CARNIVAL: THE RITE AND ITS TIME

Maria Laura Viveiros de Castro Cavalcanti

Anthropologist of the Institute of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ).

50 51 razilian culture is home to treasures of rare creativity focus on one aspect of carnival, the escolas de samba, or and extraordinary beauty, among these its popular samba schools. First appearing in Rio at the end of the 1920s, Bcelebrations. In our country, the passing of every the samba schools disseminated throughout the country as year is punctuated by a wide and heterogeneous array of the 20th century progressed. Then, as now, they carried the commemorations, each of which, in its own way, dialogues reputation of Brazil’s carnival to the outside world. The festive with values that are at once sacred and profane, cosmopolitan parades deliver an annual flux of tourists to the city, which and local, commercial and sentimental. They are a mixture then serves as a port of entry to other parts of the country. of religious devotions and business, dance and music, At the same time, Brazilian-style carnival merrymaking has arts and crafts, traditions and mass culture. They involve extended to countries as diverse as Japan, Sweden and the rich and poor, whites, mulattos, caboclos (mestizos), afro- United States. A closer examination of the cultural and descendents blacks, different ethnic and social groups. anthropological dimensions of this internationally renowned While the celebrations certainly do not resolve conflicts and celebration is certainly in order. inequalities, they do express a collective face that may be I. Festive organization superimposed over these differences. An atmosphere at once Rio de Janeiro acted as the most important hub of colorful, lively, and out of the ordinary, enchants and unites diffusion for carnival revelry during most of the 19th and 20th participants and admirers. centuries. In this role, its most original creation was the samba Carnival is distinguished on the holiday calendar by the schools. Proposing new forms of urban socializing, the samba variety of its forms and its dynamism. The national carnival schools joined elements of previous and co-existing carnival scene is characterized by intense cultural exchange, including groups – ranchos (marching groups), blocos (blocs) and rivalry, mutual assistance and fertile inter-influencing, whose grandes sociedades (great societies). They soon became the motives may be a desire for mutual differentiation or a search stars of Rio’s carnival, providing a decisive reference point for for affinities, closer partnerships and adaptations. We will the construction of collective identities. The urban expansion

53 fanning out to the suburbs and outskirts was closely followed The sixties and seventies brought with them marked by the emergence of samba schools as a form of community transformations that led to the commercialization and association which used carnival as a means to foster socializing spectacular visual display that today is recognized as the and leisure activity in the surrounding area. At the same parade’s hegemonic standard. The construction of the time, the annual parade held in the center of the city brought Passarela do Samba (the samba runway popularly known as together diverse neighborhoods and mixed different social the sambadrome) in 1984 registered the apogee of the city’s classes, reinvigorating the atmosphere of carnival with this samba school explosion. Currently, the parade possesses new form of celebrating. Midway through the 20th century, six divisions, totaling about 75 samba schools in all. The the expansion of the middle and lower classes and their socio- premier division is represented by the Independent League of cultural interaction, along with the growing presence of the Samba Schools4, and is home to 14 samba schools that march jogo do bicho (animal game - a kind of popular lottery) in the through the sambadrome on Sunday and Monday nights. urban peripheral region as well as the center, were reflected in The sambadrome has seating for some 60,000 people, and carnival’s new organization. The carnival parades, agonistic each school of this group parades with a minimum of 2500 and ecstatic, placed the city face-to-face with itself, its tensions and a maximum of 5000 components. Therefore, calculating and problems, its different social actors. just those directly involved in the event, around 170,000 Within this equally agitated and animated context, the persons are gathered for this group’s performance. The rest of samba schools defined a remarkable artistic form, the result the groups, represented by the Association of Samba Schools of much borrowing and many original contributions. This of Rio de Janeiro, parade on the other nights of carnival, some joyous procession, accompanied by the powerful percussion in the sambadrome itself and others on Avenida Rio Branco. rhythms of the bateria (percussion section), presents a new The championship annually promotes the winning enredo (theme) each year, expressed through the fantasias schools of each group to the division immediately above (costumes), alegorias (decorated floats) and its samba- and demotes losing schools to the division immediately enredo (samba theme-song). The parade soon became below. And despite the apparently unbeatable nucleus of the part of the official carnival programming1. By the 1950s, so-called “Great Schools”, the annals of carnival are replete the artistic and ritual form of the procession was complete. with “barrier-breaking” incidents capable of surprising, The requirements for judging, motive of many debates and demonstrating the real possibility of a crossover from one consensual reaffirmations, had also been decided early on2. division to another. By this means, the festive competition This engendered a form of competition suitable for the established a mechanism capable of aggregating new values incorporation of new schools (who appeared in different that arose and segregating old ones already in the processes of neighborhoods of the city and surrounding areas) and the retraction or decadance. The dynamic and inclusive character elimination of older ones (which either joined together of this structure certainly answers for an important part of its forming new ones or simply disappeared)3. popular success.

