This year's Rio de Janeiro's carnival held its second night of parades on Monday night. Thousands of dancers, representing seven of the city's elite samba schools, paraded through the purpose-built stadium, all hoping to be named 2019 carnival champions. Another seven competed last night.
Two of the samba schools used their parades to pay tribute to Marielle Franco, a Brazilian politician and human rights activist who was assassinated last year. Her sister Anielle Silva took part in the Vila Isabel samba school parade, while her partner Monica Benicio marched with Mangueira. The two women had planned to marry this year.
Franco, a champion of LGBT rights and an outspoken critic of police brutality, had been returning from a black women's empowerment event when she and her driver were gunned down. In January 2019, two police officers were arrested on suspicion of having been involved in her assassination.
Like New Orleans's Mardi Gras, Rio's carnival marks the beginning of Lent, a celebration before the 40 days of fasting. But carnival is much bigger than Mardi Gras. It is more like Brazil's version of the Super Bowl—virtually the whole country comes to a standstill to watch the parades on TV.
The parades are judged on areas such as design, choreography, costumes and—the most important one—theme. The perfect theme should be glitzy and fun, yet also memorable and meaningful. Schools often choose social issues or major historical events that lend themselves to epic staging.
As soon as each year's parade ends, work begins on the next one. Entire armies of carpenters, seamstresses, dancers and musicians work around the clock, building the elaborate floats and sewing the thousands of sequins onto the hundreds of eye-popping costumes.
The seven schools that competed last night were: São Clemente, Vila Isabel, Portela, União da Ilha, Paraíso do Tuiuti, Mangueira and Mocidade. Newsweek presents photos of each school's parade.
São Clemente
Vila Isabel
Portela
União da Ilha
Paraíso do Tuiuti
Mangueira
Mocidade
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