Carnival
Carnival is Brazil's biggest Festival. Carnival is a four day event, celebrated before Lent every year. Lent is the time of year when Catholics give up some things for 40 days before Easter Sunday.
Carnival is believed to come from the Latin 'carne levare' which means 'to remove meat' as meat would not have been eaten during Lent. During Carnival massive street parties take place. There is huge parades with Samba schools and enormous floats. The schools are groups of musicians and dancers who perform together and not school as we know it. In Rio de Janeiro the biggest parade finishes in the Sambadrome. This is a competition and 14 Samba Schools are judged for their music, floats, colourful costumes and theme. The clip on the right is just a flavour of the parade in the Sambadrome, Rio. Classroom Application: Using the Carnival Floats as an inspiration the children will design floats. Then construct them with Papier Maché and paint them when they have dried. Curriculum: Visual Arts: Drawing Constructing Paint and Colour Linkage: Music - Samba PE - Dance History - Origins of the Carnival |
|