Samba group to tout condoms during Rio's carnival

Carnival has always been a celebration of flesh and abandon, but as celebrations get under way this year a prominent samba group is reminding revelers not to forget their condoms.

Carnival officially begins today, but the sound of drums has been rumbling like distant thunder for days now and the airwaves are crowded with the sound of this year's most popular samba songs.

Among the usually irreverent sambas, one stands out: Grande Rio's Let's Wear the Little Shirt, My Love -- slang for ``Let's wear a condom, my love.''

The group says the song is an important social statement.

"We very much respect the church because we're a Catholic country but we also recognize the importance of using condoms because there's an epidemic in the world. It's nothing against the church," explains Liege Monteiro, spokeswoman for the Grande Rio samba school.

But Joaosinho Trinta, who has designed the group's parade, seems intent on provoking the Church with floats that feature giant statues of Adam and Eve simulating fornication and costumes featuring sexual positions out of the Kama Sutra.

All things considered, the reaction from the church has been relatively restrained.

"If it seeks to discredit, in the eyes of the world, Rio's carnival -- that can be so beautiful -- through one or another indecorous or unacceptable scene, then justice should intervene for the common good," Rio's archbishop, Reverend Eusebio Oscar Scheid, said when informed about the group's intentions.

In the past, under a previous archbishop, the church has sued in order to remove Catholic symbols from carnival parade floats, but so far no legal action has been taken.

Instead, the group has earned praise from the UN's anti-AIDS program.

"Grande Rio's decision to promote a safe sex message during the Rio carnival is a very bold move that must be applauded," Luiz Loures, UNAIDS associate director for Europe and the Americas, said in a statement.

Loures planned to visit the workshop where Trinta and others were putting finishing touches on the carnival floats yesterday.

The controversy highlights how comfortable Brazilians are with their seemingly contradictory respect for the church and their love of an irreverent carnival.

"It's a typical Brazilian attitude. We're middle-of-the-road about everything. We're not radical in our sexual abandon nor in our prudishness," magazine columnist and TV commentator Diogo Mainardi said.

Carnival itself is full of contradictions. There's no lack at all of women with bared breasts and buttocks, but total nudity is strictly prohibited during the celebrations -- meaning people wear G-strings and other skimpy items.

What looks like an explosion of anarchy and pure pleasure is actually a heavily rehearsed competition with neighborhood groups fighting fiercely to be declared this year's champion.

Across this nation of 175 million people, Brazilians will drink and dance the night away, but carnival is also a major event for the federal government's anti-AIDS program, which plans to distribute 10 million free condoms during the five-day, pre-Lenten bash.

While carnival is celebrated in different ways across the country, the highlight of the five-day, pre-Lenten bash is Rio's carnival parade, which takes place at the specially designed Sambadrome stadium. The city's 14 top samba groups present elaborate parades featuring hundreds of drummers and thousands of singers and dancers.

The Grande Rio parades early Monday morning.