How the British manage to reduce the preparation for Lent to a pancake I do not know. Because Brazilians came up with Carnival and made Rio de Janeiro the Carnival capital of the world.
Carnival came to Rio in the 1500s. Locals hit the streets in colourful costumes with giant dolls. In the 19th century lavish balls and masquerade parties were imported from Paris. Pagenat groups began parading through the city avenues playing instruments and dancing. Aristocrats would wear the clothes of commoners, men would cross-dress as women and the poor became princes and princesses - social roles and class differences forgotten once a year.
Carnival was revolutionised when samba was born on the eve of the 20th century and samba schools appeared. In 1932 Rio's first official samba parade was begun in a city centre street and in 1986 the Sambodromo - a kind of long concrete catwalk - was opened to allow the schools to parade down a lane lined with grandstands. Thousands of members per school dress in fabulous costumes and dance a rehearsed routine to original music reflecting a specific theme, competing for the championship.
Today the Carnival Parade is as commercialised an event as Premier Football which many locals lament. It is the 'blocos' - small neighbourhood bands - that give ordinary people a chance to don a costume, dance in the streets and drink until dawn.
In Cidade de Deus, the samba school founded 40 years ago struggles to be more than the Wycombe Wanderers or Accrington Stanley of the English Football League. GRES Mocidade Unida de Jacarepagua only made it into Group E last year and, inspite of twice-weekly practices, it's 13 years since they paraded in the Sambodromo. But Luizinho, the Carnival Director, is hopeful: "There's always next year."
Meanwhile, as I walk to church after dark I stumble across a group of little children in a back street dressed up as kings and queens rehearsing their performance. In the City of God dreams of a different tomorrow keep hope alive.
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