8 of Brazil’s greatest festivals past Rio

In a rustic recognized for celebrations – chief amongst them the Rio Carnival, which takes place yearly between February and March – there’s a lot to look ahead to all year long. From the riotous to the muddy, listed here are a number of the greatest festivals and celebrations.

1. Bloco de Lama, Paraty

This distinctive competition, held within the photogenic Costa Verde city of Paraty, coincides with Rio’s Carnival however couldn’t be extra completely different. Instead of vibrant sequinned costumes in each color of the rainbow, revellers put on a go well with of gray sludge: the mineral-rich mud present in Paraty’s surrounding mangrove lagoon. The custom started in 1986, when party-goers took a dip within the mud to chill off throughout significantly scorching climate; these days, individuals search to intensify the swamp-creature look with garlands of seaweed. Most of the motion occurs on the seashore, with sound system vans blaring samba music to accompany wrestling and tug-of-war matches within the mud.

2. Festa Junina, Campina Grande

The traditions of rural Brazil are celebrated every Festa Junina, on 24 June. Revellers costume within the conventional outfit of the caipira (nation folks) — checked shirts, straw hats and vibrant attire — and the festivities all the time function dancing. Junina jollity additionally consists of performances of forró, a folks music style making use of the accordion and triangle, and enjoyable competitions like three-legged races and ring tosses. Festival meals are part of the celebration too — particularly cocada, a coconut sweet, and caldo verde, a hearty soup of collard greens and sausages. Festa Junina is marked throughout the nation, however a very massive celebration is held within the metropolis of Campina Grande, in Paraíba state.

3. Semana Santa, Ouro Preto

To expertise a style of the extra severe, conventional facet of spiritual celebrations in Brazil, make for the Minas Gerais city of Ouro Preto within the week earlier than Easter. Here, Holy Week is widely known with enormous, vibrant ‘carpets’ – truly made out of dyed sawdust and sand – that are organized in town’s cobbled streets, depicting Biblical verses and tales. These carpets level the best way for a lavish procession on Easter morning, the final of eight processions over the week, which carry holy statues between the city’s church buildings. Ouro Preto’s Old Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and its 13 church buildings are inbuilt an beautiful baroque fashion.

4. Bumba Meu Boi, Parintins

Translating as ‘dance my ox’, Bumba Meu Boi is a vibrant folks ritual revolving across the efficiency of a play by which a dancing ox is killed by cowboys after which resurrected by Indigenous healers — a satire of Brazil’s historical past of colonialism. The most outstanding Bumba Meu Boi efficiency is held on the Parintins Folklore Festival throughout the Amazonas metropolis of Parintins within the final weekend of June. It options fireworks, lavish costumes and competing performances of the story by completely different Indigenous teams. The Parintins competition is the most important, however conventional Bumba Meu Boi celebrations are held throughout Brazil twice a yr, in late December in addition to June.

5. Cavalhadas, Pirenópolis

Brazilians are passionate equestrians, they usually pay homage to their horse-riding heritage on the Cavalhadas, the centrepiece of which is a mock battle between horsemen representing Moorish and Christian troopers. The battle is a dramatic affair, with the Christians in robes of royal blue jousting in opposition to the Moors wearing blood purple – however the consequence is predictable, with the Christians all the time victorious. The competition was began within the nineteenth century by a Portuguese priest and takes place 45 days after Easter. Although it’s celebrated throughout Brazil, essentially the most spectacular battle takes place in Pirenópolis, a city in Goiás state well-known for its waterfalls.

6. Bahia Carnival, Salvador

Brazil’s former capital, Salvador, offers Rio a run for its cash within the carnival stakes, with 2.5 million folks descending on its streets every year, starting on the Thursday earlier than every Ash Wednesday. Six riotous days observe, stuffed with samba, avenue meals and trios elétricos – truck-bed floats outfitted with sound methods and a stage on which musicians carry out. Although these vans can now be discovered at carnival celebrations throughout Brazil, they had been invented on the Bahia Carnival. Another uniquely Salvadoran phenomenon to look out for right here is samba-reggae music, a enjoyable Brazilian-Jamaican fusion typified by teams like Ilê Aiyê, who’re immediately recognisable by their yellow, black and purple Carnival costumes.

7. Réveillon, Rio de Janeiro

Not content material with having the world’s largest avenue occasion, Rio additionally hosts the most important New Year’s Eve celebration on the planet, with as many as three million revellers descending on the Copacabana neighbourhood. The iconic Copacabana Beach is the epicentre of the festivities, with musical performances from big-name Brazilian artists and spectacular fireworks shows launched from barges within the sea – 2025 alone noticed 15 tons of fireworks launched into the evening sky. Uniquely Brazilian New Year traditions contain dressing all in white and releasing flowers into the ocean – practices which originated with the Afro-Brazilian faith Candomblé as a approach of attracting blessings from Yemanjá, the orixá (deity) of the ocean.