The largest Carnival bloco in the world is said to be in Recife and you can find it on Saturday during the week of Carnival in the central neighborhood of São José. It goes by the name of the Galo da Madrugada (The Early Morning Rooster) and it’s pretty hard to miss, just find the giant shiny rooster towering above thousands of people. If you’re more of an observer, perhaps you can find a seafaring local to let you board their boat to watch from the sidelines on the Capibaribe River. However, it’s wise to be aware of what you’ll be missing out on.
The passo is the dance of the frevo, an accelerated polka-like dance best associated with Recife’s Carnival. While there’s no fighting involved in the modern-day frevo-de-rua, its origins point back to the time when knife-carrying capoeiristas traded fighting for dancing and knives for umbrellas. The frevo then spent an entire century marinating under the Pernambucan sun and eventually amalgamating with other styles such as the maxixe, the marcha and elements of capoeira.
If you find luck on your side and end up in Recife during Carnival this year, welcome the weekend with a different kind of rooster and let the frevo give you fervor…which should be easy enough since the two words are related.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJE74lI53DQ
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I have a few friends in Salvador da Bahia who would argue with the assessment that Recife has the biggest Carnival bloco in the world, over a cold beer of course. Here’s an excert from my buddy Pardal’s website. Check out the picture of Carnival at Praca Castro Alves.
http://www.bahia-online.net/Carnival.htm
*”The World’s Biggest Party” is an appellation that I often hear or see ascribed to our brothers and sisters down in Rio de Janeiro (for example, one entity listing Carnival in Rio as the world’s largest is Forbes.com).
Carnival in Rio encompasses 700 meters of street (Rua Marquês de Sapucaí), with grandstands. Now that’s like seven football stadiums in a row, and that’s pretty big!
But…
Carnival in Bahia encompasses kilometer after kilometer of streets filled to the brim, practically bursting with people, not to mention block after block lined with camarotes (stands).
With all due respect and more to A Cidade Maravilhosa and its utterly magnificent Carnival history, if it’s size we’re talking about, it’s no contest!
Oh, and if you want something unique to do the next day (Sunday). See if you can make it out to Bezerros in the Agreste of Pernambuco. This is what you’ll find…
[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fFnM8mTfpM%5D