Carnaval’s origins in Salvador date back to 1884 when a festival celebrating the countdown to Easter was celebrated in a ballroom. The annual festivities moved into the streets, and for years floats and clubs were the center of revelry. Now it’s the hottest Carnaval in Brazil.
One event not to be missed in one’s lifetime is Carnaval in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. This year it is March 3 to 8, 2011. The highlight of course, is Daniela Mercury, whose hard work and dedication has made Salvador’s Carnaval what it is today.
Walking through the narrow and winding cobblestone streets of Salvador during Carnaval, one stream of brilliant colors still sticks in my mind even though weeks have passed since our trip to northeast Brazil. Those colors were blue and white, the markings of the Sons of Gandhi, or Filhos de Gandhy, a wave of several thousand men who have marched in Salvador’s Carnaval since 1949.
It’s been a couple weeks since our Carnaval experience in Salvador da Bahia, but the intensity and energy is still with us. Carnaval brings just about every emotion in you. There is the exhilaration and joy of being with an enthusiastic and ecstatic group; boredom and ennui as you wait for your bloco to [...]