Rio’s Citizens Begin Carnival Festivities
This year’s Carnival, featuring 16 samba bands, colorful parades and democracy as its theme, is billed to be one of the most sexy and political in the history of the legendary festivities.
Rio’s Carnival, or Mardi Gras, officially opened Friday with a parade of musicians and dancers, including a team of strip-tease artists from local night clubs, and an elegant ball atop Rio’s famed bayside Sugar Loaf Mountain.
But many Cariocas, or Rio residents, began celebrating a week ago with the well-to-do attending fancy-dress balls and the poor dancing to the music of makeshift samba bands in the streets.
The guest of honor at the five-day Carnival is Tancredo Neves, an affable 74-year-old lawyer who will take over the Brazilian presidency March 15, ending 21 years of mostly military rule.
Festivities are due to end Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Roman Catholic observance of the austere Lenten period.
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