Festivals

In 2011, Brazil’s historic Salvador will erupt with the unbridled energy of carnival.  It is the world’s biggest and greatest street party, featuring two million revelers and six days of music and dance all set within the paradise of Salvador’s colonial architecture and white-sand beaches.

Salvador’s carnival is a descendent of entrudo, or ‘entry’, a pre-spring festival brought to Brazil by the Portuguese.  During entrudo, Salvador’s poor residents would take control of the streets, throwing eggs and water at one another in unabashed revelry, whilst the rich looked on with disdain from their mansions.  Seeking to replace entrudo, the rich imported to Salvador the carnival traditions of France, such as masquerade balls and street parades.  These traditions continue to influence modern carnival in Salvador, but the anarchist spirit of entrudo has never died.  Unlike Rio de Janeiro’s equally stunning Carnival which features opulent floats parading through giant stadiums, carnival in Salvador is an entirely street-orientated event, a spectacle in which every participant is the star. [Read more…] about Carnival :: Salvador, Brazil