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Brazil's Carnival: A Mixture of Sensuality, Joy and Pleasure

The Brazilian National Day celebrations, this year, are being highlighted by the tour of the Brasil Tropical Carnival, in Taiwan. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to inform that the Carnival is part of the Brazilian culture, as one of its most representative expressions. Carnival is a mixture of sensuality, joy of life and pleasure. Its multiform character is due to the riches of its origin and development.

West Africans were brought in gloomy slavery to Brazil. With them came deep beliefs under their singing. Their Gods, the "Orixas", came with them on their voyage to the New World. They all show themselves in the might of their drums and in the euphoria of their dances. Our natives, children of the Land, lived a simple life, in which there was no room for sin. In their conception, the world was a place of happiness, rich in flowers, fruits and animals. Life is a gift from their God, "Tupa", and they knew how to praise and preserve it. It was this simple wisdom that the Europeans found when they first cast anchor into Brazilian waters. They also brought their beliefs, their traditions and their music.

From the amalgamation of these three cultures, sprang a fourth: the Brazilian culture. One of its best known and most beautiful forms of expression is, perhaps, the Samba, a rhythm which allow the elements of each original culture to flow harmoniously together. Asking why the Brazilians need the Carnival seems to be, on the surface, a redundant question.

The common conception is that Brazilians have this eternal urge to party, and Carnival gives the chance to the entire nation to stop working and go crazy for four days. It helps to know that the Portuguese word for costume is "fantasia". The word for fantasy in Portuguese is also "fantasia". In English and other languages the words "costume" and "fantasy" take on more distinctive meanings. In Brazil, the costume IS the fantasy. Donning costumes, men cross dress as women, women as men, poor girls as princesses, white people as black people -- reality is turned effectively upside down - in the Carnival. It can be also noticed that, on the one hand, some people overdress up like royalty -- fantasy indeed -- and dance proudly down the streets in their elaborate costumes. On the other hand, some people dance half of completely naked - that is also a fantasy -- relating to the old times, when Brazil belonged only to her natives, who were completely integrated to their original environment.

Carnival in Brazil today is generally celebrated around most big cities starting on a Friday night and ends on Ash Wednesday morning that marks the beginning of Lent. In big cities there are usually designated "stadiums" called "sambodromos" where samba schools compete against one another for the best parade performance.

Besides watching the parade, rich people usually head off to exclusive parties held by private clubs, while others hang out in street parties all over the city. Every night during the Carnival, the masses start partying in the evening until the early morning, drop of exhaustion, sleep, and get ready again for another night.

I hope this short message will enlighten about the origins and modern days of Carnival in Brazil.
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