This week in Brazil it’s Carnival, so we thought we’d attempt to describe what many have called: ‘the greatest party on earth’.
The first records of Carnival festivities in Rio date back to 1723 when Portuguese immigrants introduced the Entrudo - where people would go out with buckets of water and soak passersby. However, the authorities soon frowned upon thiese frivolities and eventually it was banned. In the 19th Century people began to march in the streets playing drums, tambourines, pans, and whistles, and this evolved into the Grandes Sociedades which was a more organized parade that debuted in 1855, and included the Emperor and aristocrats in masks and costumes. In 1870 the Cordão Carnavalesco started – and characters like queens, kings, witches, peasants and dancers would perform according to their costumes. There were also the Cordões de Velhos, where participants would wear huge papier-mâché masks and walk in an old man's gait.
Ranchos Carnavalescos started in 1872 as a working class festivity, and people would dress up in costumes and perform on the parade accompanied by an orchestra. These Ranchos soon gained sponsorship and started organized competitions which became one of the main attractions of Rio Carnival, together with the Great Societies. The Corso was introduced in 1907 with a parade of cars (the granddaddy’s of today's floats), and in the 30's this celebration became so popular that almost all car-owners in Rio participated! Eventually the Cordões evolved into Blocos de Sujos (where everyone could join in plain clothes), and Blocos de Baianas (composed of people from Salvador, usually men dressed in white colonial clothes).
At the end of the 19th Century in what was known as Little Africa, which was the residence of the Tias Baianas - ladies who came from Bahia - Tia Ciata held meetings in her living room where visitors were entertained with live music
played by local musicians, and at the back of the house there was samba, a term then used to describe the ritual Candomble ceremony. Eventually the two beats got together, and the first samba song was composed in her house. This samba was adapted, and at the end of the 1920’s organizers of the Blocos felt the need to evolve, and inspired by the Ranchos, the Escolas de Samba (Samba schools) were developed - Mangueira (founded in 1928) being the first 
samba school. In the 1940's and 1950's the samba schools evolved further, adopting themes, theme songs, costumes and floats, and artists began to design their parade – resulting in today's Carnavalescos.
In the 1960's and 1970's the samba started to gain prestige with the middle and upper middle class and Carnival balls were organised. The Samba Parade started to become more popular and in 1984 the Sambadrome, with its capacity of 65,000, was built, with each samba school
being given eighty minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other with all its thousands of dancers, its drum section (Bateria), and a number of floats.
However, inflated prices to watch the samba schools parade ($150-$500) has excluded many Brazilians from attending, and as a reaction to the high levels of commercialization, many neighbourhoods in Rio (and indeed in cities all over Brazil), have experienced a resurgence in the Carnival Bandas or Blocos.
samba school. In the 1940's and 1950's the samba schools evolved further, adopting themes, theme songs, costumes and floats, and artists began to design their parade – resulting in today's Carnavalescos.In the 1960's and 1970's the samba started to gain prestige with the middle and upper middle class and Carnival balls were organised. The Samba Parade started to become more popular and in 1984 the Sambadrome, with its capacity of 65,000, was built, with each samba school
being given eighty minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other with all its thousands of dancers, its drum section (Bateria), and a number of floats.However, inflated prices to watch the samba schools parade ($150-$500) has excluded many Brazilians from attending, and as a reaction to the high levels of commercialization, many neighbourhoods in Rio (and indeed in cities all over Brazil), have experienced a resurgence in the Carnival Bandas or Blocos.
A Banda plays well-known Carnival hits and consists of an orchestra marching along (or even stationary!) a pre-determined route, followed by hordes of enthusiastic samba dancers who come dressed in costumes, trunks or even in drag! 
A Bloco consists of several huge floats covered in loudspeakers, plays a variety of up-beat Carnival music and is followed by as many as 10,000 dancing Brazilians who are inside a block (usually surrounded by a cordão, or rope, which is held by thousands of security men who prevent anybody who hasn’t paid from joining the party).
A Bloco consists of several huge floats covered in loudspeakers, plays a variety of up-beat Carnival music and is followed by as many as 10,000 dancing Brazilians who are inside a block (usually surrounded by a cordão, or rope, which is held by thousands of security men who prevent anybody who hasn’t paid from joining the party).
In cities such as Fortaleza and Recife, for example, up to 12 Blocos (100,000+ people!) can follow one after another along a pre-determined route in a party that can last up to 24 hours – which in itself surely earns the Brazilian Carnival the deserved title of ‘the greatest party on earth’.
