Classroom lesson · Festival · 🇧🇷 Brazil

Carnaval - Brazil's biggest party

Drums, costumes and dancing in the streets across every Brazilian city

What is it?

Carnaval is the most famous festival in Brazil. It happens once a year - usually in February or March - and lasts about five days. Around five million people fill the streets in costumes, drumming, dancing and singing together. It is the biggest party in the country.

Tell me more

Every city celebrates Carnaval a bit differently. In Rio de Janeiro there are big parades with floats. In Salvador the music is loud and people follow huge trucks fitted with speakers around town. In small towns there are simpler street parties called 'blocos' - which just means 'blocks' - where everyone in the neighbourhood comes out with drums and homemade costumes.

The music of Carnaval is samba. It has a fast, rolling drumbeat that makes people want to move. Many neighbourhoods have their own samba schools - they are not schools where you learn maths, but more like community clubs where children and grown-ups practise drumming and dancing all year, then perform together at Carnaval.

Costumes are a huge part of Carnaval. People dress as superheroes, animals, characters from films, or in glittery clothes covered in feathers and sequins. Kids often have their own daytime Carnaval, called 'Carnaval infantil', with face paint, costumes, treats and music made for children.

Carnaval is older than most countries. It started over 300 years ago and has grown into one of the biggest celebrations anywhere on Earth. Tourists fly in from all around the world just to see it - and Brazilian families plan their year around it.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01If our class made a Carnaval bloco, what would our theme be? What would we wear?
  2. 02Lots of cultures have a big yearly party. Can you think of festivals from other countries that fill the streets?
  3. 03Samba schools practise all year for one performance. What is something you would happily practise that long for?
Try this

Classroom activity

Make a class 'mini-bloco'. Each pupil decorates a simple mask or a pair of cardboard maracas. Learn a basic samba beat together (one-two-one-two-three) and parade around the playground for five minutes, drumming on tins and tubs as you go.