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Popular festival · Salvador
Salvador’s street Carnival, led by trios elétricos and by Afro blocks, across three main circuits: the Barra to Ondina waterfront, the downtown Campo Grande, and the Pelourinho.
In the photo: Salvador
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
Click a photo to enlarge it.
Salvador Carnival — Salvador
From the Thursday before to Ash Wednesday of Carnival week, which falls in February or March according to Easter.
February/March
Dates change every year: check this year's date before you travel.
The festival
Salvador’s Carnival is a street festival. For six days the city organizes circuits where the trios elétricos pass by—trucks with a stage and sound system that carry the artists on top and pull crowds behind them. There are blocks that parade inside cordoned areas and require an abadá, the identification shirt sold by the block; there are camarotes (boxes) along the route; and there is pipoca, the crowd that follows the trios outside the ropes, without paying.
The trio elétrico was born in Salvador in the 1950s, when musicians Dodô and Osmar played on top of a vehicle fitted with electric instruments, also creating the baiana guitar. Since then, Bahian Carnival has had its own sound: first the local frevo, later axé music, the samba-reggae of the Afro blocks and pagode. Afro blocks such as Ilê Aiyê, Olodum and Muzenza, and afoxés like Filhos de Gandhy, with their turbans and blue-and-white necklaces, bring Afro-Bahian culture into the streets and are a central part of the celebration.
The circuits are named after local musicians. The Dodô runs from Farol da Barra to Ondina along the waterfront and concentrates the most sought-after trios. The Osmar, on Campo Grande and Avenida Sete de Setembro, is the oldest and gathers many traditional and Afro blocks. The Batatinha, in the Pelourinho and Historic Center, has no trios: there you’ll hear brass bands, marchinhas and small blocks, in a calmer atmosphere favored by families.
Before the official opening, the city gets into the rhythm with block rehearsals and with the Furdunço and the Fuzuê, cord-free street parades. On Ash Wednesday the Arrastão closes the party on the waterfront, with trios without blocks. For lovers of music and street festivities, Salvador’s Carnival is a classic reason to travel to Bahia.
A night on the Dodô Circuit, between Barra and Ondina. The departure of Filhos de Gandhy and of an Afro block at Campo Grande. Pelourinho Carnival with brass bands and marchinhas. The Arrastão on Ash Wednesday along the waterfront.
Decide beforehand whether you’ll join a block (with an abadá), watch from a camarote, or stay in the pipoca. Staying near your chosen circuit—Barra or Ondina for the Dodô, or downtown for the Campo Grande—lets you go on foot, since the circuit streets are closed to traffic. Wear lightweight clothing and comfortable closed shoes, pack light and drink plenty of water. Check the daily schedule, which the city hall publishes close to the event.
Acarajé, abará and cocada from the baianas’ trays, grilled skewers and queijo coalho on the streets; on circuit rest days, moqueca and other Bahian dishes.
No other week of the year has such demand in Salvador. Book accommodation and buy abadás and camarote tickets many months in advance; prices and programming change every year.
In the city
Flavors of Brazil
February/March
February/MarchFrom Saturday to Carnival Tuesday, beginning with the departure of the Homem da Meia-Noite at midnight between Saturday and Sunday; Carnival falls in February or March, depending on Easter.
The party on the cobbled hills of Olinda’s historic center, a World Heritage site: blocks and troças without a trio elétrico, frevo orchestras on foot and giant puppets, led by the Homem da Meia-Noite.
February/MarchDuring Carnival week, in February or March, with the official opening at Marco Zero before Sábado de Zé Pereira, when the Galo da Madrugada parades; main programming continues through Tuesday.
The state capital’s street Carnival, to the sound of frevo and maracatu: the Galo da Madrugada in the center on Sábado de Zé Pereira, the official opening at Marco Zero, and poles with stages and processions spread across the neighborhoods.
February/MarchIn February or March, depending on the Carnival calendar, which changes each year with the date of Easter.
The samba school parades at the Sambódromo da Marquês de Sapucaí and the street blocos spread across the city during Carnival days.
Your questions
In February or March, depending on Easter’s date. The official festivities usually run from Thursday to Ash Wednesday, and the city hall announces the program close to the date.
There are three main ones: the Dodô, on the waterfront between Barra and Ondina; the Osmar, in Campo Grande and Avenida Sete; and the Batatinha, in the Pelourinho, without trios elétricos.
An abadá is the shirt that identifies those who join a block and gives access to the area inside the ropes, next to the trio. Pipoca is the crowd that follows the trios outside the ropes, without paying.
Festivals and events in Brazil
FebruaryOn February 2, with the House of Iemanjá opening to receive offerings on the eve, February 1.
Tribute by the fishermen of Rio Vermelho, in Salvador, to Iemanjá, orixá of the salt waters: devotees and visitors bring flowers and gifts, which are placed in baskets on boats and taken out to the open sea late in the afternoon.
February/MarchEvery two years, in even-numbered years, between mid-February and early March, during the grape harvest. · Every two years
The grape harvest and Italian immigration festival in Caxias do Sul, in the Serra Gaúcha, featuring a parade of floats in the city center, grapes served in the park, colonial food and Italo-Gaucho culture.
March/AprilFrom Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday, in March or April depending on Easter’s date; the sawdust carpets are made in the early hours of Holy Saturday for Sunday.
Holy Week celebrations in Ouro Preto’s baroque churches and steep streets, with nighttime processions and, on Easter Sunday, streets covered by colorful sawdust carpets made by residents and visitors.
JanuaryOn January 20, the day of the city’s patron saint, which is a municipal holiday in Rio de Janeiro.
The patron saint’s day in Rio de Janeiro, with masses and the procession that carries the saint’s image from Tijuca to the Metropolitan Cathedral in the downtown area.
JanuaryOn the Thursday before the second Sunday after Epiphany (January 6), which is the Sunday of the Feast of the Lord of Bonfim; therefore it always takes place in January, usually on the second or third Thursday of the month.
A walking procession of several kilometers from Cidade Baixa to the Sacred Hill in Salvador, where baianas dressed in white wash the steps of the Basilica of the Senhor do Bonfim with scented water.
May/JuneOn the days leading up to Pentecost Sunday, 50 days after Easter; therefore it falls in May or June.
Paraty’s most traditional religious festival, with a novena, processions through the historic center, a solemn Mass and a Sunday Pentecost procession.
