In Rio de Janeiro launched the carnival
RIO DE JANEIRO, February 25. /Offset. TASS Darya Yuryeva/. The official opening of the carnival was held on Friday in Rio de Janeiro.
By tradition the event was marked by the transfer of the symbolic key to the city to king Momo — the character who embodies the image of the master of the feast. In such a demanding role by a special jury annually selects high and fat man from several dozen applicants.
The main intrigue of the ceremony was the question of the participation of the mayor of Rio de Janeiro Marcelo Crivelli — former pastor of the Evangelical Church, who took office in January
The negative attitude of the mayor for the holiday, which has pagan origin and is accompanied by dancing in skimpy outfits, have been widely discussed in Brazilian society in recent weeks. For decades the key from Rio de Janeiro to the king Momo handed it the mayor, but Crivella broke tradition. After much hesitation and contradictory statements about the possibility of his participation, the new mayor appeared at the opening of the carnival.
Because of the mayor’s decision became known at the last moment, the ceremony of transfer of the key to king Momo began five hours late. All this time covering carnival of journalists, artists and musicians of the orchestra of the municipal guard, which traditionally performed the anthem of the city at the time of opening of the festival, waited for the appearance of the mayor. In the end, instead of the mayor key to the city to king Momo is handed the Minister of culture of the municipal government Nildemar Nogueira.
Another innovation was the venue for the ceremony. If in recent years it was held in front of city hall of Rio de Janeiro, this time the opening of the carnival was organized directly in the sambódromo “Marques de Sapucaí” extended by 700 meters area with bleachers on both sides.
This building, designed in the 1980s by Brazilian’s iconic architect Oscar Niemeyer, is the scene for the Central event of the festival, which became famous Rio de Janeiro for the whole world
We are talking about the competition — the parade of the Samba schools, which by analogy with the football teams are divided into leagues. Representatives of the higher League — a total of 12 Samba schools in the next few days will once again fight for the title of winner of the carnival. To evaluate the performance of each team will have a jury consisting of prominent public figures, musicians, actors, artists, architects and journalists.
School Special League will be released at the sambodrome on Sunday and Monday, and on Friday and Saturday there are processions of groups of category “A”. The voting results will be known on the day the official end of the carnival. We are talking about the so-called ash Wednesday, which coincides with the beginning of the Catholic lent and this year falls on March 1. However, six Samba schools that received the highest scores judges can show their art in the sambódromo — March 4 there will be a so-called parade of winners.