By the time i arrived for the Parade of Champions at Rio’s Sambodrome, I had spent nearly two weeks in town, in the iconic neighborhood of Copacabana
Pre-Carnival crowds were swelling at the time and i was looking forward to a huge block party. I arrived knowing three phrases in Portuguese: please, thank you, and “I don’t understand.” That was enough to be polite and lost at the same time. I heard more French, Italian, and German than Portuguese in fact and after two months communicating in my poor Spanish i was a little disoriented.
I saw couples, big friend groups, families in matching shirts. I saw very few solo travelers and no one alone who looked my age. i was not feeling the vibes
By the night of the Desfile das Campeãs the European wave had thinned. I knew which metro stop served the Sambódromo and confident that would my lose my like or phone if I risked riding it.
Getting There: Banshee Doors and Bright Stations
The metro, in fact, is nice. While signage could be better my chief complaint is the harsh electronic tone which screams a warning about the closing doors? The first time it happened, I almost jumped. By my third trip i was prepared for the sound if not the navigation. There are 4 lines and so I boarded the first train that looked plausible. Was it the 1 or 4? Nothing is in English.
Stations are bright. Floors are surprisingly clean. People stand back from the edge. Tonight, unlike the crush of the previous Saturday when I traveled just to photograph parked floats, there is room to breathe.
Outside, the air is warm and heavy. It rained earlier; the pavement is still wet, but nothing is falling now. The city has that washed‑but‑sticky feeling I’ve come to know from other tropical nights. I join the flow toward the Sambódromo and Sector 4. Grill smoke rises from improvised food stalls. Vendors lean under plastic tarps selling beer, meat on sticks, and ponchos that will, as it turns out, not be needed. Ahead, the concrete arch at the far end of the parade route glows through the haze. In daylight, this is just another piece of road. Tonight it is a true line of the country’s imagination.
Getting In: The QR Code Pilgrimage
The ticket ritual began days earlier, when an online system asked for more of my identity than some borders do. Upload passport photo. Upload the back page. Take a selfie holding the passport. Confirm again. The result was a QR code and a faint worry that I’d somehow erase it before showtime.
With my Sambodrome visa in hand — and $260 less in my wallet — physical entry was easy and courteous. to Sector 4, this digital breadcrumb trail
Sector 4 is at the top of this stadium as street. The avenue, for a moment, was just a bright gray corridor with timing marks and TV towers—a stage for Brazil to share its brand.
A Short Carnival Backstory (For Those Dropped In Mid‑Plot)
My understanding of Carnival is partial and second‑hand, cobbled together from reading and listening. It begins in Europe, as a pre‑Lent blowout—a last stretch of eating and drinking before forty days of restraint. In Portugal, this took the form of Entrudo, with street games, water fights, flour, and thrown objects that often veered into violence.[1][2]
The Portuguese brought Entrudo to Brazil. In Rio, it collided with the rhythms and dances of enslaved Africans, the rituals of Candomblé and other Afro‑Brazilian religions, and Indigenous practices. In yards around Praça Onze and the port zone, people like Tia Ciata hosted gatherings where sacred drumming in the back met polite choro and European instruments in the front. Samba grew out of that contact zone—part ceremony, part social music. Early samba schools formed in favelas and working‑class neighborhoods and gradually transformed Carnival from loose street mayhem into organized parades with music, costumes, themes, and these towering moving contraptions we stubbornly call “floats.”[3][4][5][6]
“Float” doesn’t cut it. What rolls past at the Sambódromo are multi‑story sound stages. Fantasy land yachts on wheels. Each carries dozens of performers, and engines and wheels to power it all speakers, and elaborate sculptures. Together with the drum corps and singers, they turn this 700‑meter straightaway into an avenue of narrative adventure. This year’s Parade of Champions brought back the six highest‑scoring schools from the previous weekend.
