First of all, a brief introduction:

As for being very huge and for having been colonized by so many different foreign people, Brazil sometimes ressembles more a colection of small countries than a single country on its own. Each one of the 26 states has so many cultural differences comparing to the others that it is hard to talk about a singular cultural identity in Brazil. Ceará, the state where I live in, for instance, was populated by people mainly from Portugal, Netherlands, Spain and Africa, who mixed to the native americans and brought very peculiar influences that are shown until today in our local culture.

One of the most popular events and one of the most important cultural traces of Brazil is the carnival. Almost a week of holidays with parties and music. As I told before, even this, that is something common to almost all states, is celebrated in different ways along the country. In Rio, there is the Samba; In Bahia, the Axé; in Pernambuco, the Frevo and so it goes. Very different parties, very different cultural expressions.

In Ceará, yearly, there is the Maracatu parade, which music, a style based on percussion and drums, came from some african and european influences. As for being a music with popular appeal, the party is more appreciated by the poor people, who make costumes and dance in the streets. In Maracatu, the poor people are kings and queens and get applauses and approval from the people in the street and on the terraces during the procession.

I took some of the latest uploaded pictures in this event. You can check them on my gallery.

I was doubtful about posting these pictures because of what happened just after I left the place. The terraces from where people were watching the parade couldn't hold the weight and collapsed. More than 40 people went to the hospital and the party had to be stopped until the other day. Fortunatelly, nobody died and just small injuries were reported. A video from a local TV shows what happened after I left: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtSzpyQWTLY

Now that I know everybody is ok and the people who build the terraces are going to assume their responsabilities for it, I feel more comfortable to share my eyes with you. I really love the trip that is to watch another culture through some native's eyes. And I hope you enjoy it too.

- - -

Well, I just installed a very nice software to chat by cam with my friends who went away from Brazil and are now living abbroad. It is called Oovoo. I got so positive impressions about it that I couldn't help suggesting you to try.

- - -

And, for everybody, sorry for the eventual english mistakes on my text. there's been a long time I don't practice my english.

Have a nice week!