Tens of thousands of revelers flooded the streets of Rio de Janeiro on the second day of Carnival, joining the procession of Cordao do Bola Preta, a samba group founded in 1918. The celebration gathered near the Municipal Theater, with crowds dancing, drinking, and making music in an open-air festival ahead of the formal samba school competition scheduled for Sunday and Monday.
The official Carnival season had opened Friday when King Momo, the traditional symbol of the festivities, received the keys to the city. Costume choices ranged from female impersonation to superheroes, politicians, and animals, while food and drink vendors lined the streets well past midnight.
The competition climax will take place in the Sambodrome, built specifically for the event, where Brazil's top 13 samba schools will vie for top honors before roughly 100,000 spectators. Schools including Mangueira, fielding 4,000 dancers, and Beija Flor are among the competitors. Floats are elaborately engineered, fitted with hydraulics and electrical systems inside hangars up to 12 meters tall.
Sao Paulo, home to 11 million residents, is also hosting its own samba competition, with its Sambodrome drawing 28,000 attendees on opening night and organizers expecting some 27,000 foreign visitors among 90,000 total spectators.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in February 2007, in its own words.