1 Tupi (1985) clarifies some dates from the early phase of structuring of the samba schools: 1931 - date of the first contest, according to oral tradition; 1932 - date of the first parade advertised in local newspapers; 1935 - date of the first contest promoted by the mayor’s office, including the schools officially subsidized by the carnival. 2 There are currently 11 categories that are judged: enredo (theme), samba-enredo (samba theme song), bateria (percussion section), comissão de frente (front commission), mestre-sala (master of ceremonies) and porta-bandeira (flag-bearer), conjunto (group), alegorias e adereços (decorated floats and props), evolução (dancing, movement of the parade) and harmonia (harmony, singing). 3 The founding dates of the schools participating in the special group at carnival 2000, commemorating 500 years since the discovery of Brazil, reveal the dynamism of this secular process: Porto da Pedra (Niterói), 1978; Grande Rio (Duque de Caxias), 1988; Vila Isabel (Vila Isabel), 1946; Caprichosos de Pilares (Pilares), 1949; Tradição (Madureira), 1984; Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel (Bangu), 1955; Portela (Madureira), 1923; Unidos da Tijuca (Santo Cristo), 1931; Mangueira (Mangueira), 1928; Salgueiro (Tijuca), 1953; Imperatriz Leopoldinense (Santo Cristo) 1959; Ilha do Governador (Ilha do Governador), 1953; Beija Flor de Nilópolis (Nilópolis), 1955; Unidos de Viradouro (Niterói), 1946. Carnival 2003 featured the long-established Portela, with its vast 80 years of experience, representing the earliest days of the emergence of samba schools in the city. At the other extreme appeared the young Grande Rio, still green at 15. 4 For a detailed discussion of the Sambadrome, see Cavalcanti, 1994, pp. 28-31, for jogo do bicho (animal game lottery) in carnival see, particularly, pp.32- 41, and the article “O mecenato do jogo do bicho no carnaval carioca”, in Cavalcanti, 1999.

