This Monday night, Marquês de Sapucaí, in Rio de Janeiro, will be the stage for the second and final day of parades of the Special Carnival Group. Six schools will parade down the avenue in search of the coveted title of Rio Carnival champion.

Highlights are the plots that pay homage to personalities and stories of the Afro-Brazilian population, such as the singer Alcione (Mangueira), the book Um Defeito de Cor (Portela), the black admiral João Cândido (Tuiuti) and African deities (Viradouro).

Each group has between 1 hour and 1 hour and 10 minutes to cross Sapucaí. There is a penalty for those who are unable to complete their presentation on time. According to the schedule, the last parade is scheduled to start between 3am and 3:50am.

Check out the order of today’s parades:

Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel: 10pm

Portela: between 11pm and 11:10pm

Unidos de Vila Isabel: between 0:00 and 0:20

First Mangueira Station: between 1am and 1:30am

Paraíso do Tuiuti: between 2am and 2:40am

Unidos do Viradouro: between 3am and 3:50am

Plots

The first school to parade this Monday, Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel brings to the avenue a plot with the title “Ask for cashew that I give… Pé de caju that gives!”, led by carnival artist Marcus Ferreira. As the name announces, the green and white school celebrates the importance of cashews in national culture. The idea is to tell the story of the native fruit from the original peoples to the present day, with references to icons of Brazilian popular music, such as “Cajuína”, by Caetano Veloso, and “Morena Tropicana”, by Alceu Valença.

The verses bring good humor and double meaning, with the cashew also being transformed into a symbol of sensuality. Furthermore, the promise is to explore a set of vibrant colors, to enhance the joy and diversity of the country. In one of the floats, which talks regarding cashew and production technology, there will be 500 dwarf cashew trees, also called clones, donated by the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa).

Next, Portela presents the plot “Um defeito de cor”, based on the book of the same name by Ana Maria Gonçalves. In the novel, Kehinde, a woman enslaved in Africa, who lived most of her life in Brazil, searches for a lost son, who would be Luiz Gama, a famous Brazilian abolitionist, journalist, poet and lawyer. Carnival workers Antônio Gonzaga and André Rodrigues proposed a continuation or another perspective on the story.

In samba, it is Luiz Gama who writes a letter to his mother and expresses pride in his path of struggle and resistance. And he highlights that his mother’s affection and love were essential in his life. The general idea is to honor black female ancestry. Talk regarding generations of enslaved people, liberation struggles and the black mothers who built the country.

Unidos de Vila Isabel presents the plot “Gbalá — trip to the Temple of Creation”, led by carnival artist Paulo Barros. Yoruba stories will be narrated since humanity existed. It is a reissue of the plot that was brought by the school to the avenue in 1993.

The verses update the previous message, with a more current reading regarding human responsibility for the planet and future generations. Thus, everything from the harm that human beings can do to the planet will be addressed, to the possibility of reconstruction, based on the hope brought by children.

Mangueira will celebrate the life story of the singer Alcione through the plot “The black voice of tomorrow”, which is led by carnival performers Annik Salmon and Guilherme Estevão. An icon of samba, Brazilian music and the Morro da Mangueira school, Alcione will be presented from her childhood in Maranhão, where she was born, to the construction of artistic life in Rio de Janeiro.

In 2024, the singer completes 50 years of career. Mangueira will talk regarding Alcione’s family beliefs, her importance as a female and black icon, in addition to reinforcing the artist’s role in inspiring and training talents in national music. The verses feature references to the artist’s main hits.

Paraíso do Tuiuti, by carnival artist Jack Vasconcelos, presents the plot “Glória ao Almirante Negro”, regarding the revolutionary trajectory of João Cândido Felisberto, known for leading the Chibata revolt, in 1910. In the episode, the uprising intended to put an end to the practices violence and mistreatment by the Navy of sailors, the majority of whom were black.

At the time, the government ended up giving in to demands for better treatment and working conditions. But many of the rebels are punished by dismissal, arrest and exile. João Cândido was released from the Navy and spent the last days of his life as a fisherman. The school’s objective is to show the admiral from a general context of struggle and resistance.

The last parade in Sapucaí will be by Unidos do Viradouro, which features the theme “Arroboboi, Dangbé!”, led by carnival artist Tarcísio Zanon. The myth of a voodoo serpent, which became a deity following an epic battle between kingdoms in the ancient region of Costa da Mina, in Africa, will be told on the avenue.

The plot will highlight the actions of a powerful army of black women prepared by Vodun priestesses, who had the spirit of collectivity and loyalty as their main weapon. The school’s mission is to demystify the cult of Voduns, which crossed the Atlantic and arrived in Brazil in the form of the priestess Ludovina Pessoa, a pillar of terreiros in Bahia.

Once the parades are over, we have to wait for Ash Wednesday and the Carnival count, when the 2024 Carnival Carnival champion will be known.

Information from Agência Brasil