toward higher things. Carnaval often involves huge parades, dancing, street parties, masquerade balls, you name it. It is a serious party not for the faint of heart!

Carnaval Books from Amazon

Learn about Carnaval traditions around the world!

Loading

Magic Island Union

Will they win this year?

Magic Island Union LogoThis Samba school is the new kid on the block. They competed in the Floripa Carnaval parade for the first time in 2009, and in their third year, 2011, took home the title. That's pretty amazing for such a recently-started school. To give you an idea of what's involved here, there are going to be somewhere in the vicinity of 2,500 people in this group's parade unit. There will be a big Bateria (drum corp), Samba musicians and hundreds of costumed dancers marching in the parade. The great thing is that pretty much anyone can shell out the money to buy one of the costumes and actually be IN the parade. My wife and I thought about doing that, but then we realized we really want to see the whole thing! We're particularly excited about this Samba school because they practice in the neighborhood we live in, which is Lagoa da Conceição (Conception Lagoon or Lake), on the central part of the island.

Costumes for Magic Island Union

Here are just TWO of 18 cosutmes for this one Samba school!

2 of 18 UIM costume options

Magic Island Union Rehearsal in Plaza November 15th

Woo-Hoo!

Loading

United Little Colony

They sat out many years, then started winning

Little Colonies Samba School LogoThis school's name, Unidos da Coloninha doesn't seem to translate well, but I think it's something like United Little Colony. It refers to the humble folks who inhabited the parts of Florianópolis that extends onto the mainland. QUICK GEOGRAPHY LESSON: Florianópolis is the capital city of the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, and most of the city is located on an island of the same name (Santa Catarina Island), but the city also spills over onto the mainland. So this school is "on the continent" as they say around Floripa! The school was founded in 1962 but then starting a year or two after that they did not march in the big parade for nearly twenty years, but just did local neighborhood parading around. I have not been able to determine why that happened. At any rate, it re-emerged in 1983 and starting in 1984 won five titles in row.

Costumes for United Little Colony

Just TWO of 19 different costumes for this Samba school!

The Favored Princess

Won big in 2001 after an 18-year dry spell

The Favored Princess LogoThe name of this Samba school was given in honor of Princess Izabel who, on May 13, 1888 signed the Golden Law that abolished slavery in Brazil.

Costumes of the Favored Princess

Just TWO of 29 different costumes for this Samba school!

Protegidos da Princesa Costumes

Favored Princess Rehearsal in Plaza November 15th

And this is just a REHEARSAL!!

Each samba school gets several opportunities to rehearse their full show, both at the sambadrome as well as well-known locations throughout the island.
Loading

Samba Consulate

17 championship titles since 1977!

Consulate of Samba LogoThis school was formed in 1976 by a bunch of employees of the Brazilian electric company Eletrosul who had been relocated to Florianópolis from Rio de Janeiro. It started out as the Consulate of Samba and was renamed Samba Consulate in 1986.

Costumes for Samba Consulate

Just TWO of 24 costumes for this school!

Samba Consulate Costumes

Good Living Embassy

Been around a long time, but not many titles

Good Living EmbassyThis school was founded in 1955, but it's not clear that they've won much of anything over the years beyond the championship title that year. Maybe this year will be their lucky break! Translations of the name often come out as Embassy Cup Lord or Lord Embassy Cup, but the "copa lord" was a slang saying that meant something like "a good living" so I've translated the name as Good Living Embassy!

Costumes for Good Living Embassy

Just TWO of 14 different costumes for this school!

Copa Lord Cosutmes

Who has the Best Carnaval Costumes?

Vote Now!

Loading poll. Please Wait...

Feel like coming to Florianópolis for CARNAVAL?

Come celebrate with people who know how to party!

powered by Orbitz

Drop Us a Note!

We love hearing from folks!

  • naheedahsan Feb 21, 2012 @ 9:42 pm | delete
    very interesting Carnaval.
  • Hilary Feb 16, 2012 @ 11:31 pm | delete
    Are tourist able to get into the sambadrome? Do you buy tickets? My husband and I are hear and really want to get the full experience.
  • shermanmorrison Feb 17, 2012 @ 3:58 am | delete
    Hilary:

    YES! But I think it's too late. My wife stood in line for hours and was able to get us the tickets we need (children are free). It's possible that you can still go over to the sambadrome and get tickets for section E, which would be all that's left at this point, and that's where we'll be as well. You just have to have some kind of ID for each person who's going to have a ticket when you buy them, because you'll be showing that ID again when you go to get in!
  • dotpattern Jan 31, 2012 @ 8:07 am | delete
    Do they have a stadium to do their parade like the "Sambadrome" in Rio? (designed by 103 year old architect, and the last communist on the planet, Oscar Niemeyer).
  • shermanmorrison Jan 31, 2012 @ 9:38 am | delete
    YES! They do have a sambadrom for the big parade. It is called Passarela Nego Quirido, but I can't figure out the translation. I think Passarela is Catwalk!
  • CruiseReady Jan 27, 2012 @ 7:19 am | delete
    I sure like the costumes here better than some others I have seen that were ultra skimpy.
  • shermanmorrison Jan 27, 2012 @ 7:27 am | delete
    Well, there will definitely be plenty of skimpy ones at the actual event, to be sure. Each school's official costumes tend to be on the tamer side. Overall, however, just about anything goes!
  • Pastiche Jan 26, 2012 @ 7:15 pm | delete
    I know Carnaval / Mardi Gras is especially wonderful in Brasilia !
  • Susan52 Jan 26, 2012 @ 3:36 pm | delete
    Interesting - and colorful!
Show All

by

shermanmorrison

I am currently working my way through Antioch University's PhD in Leadership and Change, writing my doctoral dissertation on Sustainability in Higher... more »

Feeling creative? Create a Lens!

Explore related pages

Related Tags