54 55 II. The Rite integrating the “visual” and the “samba”, uniting the festive Another reason for the success is the sophisticated artistic and spectacular dimensions of the parade. form and ritual of the parade. Its composition is based on In a successful performance, the distinction between a “theme” chosen each year and soon developed into an spectators and participants is substantially diminished. For “enredo”, the key element that weaves together the entire ritual those on parade as the live playing pieces that narrate the process. Transforming the enredo into the tactile and visual enredo, singing and dancing and wearing the costume of an language of costumes and floats and the rhythm and music ala also represent an opportunity to be seen and admired, of the samba theme-song rules the production of a parade5. another aspect of the fun. For the spectators on the receiving In each school, this process intensely mobilizes several end of the story, seeing and admiring are activities that neighborhoods and regions. The north, south, east and accompany the singing and dancing, enjoyed in the company west zones of the city develop multiple transit and exchange of neighbors, relatives and friends in the audience. Time and networks amongst themselves. As the year progresses, again the spectator becomes a player, one who not only greets more and more people join the jubilant efforts that will the passing samba school, but who effectively joins himself to reach plenitude in the rite, a celebration of the entire city in it, as an invited participant. It is not unusual for someone which each school’s social circle attains maximum diameter. who has finished parading to return to the bleachers after Although there are many preparatory rehearsals, there is not, his school has passed to enjoy the other schools’ parades as strictly speaking, a dress rehearsal. The parade components a spectator. all congregate in the same place only at the moment of the The parade thus offers its participants an intense and rite. Thus, the parade, though highly standardized, is able to memorable physical experience, one which can not be preserve a degree of spontaneity that until today may spring substituted by the experience of watching carnival on a the unexpected and arouse strong hopes. television screen. The full cultural reality must be live. At the To understand the full cultural and universal dimension heart of the ritual, the fundamental human senses of vision of the samba schools’ parade we must stand still in the and hearing play a critical role in the construction of this temporal and spatial heart of the rite itself: that ephemeral cultural experience. moment, so often defined as “magical “, in which the schools An examination of two important categories of the parade in the sambadrome. judging -- harmony and evolution -- is revealing6. When a The runway of the sambadrome, flanked by bleachers and sambista (samba performer) explains to a layman the meaning boxes, is 700 meters long. During their carnival presentations, of these two terms, he says that evolution can be judged by a each school must cover the distance in 80 minutes, narrating deaf person and harmony by a blind person. Relating to the enredo by way of simultaneous expressive languages: the the interplay between the rhythm of the percussion and the “visual”, which includes costumes and the carros alegóricos chorus of the alas, harmony honors the moment and is an (decorated floats); and the “samba”, performed by the audio-based category, since it is through the ear that the puxador (lead singer) accompanied by the chorus of voices participant/singer creates unison with the other singers and of the entire samba school and the bateria . The dancing obeys the collective percussion rhythm. It is this disciplined movements of the alas, (groups of participants who form adjustment that is then evaluated in judging this category. a bloc and all wear a costume alluding to a specific element Such hearing, however, also demands seeing, for that is what of the enredo), conducts the linear evolução (evolution). the participant/singer requires for the organization of the The carros alegóricos punctuate this lineup, developing the dancing, at once collective and progressive. That brings us principal topics of the enredo. Bodies dancing together to evolution. Relating to the samba school’s movement along in rhythm conduct the samba school in linear movement, the runway, evolution is a category with an eminently visual

5 I direct the reader who wishes to know more about the complex process of constructing a parade to my book, “ Carnaval carioca: dos bastidores ao desfile” (1994). 6 These two categories differ from the others in their symbolic nature, an analysis of which leads to the structural dimension of the rite.

54 55 base, one which specifically solicits the eye of those who the singing, favoring a light and loose evolução by the school. watch or judge. Implying to some extent the perception of “Passar bem” (to have a good passage) is the ideal a totality, evolution presumes an act of seeing that fulfills a for which every school yearns. Although technically this basic cognitive function. corresponds to the visual category of “evolução”, it depends as The complete formation of a samba school, i.e. with well on “harmonia”. Any discrepancy between the percussion the totality of its components, includes the comissão de and the chorus, or difficulties experienced in the singing, will frente (front commission) and abre-alas (“make way”, the affect not only the harmonia, but also the evolução of the opening block of a parade); the group of alas punctuated school. In the end, passar bem is to motivate the spectators by carros alegóricos (there are currently 8 of these) and and turn them into players who dance and sing throughout intermingled with the ala das baianas (older ladies dressed the performance. A good passage is a full passage. And that is Bahian-style in elaborate hoop skirts), porta-bandeira (flag- what it will have been. bearer) and mestre-sala (master of ceremonies); puxador and III. Time and space rituals empurradores (literally, “puller” and “pushers”, the leader of the In the carnival parade, time is a continuous, irreversible singing and those who accompany him down on the avenue, flux, a linear passage that must not be interrupted - like “um the “gogó” - the “throats”) bateria, and the velha guarda (old rio que passou em minha vida, e meu coração se deixou guard). In ideal terms, the only possible way to take this all in levar”, (“a river that passed through my life and carried my is visually, and the higher up in the bleachers, the better. In heart away”), sung by the composer Paulinho da Viola. Time practice, however, a large samba school never has all members flows along the space as if heading towards an undetermined on the runway at once. The parade is regulated by a kind of future. One certainty in this rather uncertain future, however, system of floodgates that open and close in sequence. Once is that carnival will return! This more “modern” sort of time the clock has started and the starting gate opened, the final is ensconced into the repetitive Christian ritual cycle of a gate will open 35-40 minutes after; and once the starting gate year. At the ritual’s essence, meanwhile, as a condition for the has closed, the final gate will close 35-40 minutes after. The competition, time is homogenized by its own measurement. runway fills only during the interval between the opening of The temporal fragment of 80 minutes stands neutral and the final gate and the closing of the starting gate, remaining empty before its potential fulfillment by the parade. The totally full for a mere 20 minutes or so, less than a quarter of “obedience to the clock” that upsets so many purists is a the duration of the parade. key element of the ritualization. This neutral block of time A fundamental impression derived from this movement: will soon be transformed into a lasting fullness. The actual a samba school passes like a controlled flux that must not development of the parade expresses a kind of revolt against be detained by any accident en route (a gap caused by a accepting the linear approach as an exact measure. Linear delayed group of alas, a carro alegórico with mechanical time is multiplied or, better yet, fractured by the very unlinear failure, a fallen porta-bandeira...). It is worth noting that the manner of presenting an enredo. seeing eye is experiencing the parade to the sound of samba, The very term enredo, borrowed from erudite forms of whose integrated melody and lyrics are repeated at least 50 artistic creation and used in the common expression “enredos times along the length of the route7. According to those carnavalescos” (carnival themes), is misleading. In the parade, who know, a good samba-enredo is one which, the more it the enredo functions only partly as the principal organizer of is sung, the more one desires to sing it. This unpredictable the ritual narrative. The term connotes, at the starting point quality, revealed only on the runway, is called the samba’s of the collective creation process, an ideal of unity that, “rendimento”, or “productivity”. The “productive” samba in fact, guarantees a kind of common, symbolic currency enhances the dancing and the adjustment of the rhythm to ready to be traded, unmade or renewed, expressed in many

