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AP PHOTOS: In Rio and beyond, Carnival brings euphoria and release to Brazilians

AP PHOTOS: In Rio and beyond, Carnival brings euphoria and release to Brazilians

Drum queen Lorena Raissa from Beija-Flor samba school performs during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, early Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
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Drum queen Lorena Raissa from Beija-Flor samba school performs during Carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, early Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)
By  DAVID BILLER
Updated 3:54 AM UTC, March 5, 2025
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — It’s that time of year in Rio de Janeiro: Carnival!

Carnival in the Brazilian city has two sides: the street parties, known as blocos, and the parades at the legendary Sambadrome.

Since Friday afternoon, hundreds of street parties have been roving through Rio’s streets, each with its own aesthetic, theme or musical style. They’re raucous, rambunctious romps with thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of partygoers.

There are also street vendors who race across parks and up hills, from downtown to Copacabana and Ipanema, to position their carts loaded up with beer and water to quench the thirst of the revelers.

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The street parties are where you put on a zany costume and seize your main character moment, or show some skin and then cover it with glitter. Hand the reins to your wild inner child. Get silly with strangers. Never mind war or politics. Forget rising prices, strained relationships. Instead, embrace euphoria and shine.

But Carnival’s main event is the Sambadrome — the be-all, end-all. On this 700-meter (nearly half-mile) concrete avenue, samba schools compete to put on the best parade with feathered, shimmering costumes and enormous, elaborate floats.

The schools are mostly based in working-class communities known as favelas that often go overlooked. This is their one shot each year to claim the spotlight, get recognition — and maybe even glory.

Judges spread along the avenue evaluate the parade in nine categories, among them costumes, drumming and harmony, and residents work almost all year for this. They pound the drums with perfect synchrony, sing their hearts out and samba till their feet hurt.

It’s music, dance, storytelling, culture. It’s beauty and it’s fleeting, with each parade lasting about 75 minutes until — poof — all done.

But soon enough, samba schools start looking toward next year’s parade. In Rio, time marches on, with a smile.

Not to be completely outshined by Brazil’s second-largest city, the sprawling metropolis of Sao Paulo has its own notable parade competition and has seen its street party scene mushroom in recent years.

In the northeastern city of Olinda, revelers crammed the cobblestone streets joined by towering puppets up to 13 feet (4 meters) high. They depicted Brazilian and foreign musicians, soccer stars Neymar and Lionel Messi, U.S. President Donald Trump and — most importantly this year — Fernanda Torres. Her best actress Oscar nomination has transformed her into Brazil’s Carnival muse nationwide and created a World Cup-esque atmosphere.

There are Carnival celebrations underway even in small towns. Sleepy, seaside Paraty, a few hours’ drive south of Rio, saw hundreds of joyous partyers throw themselves into the silty shallows, emerging gray from the mud and then proceeding to dance and parade on the beach. In Sao Paulo state’s countryside, thousands of revelers, families and tourists sang and danced through the colorful, colonial streets of Sao Luiz do Paraitinga to the tune of traditional Carnival marches.

In Brazil, it’s said that the new year doesn’t begin until Carnival comes to a close, and that hour is fast approaching.

In the meantime: Viva o Carnaval!