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Carnival in Brazil

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In Brazil, just outside Rio de Janeiro, a mud parade is a different take on the traditional Carnival celebration.

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This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

KATY CLARK:  I’m Katy Clark and this is The World.  Carnival has erupted in full force on the streets of Rio de Janiero.  Hundreds of thousands of tourists, not to mention Madonna and Paris Hilton, have joined multitudes of Brazilians shaking their bodies to throbbing samba music.  The traditional Carnival costume includes tiny bikinis and other sensual outfits, often festooned with feathers and rhinestones.  But there’s another parade each year outside the chaotic celebration in Brazil’s capital.  The World’s Marina Giovannelli reports.

MARINA GIOVANNELLI:  People marching in the Carnival parade in Piranchi about 150 miles south of Rio do not wear feathers and rhinestones; they wear mud and little else.  Kelly Bojeti has run a Bed and Breakfast for seven years in Piranchi.  She says thousands flock to [phonetic] Chabaquara Beach.  Its shores are dense with black medicinal sand.  There revelers paint their bodies with the thick goo.

KELLY BOJETI:  So people put sand all over their bodies and they think it was fun and they start dancing.  The most funny time in Brazil, it’s Carnival.

GIOVANNELLI: After caking themselves, Bojeti says marchers walk the mile or so into the city of Piranchi writhing and singing the whole way.

BOJETI: They are singing the Carnival music and they are dancing.

GIOVANNELLI: The mud caked partiers are eager to share their excitement in the streets with anyone that crosses their path.

BOJETI: Now if you are on the street they are going to hug you.  So if you do not want to be with black sand on your body, do not go out.

GIOVANNELLI: In addition to being a whole lot of fun, the mud parade brings attention to Piranchi’s ecosystem.  The medicinal mud beaches are flanked with sensitive and ecologically valuable mangrove swamps.  Some say international attention to the mud parade has kept harmful development at bay.  For The World, I’m Marina Giovannelli.

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