7 If a parade lasts 80 minutes and each completion of the samba-enredo about 1 and 1/2 minutes, there are approximately 53 repetitions. If we include the concentration period in this calculation, there can easily be 60 repetitions.

56 57 other ways simultaneously in different artistic languages. It sets the school in motion and bursts through the starting gate. is therefore difficult to find, in a live parade, coherence that The samba is then repeated endlessly. This repetition (which resists for more than brief instants. A parade visually breaks enchanted minimalist composer Philipp Glass at the 1991 up its enredo, sub-dividing it into multiple topics that each in parade), by its implicit attempt to deny the linear flux of the turn open into many others by way of the decorated floats and procession, resembles a desire for eternity. costumes. Appearing an endless chain, it can only be stopped The samba school passes and each segment of its passage, by an external necessity: the allotted time runs out. though visually different, carries with it the constantly While the images unfold and multiply, the same samba returning samba. Seeing conveys novelties and fragmented is repeated innumerable times during the ritual course of the happenings, presented in an irreversible flux. Hearing, for its parade. The samba anchors the enredo in just a few basic part, connects these images to a fixed and reversible semantic motifs. Carnavalescos (carnival participants) in particular grouping. A carro alegórico corresponds to a particular piece like to compare sambas-enredos to a sound track (the idea is of samba and, after having passed without ever having been that the music provides support for the visual presentation, completely seen, will never return. As long as the parade as in a film in which the images command the action and lasts, however, the repeated song will allude to the “enredo”, narrative development). The comparison is forced and facilitating capture of the many feelings that flow in a far from expressing the complementary tension, full of fragmentary and modern way of integrating the experience. inversions and subversions, that is established between the Submitting itself to linear time, each concrete parade samba and the visual in the parade’s narrative. Repeating “carnivalizes” time in the purest Bakhtinian sense of the itself constantly, almost to the point of exhaustion, fueling word8, making a shambles of it, opening it up carelessly, the linear, progressive movement of the school on parade, liberating it from any unequivocal meaning. For this reason, the samba does not merely sustain an action commanded by such time that has irremediably passed also becomes a time image. It is already the very raison d’être of the movement. that, while it lasts, has no desire to end. Historical temporality The samba is performed live from the singer’s throat, and the and symbolic temporality overlap in the parade. The rite of timing begins at the moment when the samba, accompanied carnival fufills its primordial function: with it we connect to by the percussion of the bateria and the chorus of the alas, the world and to ourselves.

8 A carnavalização como capacidade de renovação e revitalização do mundo. (Carnivalization as the capacity for renewal and revival of the world) Bakhtin, 1987.

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