The Sambódromo:
The Sambódromo Marquês de Sapucaí is a blunt object: a straight concrete avenue with steep stands on both sides, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and opened in 1984. At one end, schools enter under a gate; at the other, they exit under a big open arch, the Praça da Apoteose. During the year, parts of this route carry regular traffic; classrooms nestle beneath some of the stands. During Carnival, the street closes, the lights come on, and the space becomes a canyon of sound, color, dance and the machinery of fantasy
From Sector 4, you can see the entire length. Judges’ booths jut out from the stands. Metal towers hold cameras and spotlights. The earlier rain left the concrete shining, but during the parades themselves no more fell. Costumes stayed dry. Feathers were saved.
Here are the top six schools in ascending order that paraded from 10pm to 7 the next morning.
Mangueira – Afro‑Brazilian Roots and a Black Amazon
(Estação Primeira de Mangueira – founded 1928, Morro da Mangueira – https://www.mangueira.com.br)
Mangueira was founded in Morro da Mangueira, in Rio’s North Zone. It is a Black, working‑class hillside community. It quickly became one of Rio’s archetypal samba “nations,” known for its green‑and‑pink colors, melodic sambas, and enredos that frame Brazilian history from the vantage of Afro‑Brazilian culture and the poor.
An enredo is the narrative concept or storyline that a samba school chooses for a given year’s parade. It’s the guiding idea that everything else has to follow: the lyrics of the samba‑enredo (theme song), the design of costumes, the look of the big moving “floats,” and the choreography of each wing.
In 2026, Mangueira’s parade, “Mestre Sacaca do Encanto Tucuju – O Guardião da Amazônia Negra,” centered on Mestre Sacaca (José Maria de Souza, 1933–2009), a healer from Macapá, in equatorial Brazil. What followed was a trip to the Amazon. There were ‑boats packed with performers in Amazon‑inspired skirts, headwraps, and beadwork. river creatures curling along the base; dancers carrying herbs and small bundles echoing Sacaca practice. The concrete corridor in the center of Rio became the far-away mighty rushing Amazon River.
Imperatriz Leopoldinense – Culture on a Censored Stage
(Imperatriz Leopoldinense – founded 1959, Ramos – via Liesa: https://liesa.org.br/carnaval/escolas/imperatriz-leopoldinense/)
Imperatriz Leopoldinense emerged in 1959 in the Ramos neighborhood, taking its name from Empress Maria Leopoldina of Austria (1797–1826), a key figure in Brazil’s independence. Over the 1980s and 90s, it developed a reputation for elegant, historically themed parades, often focusing on monarchs, artists, and writers.
Its 2026 enredo, “Camaleônico,” honored Ney Matogrosso (b. 1941), whose career spans Brazil’s military dictatorship and its return to democracy. For decades, Carnival and popular music navigated state censorship—under Getúlio Vargas and later the generals—by using metaphor, double meanings, and visual excess to say things that could not be said plainly. It had the gayest sensibility of the six.
Acadêmicos do Salgueiro – Favela, Slavery, and Black History in Public
(Acadêmicos do Salgueiro – founded 1953, Morro do Salgueiro – https://www.salgueiro.com.br)
Acadêmicos do Salgueiro was created in 1953 on Morro do Salgueiro, one of Rio’s earliest favelas.
A favela is an informal, self‑built urban neighborhood in Brazil, usually on hillsides or city edges, formed historically by poor and working‑class residents—formerly enslaved people, migrants from the countryside, and later waves of rural workers who couldn’t afford formal housing. Favelas began as irregular, often illegal occupations of land and long lacked basic services,
From the late 1950s onward, the school focused on powerful percussion while placing enslaved and Black resistance figures at the center of Carnival this challenging the white-washing of official history. Salgueiro recognition was a recognition of Black historiography and popular culture.
In 2026, its red‑and‑white parade continued that tradition with images of Black spirituality, driven by one of the most respected baterias (percussion corps) in Rio.
