In pics: Brazil holds first carnival after two years of pandemic

Reclaimed the vaccination center as carnival venue

Shaking the ground in time to the beat, a sparkling sea of dancers, drummers and multi-story floats reclaimed the "Sambadrome," the iconic beach city's carnival parade venue, which had been turned into a drive-through vaccination center at the height of the health crisis.

"I'm just so happy. I think a lot of people are going to cry... including me," said geography teacher Ana Vieira, 48, who was wearing a giant, glistening white costume to parade for samba school Imperatriz.

"You can see the happiness on people's faces after two long years."

(Photograph:AFP)

Brazilians longing for care-free carnival

The pandemic had left Brazilians full of "saudades" -- Portuguese for "longing" -- for carnival, a free-for-all of dancing, singing and partying that is essentially the opposite of social distancing.

There were concerns carnival would be axed again this year, after Rio authorities canceled it in 2021 and then postponed this edition by two months, wary of the Omicron variant.
 

(Photograph:AFP)

More than 75% population vaccinated

But with more than 75 percent of Brazil's 213 million people now fully vaccinated, the average weekly Covid-19 death toll has plunged from more than 3,000 a year ago to around 100 allowing the show to go on.

All participants and the 75,000 attendees expected each night are required to present proof of vaccination.

Each group in the competition has 60 to 70 minutes to tell a story in music and dance, evaluated on nine criteria by the jury.
 

(Photograph:AFP)

No sadness can withstand so much joy

The reigning champions, Viradouro, paid tribute to Rio's epic 1919 carnival -- the first celebrated after the devastation of another pandemic, the Spanish flu.

"No sadness can withstand so much joy," goes their samba theme song.

"It's a love letter to carnival... (about) coming back from a health crisis, taking off our masks and coming out stronger than we were before," said US expatriate Leslie Mercado, 48, at the parade finish line, after being extracted by crane from the top of a giant crystalline float that looked like a shimmering chandelier.

"Brazil still suffers from racism. Nothing has changed. Slums, hunger, poverty... they have a color here: black," said Aristoteles Silva, 52, parading as a warrior for samba school Salgueiro, whose theme song was an anti-racist anthem entitled "Resistance."

(Photograph:AFP)

Carnival to provide some relief for the economy

Carnival should also provide some needed relief for the pandemic-battered economy.

Beyond the swirl of floats, feathers and barely covered flesh, carnival is big business, moving an estimated four billion reais ($800 million) and creating at least 45,000 jobs.

But street vendor Maria Vitoria Souza, 18, who was selling drinks outside the parades, said sales "could have been better."
 

(Photograph:AFP)

Two years of lockdown was so much darkness

"Carnival's still not back 100 percent, because there are no 'blocos'" -- massive carnival street parties, which city authorities nixed this year.

Participants were just happy the party was on.

"We've had two years of so much darkness in the world," said Latino Suarez, 45, who traveled from Sao Paulo to parade.

"Brazil without carnival isn't Brazil. It's part of who we are."

(Photograph:AFP)