Posts under Customs

Carnival in Brazil: Recife

Posted by Rachel
Feb
23
2009

Carnival began this past weekend across Brazil and though it officially lasts until Tuesday, some festivities continue throughout the week. So this week, we’ll take a look at the different Carnival celebrations throughout the country.

Today, we’re going to look at Recife’s Carnival.

The celebrations in Pernambuco’s capital and its immediate neighbor, Olinda, are known for being one of the finest traditional Carnivals in Brazil and one of the few that is completely free to the public. It also has the largest Carnival street band in the world, the Galo da Madrugada, that attracts 1.5 million revelers. This type of band is known as a bloco, a group of percussionists and singers that lead revelers through the streets.

Unlike Rio’s large samba schools, the city has small groups of friends and family that perform together. Along with samba, Recife’s celebration features other types of music like maracatu and frevo, music that developed in the Northeast. It is also famous for using bonecos gigantes, giant dolls, which are carried throughout the streets during the celebration.

This year, Recife and Olinda continued the Carnival tradition. The Galo da Madrugada attracted over a million partiers in costume, with several people dressed up as Barack Obama, Fidel Castro, and Brazilian president Lula. Obama also appeared as a giant doll, along with dolls made in the likeness of famous Brazilian singers, writers, TV personalities and athletes, like Pelé. Dilma Roussef, a high-level government official, attended the festivities.

News Links:

Galo da Madrugada (video, photos, text)

Bonecos gigantes (photos and text)

Dilma in Olinda (photos and text)

 
Posted under Culture, Customs, Holidays
Tagged with , , 		0 Comments | Post a Comment

The transbêbado service

Posted by admin
Jul
13
2008

In June, a new law went into effect in Brazil to try to prevent drunk driving, which is a serious problem throughout the country. The law prohibits all levels of alcohol consumption for drivers, with penalties of nearly R$1000 fines and drivers’ license suspensions. This means that a single glass of wine or a bottle of beer can have real consequences if a driver is pulled over.

As a response to the very strict new dry law, many bars and restaurants all over Brazil have hired car services to drive clients home. But in poorer parts of the country, there have been more creative solutions.

In Paraíba state, a bar owner has created the transbêbado service, which translates more or less to the “Drive a Drunk” service. Instead of driving, the person leaves his car at the bar, and is taken home in a padded wheelbarrow. The transbêbado chauffeur brings the drunk driver home in the wheelbarrow for the cost of R$1. For heavier drunks, the chauffeur charges R$2.

To see the transbêbado service in action on video, click here.

 
Posted under Customs
Tagged with 		0 Comments | Post a Comment

Cabine Cornofônica

Posted by admin
Jun
8
2008

Leopoldo Buosanti Neto, owner of the bar Boteco Brasil in São Paulo, noticed that his clients would often run outside when they received phone calls, since many didn’t want their spouses to know where they were–especially the male customers. So he invented the Cabine Cornofônica, an English-style telephone booth that produces different sounds meant to trick callers into believing that the bar’s customers are anywhere but the bar. It produces airport sounds, with flight announcements and planes taking off, traffic noises with horns honking, a gun fight with sounds of shots, and even the sounds of a woman shrieking…with pleasure.

fonica.jpg

Apparently, the special phone booth has become very popular with clients, who use it to lie to their spouses about their whereabouts. Though it is most popular with men, women frequently use the phone to lie to their boyfriends and husbands, too. They most frequently use the traffic function.

However, some clients are skeptical, and one claimed the sounds from the phone booth were too muffled to trick the cleverest listeners.

To read more, and to plan a visit to the infamous bar, click here.

 
Posted under Customs
Tagged with 		0 Comments | Post a Comment

Brazilian City Spotlight: Walachai, Rio Grande do Sul

Posted by admin
Mar
10
2008

One of the most impressive things about Brazil is its regional diversity. In this series, we’ll take a look at just how different Brazil’s regions and even cities and towns can be.

Walachai, pronounced “vala-hi” is a small town in the southernmost state of Brazil, Rio Grande do Sul. It’s located 100 kilometers from the state capital, Porto Alegre, in one of the most developed regions of Brazil. Historically, this state received many immigrants from Germany and Italy, and in 1829, a German by the name of Mathias Mombach founded Walachai. Mombach was a bodyguard to Napolean during the French invasion of Germany, but after the wars found himself poor and out of work. He decided to go to Brazil after being offered free land.

walachai.jpg

Walachai began as Mombach’s personal homestead, and slowly but surely other settlers followed. They built their own churches and schools, produced their own food, and made all their own tools, clothes, and homes to the point of self-sufficiency. The state interfered very little in the town’s affairs, despite a series of arrests during World War II in a hunt for “German suspects” in the region.

Now, in 2008, all of the town’s residents speak an archaic German dialect, from the Hunsruck region of Germany. There are no telephones or Internet connections, and very few TVs. Residents feel Brazilian, but are embarrassed that they don’t speak fluent Portuguese.
 
To find out more about Walachai, information is available in a 400-page book about the town, called “História de Walchai,” by Joao Benno Wendling. Also, Brazilian actress Rejane Zilles, a native of Walachai, produced a documentary called “O Livro de Walachai” based on the book and interviews with the town’s residents.

 
Posted under Customs, Geography
Tagged with 		0 Comments | Post a Comment

Religious Trends in Brazil: RioGringa Reports

Posted by admin
Jan
28
2008

Today I point you to a terrific post by RioGringa about religion in Brazil, specifically the trends related to religious affiliation over the past few decades.

Among the highlights: Catholicism is on the decline, Candomblé (the afro-syncretic religion) is gaining a substantial white membership, and Atheism is on the rise.

As Rachel (RioGringa) writes:

Despite these trends, a recent poll shows that though more Brazilians are turning away from religion than ever, atheism is a cultural taboo. When asked who they would vote for for President, 84% said they´d vote for a black person, 57% said they´d vote for a woman, 32% said they´d vote for a gay person, and a measly 13% said they´d vote for an atheist.

The negative side is interesting too. Only 1% said they wouldn´t vote for a black person, only 12% said they wouldn´t vote for a woman, and then 34% said they wouldn´t vote for a gay person, and then 59% said they wouldn´t vote for an atheist.

Very interesting indeed… thoughts anyone?

 
Posted under Customs 7 Comments | Post a Comment