Unidos de Vila Isabel – Neighborhood, Popular Art, and Layers of City
(Unidos de Vila Isabel – founded 1946, Vila Isabel – https://www.unidosdevilaisabel.com.br)
Unidos de Vila Isabel was founded on 4 April 1946 in the Vila Isabel neighborhood by Antonio Fernandes da Silveira (“China”) and others who turned a local football and carnival group into a samba school. Rehearsals in China’s backyard grew into a school known for strong sambas, ties to Noel Rosa’s musical legacy, and themes that celebrate Brazilian popular culture, rural life, and the idea of unity in diversity. Its 1988 title, with “Kizomba, Festa da Raça,” is one classic example—casting Carnival as a celebration of race and community in a nominally democratic Brazil.[28][29][5]
In 2026, Vila Isabel’s carros read clearly from Sector 4 as towers—stacked platforms moving slowly down the avenue. Each had several levels with dancers standing behind rails, one hand resting there, the other free for small gestures. That vertical layering echoed both Rio’s physical form—hillside houses, high‑rises, stacked lives—and the way Carnival orders bodies from a neighborhood into a single structure. The enredo about Heitor dos Prazeres (1898–1966) tied those images back to a specific sambista‑painter whose art depicted “Little Africa” and Rio’s popular scenes, but even if you missed that reference, the message was visible: Vila Isabel brought a whole neighborhood, and its imagined Africas, in layered form, into the straight line of the Sambódromo.[30][31]
Beija‑Flor de Nilópolis – Outskirts, Luxury, and Afro‑Religious Worlds
(G.R.E.S. Beija‑Flor de Nilópolis – founded 1948, Nilópolis – https://www.beija-flor.com.br)
Beija‑Flor de Nilópolis was born in the Baixada Fluminense, formally founded as a samba school in 1953 after starting as a bloco in 1948. From humble beginnings—leather stretched over barrel lids for drums—it grew under the influence of patron Anísio Abraão David (1937–2020) into one of the most successful and lavish schools in Rio, with 15 Special Group titles and a reputation for huge, visually dense parades that often tackle political, religious, or social themes. It is the classic example of a “crowd pleaser” from the outskirts that conquered the center.[32][33]
The 2026 enredo, “Bembé,” brought the Bembé do Mercado of Santo Amaro, Bahia—an Afro‑Brazilian ritual celebration dating back to 1889—onto Sapucaí. Multi‑story carros combined market and terreiro: baskets of oversized fruit, herb bundles, altars, and carved figures assembled into rolling town squares. Dancers in long white skirts, headwraps, and bead belts surrounded these stages, with layers of blue and gold added in later wings. The shells and mirrors sewn into hems and headdresses, the inclusion of toques and instruments associated with Candomblé, and the sheer scale of the staging made visible a long history of religious syncretism and marginalization. Beija‑Flor, the once small school from Nilópolis, used its luxury to assert that Afro‑Brazilian spiritual worlds belong not at the edge of Brazilian identity but squarely in the middle of its biggest cultural show.[34][35]
Unidos do Viradouro – Niterói’s Voice and the Sambista at the Center
(Unidos do Viradouro – founded 1946, Niterói – https://unidosdoviradouro.com)
Unidos do Viradouro was founded in 1946 in the Barreto neighborhood of Niterói, across the bay from Rio. It spent years competing in Niterói carnivals before moving into Rio’s top divisions and winning its first Special Group title in 1997. In recent decades it has become known for bold visual design and a particularly innovative bateria, adding championships in 2020, 2024, and now 2026. Viradouro represents the geographical expansion of Carnival: a reminder that the “Rio” in Rio Carnival includes voices from the metropolitan region beyond the city limits.[36][37][38]
Its 2026 theme, “Pra cima, Ciça!”, focused on Mestre Ciça (Moacyr da Silva Pinto, b. 1956), a sambista who began as a passista and percussionist in Unidos de São Carlos (now Estácio de Sá) in 1971 and has spent nearly five decades across several schools, 38 of them as mestre de bateria. On the avenue, Viradouro’s carros traced that trajectory—from older samba neighborhoods to Niterói—with wings dressed as Ciça at different ages and a final multi‑level “drum‑ship” packed with musicians. The historical point sharpened when you looked at the bateria: hundreds of drummers in coordinated red‑and‑white, responding in perfect time to the small motions of the man whose story they were playing. In a festival often used to celebrate emperors, generals, and abstract themes, Viradouro’s champion parade turned the spotlight onto the working musician and made a simple, historical argument: Carnival is, at its core, the accumulated life work of sambistas like Ciça.[39][40][41][42][43]
Stepping Inside
I came to the Sambódromo as an outsider with three phrases of Portuguese and a phone full of warnings. I left dry, tired, and feeling oddly claimed. I still don’t understand all the references. I am sure I missed nuances in every parade. But somewhere between the slamming metro doors, the shine of Sapucaí after the rain, and the sight of these impossible moving stages and unrecognizable costumes rolling past, something shifted. For a few hours, this small strip of concrete became the only place in the world where these things were not ridiculous, but right. And somehow, in that narrow, noisy space, the private party at the heart of Carnival opened a door just wide enough for a novice like me to step inside.
