The Rio de Janeiro carnival of 2011 is in full swing and pictures have started to crop on websites and forums all over the web. For the people that don’t know the Rio de Janeiro carnival is one of the most famous and colourful carnivals in the world, which is a four-day long celebration that takes place 40 days before Easter. It’s thought that the carnival attracts 500,00 visitors each year and starts on a Saturday and finishes on fat Tuesday with the beginning of lent on Ash Wednesday. The music that you can expect to be hear at the carnival is predominately samba, famous for slow rhythms and melodic tones. The most famous Carnival bands are:
• Cordão do Bola Preta – one of the most traditional bands parading downtown
• Banda de Ipanema marches on three separate days in Ipanema, followed by a huge crowd with lots of gay revellers
• Suvaco do Cristo parades in the Botanic Garden District, right below Christ-the Redeemer statue’s arm. The name in English translates to “Christ’s armpit”, and was chosen for that very reason
• Carmelitas was supposedly created by nuns but in fact it is just an allegory of the band. It parades in the hills of Santa Teresa.
The pictures that come back from carnival every year are always packed full of colour as people that parade at the carnival are always dressed in the most wonderful costumes that you can think of! Check out some of the pictures courtesy of the Telegraph. We love carnival season here at Ace Fancy Dress HQ and we stock some fantastic fancy dress masks that have that Rio de Janeiro type look and feel. We stock everything from plain eye masks to full overhead feathered masks. Check them out online today and get into the carnival spirit!
Ace Fancy Dress
and our range never fails to disappoint as we stock all sorts of styles with the most grotesque being Halloween!