Possible Internal Links for Gray Matter Nomadic
You can strengthen the sense of continuity across your work by adding links like:
- When you mention Afro‑Brazilian roots and port neighborhoods: link to a Galápagos or Colombian Caribbean piece where you talk about Atlantic currents and Afro‑diasporic culture.
- When you talk about stacked lives and vertical city (Vila Isabel, Salgueiro): link to any post where you wrote about hillside cities (e.g., Medellín’s comunas, Quito’s barrios, or a Santa Cruz / San Francisco hills piece).
- When you mention walking into a city you don’t yet understand: link back to early posts from Bogotá, Quito, or your first time in Rio, if you’ve written that yet.
- When you talk about religious syncretism (Beija‑Flor, Bembé): link to any Andes or Amazon piece where you noted layered belief systems.
These cross‑links will underline what your regular readers already know: Gray Matter Nomadic is less about ticking off destinations and more about long, careful attention to how places are made—geologically, historically, and, on nights like this one, in feathered, drum‑driven motion.
Sources
[1] History of Carnival in Brazil – DoBrazilRight Tours & Travel https://www.dobrazilright.com/2026-brazil-carnival/history-of-carnival-in-brazil-2/
[2] Carnival – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival
[3] Tia Ciata – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tia_Ciata
[4] Donga https://hearingtheamericas.org/s/the-americas/item/1083
[5] Brazilian Carnival – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_Carnival
[6] Samba school – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samba_school
[7] Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sambadrome_Marqu%C3%AAs_de_Sapuca%C3%AD
[8] Cartola – The King of Samba | Mathias Klüver – WordPress.com https://mathiaskluver.wordpress.com/2013/12/27/cartola-the-king-of-samba/
[9] Estação Primeira de Mangueira – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esta%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Primeira_de_Mangueira
[10] Rio Carnival – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_Carnival
[11] Learning Afro-Brazilian history through its carnival parades https://thegrio.com/2023/02/18/learning-afro-brazilian-history-through-its-carnival-parades/
[12] Mangueira 2026: Veja o enredo e o samba sobre a Amazônia Negra https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2026/noticia/2026/02/09/mangueira-2026-veja-o-enredo-e-cante-o-samba.ghtml
[13] Enredo da Mangueira: quem é Mestre Sacaca e o que representa https://www.terra.com.br/diversao/enredo-da-mangueira-quem-e-mestre-sacaca-e-o-que-representa,fd12952506ef39ac3835bbf14db4b69c286nhqwk.html
[14] Mangueira 2026: a Amazônia Negra e a história de Mestre Saca | G1 https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2026/noticia/2026/02/06/amazonia-negra-como-o-enredo-da-mangueira-quer-ampliar-a-narrativa-sobre-a-floresta.ghtml
[15] Imperatriz Leopoldinense | Rio Samba School https://www.rio.com/samba-schools/imperatriz-leopoldinense
[16] Maria Leopoldina of Austria – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Leopoldina_of_Austria
[17] Qual o enredo da Imperatriz Leopoldinense em 2026? Escola busca … https://www.itatiaia.com.br/carnaval/qual-o-enredo-da-imperatriz-leopoldinense-em-2026-escola-busca-o-decimo-titulo
[18] Imperatriz Leopoldinense 2026: veja o enredo e cante o samba – G1 https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2026/noticia/2026/02/09/imperatriz-leopoldinense-2026-veja-o-enredo-e-cante-o-samba.ghtml
[19] A Imperatriz Leopoldinense já mostrou que enredo de 2026 é pura … https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUl4HktkbCO/
[20] Getúlio Vargas and the Role of Samba in the Formation of Brazilian … https://thecultural.me/getulio-vargas-and-the-role-of-samba-in-the-formation-of-brazilian-national-identity-451254
[21] Troubled times – carnival during the dictatorship – From Brazil http://frombrazil.blogfolha.uol.com.br/2016/02/03/troubled-times-carnival-during-the-dictatorship/
[22] The Ancestral Knowledge of Black Women and the Healing Power … https://rioonwatch.org/?p=68092
[23] [PDF] “Slavery, Royalty, and Racism: Representations of Africa in Brazilian … https://analuciaaraujo.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/039368ar.pdf
[24] Salgueiro: a different Samba School – Bookers International https://www.bookersinternational.com/salgueiro-different-samba-school/
[25] Resistance and commodification – Africa Is a Country https://africasacountry.com/2022/09/resistance-and-commodification
[26] Carnaval Rio de Janeiro 2026 (Grupo Especial) Campeã: Unidos do … https://www.instagram.com/reel/DU6jgEMEzXV/
[27] Carnaval 2026 – LIESA https://liesa.org.br/carnaval/
[28] Samba School Vila Isabel: A School Built On Unity https://www.bookersinternational.com/samba-school-vila-isabel-school-built-unity/
[29] Unidos de Vila Isabel – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidos_de_Vila_Isabel
[30] Vila Isabel 2026: veja o enredo e cante o samba – G1 – Globo https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2026/noticia/2026/02/02/vila-isabel-2026-veja-o-enredo-e-cante-o-samba.ghtml
[31] ‘Macumbembê’ Na Veia: Vila Isabel Pisa Firme No Boulevard E … https://carnavalesco.com.br/macumbembe-na-veia-vila-isabel-pisa-firme-no-boulevard-e-embala-sonho-da-comunidade/
[32] Beija-Flor – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beija-Flor
[33] Beija-Flor Samba School – The Crowd Pleaser https://www.bookersinternational.com/beija-flor-samba-school-crowd-pleaser/
[34] Confira os detalhes do desfile da Beija-Flor de Nilópolis – Gente IG https://gente.ig.com.br/carnaval/2026-02-17/confira-os-detalhes-do-desfile-da-beija-flor-de-nilopolis.html
[35] Em Desfile Plasticamente Deslumbrante, Beija-Flor Reafirma Sua … https://carnavalesco.com.br/em-desfile-plasticamente-deslumbrante-beija-flor-reafirma-sua-potencia-estetica-e-sustenta-candidatura-solida-ao-bicampeonato/
[36] Unidos do Viradouro – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unidos_do_Viradouro
[37] Resultados do Carnaval do Rio de Janeiro em 2026 – Wikipédia https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resultados_do_Carnaval_do_Rio_de_Janeiro_em_2026
[38] Unidos do Viradouro Samba School – The Rio Times https://www.riotimesonline.com/unidos-do-viradouro-samba-school/
[39] Quem é Mestre Ciça, o enredo campeão da Viradouro em 2026 https://billboard.com.br/mestre-cica-a-trajetoria-do-comandante/
[40] Quem é Mestre Ciça, o gênio do samba que deu título à Viradouro … https://www.diariodolitoral.com.br/variedades/quem-e-mestre-cica-o-genio-do-samba-que-deu-titulo-a-viradouro/213369/
[41] Mestre Ciça: a trajetória do ‘mestre dos mestres’ e enredo da … https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2026/noticia/2026/02/19/de-passista-a-mestre-dos-mestres-e-enredo-campeao-a-trajetoria-de-cica.ghtml
[42] Enredo – Carnaval 2026 – LIESA https://liesa.org.br/carnaval/escolas/viradouro/enredo.html
[43] Pra cima, Ciça! (Viradouro – SAMBARIO – O site dos sambas-enredo https://www.sambariocarnaval.com/index.php?sambando=sinopseviradouro2026
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