Don’t want to wait until St. Patrick’s day to dress up and pretend to come from a different heritage?
Have no fear — Carnaval is here!
And don’t worry about buying a $1,000 plane ticket to Brazil, you can stay right here in L.A.
Sure, it’s a bit colder here and you may have to wear more clothes, but you can still shake your booty and pretend to know how to samba (once you’ve had enough cachaça).
There are a couple big Carnaval celebrations in the L.A. area:
If your friends ask, “hey, what’s Carnival?” here are some good answers.
“No, it’s not just a crazy naked-feathered dance fest”
“In Brazil it’s actually when the best samba schools in the region compete against each other. They have elaborate costumes and in some areas huge floats. Whoever wins gets some serious bragging rights. The entire country virtually stops for an entire week to watch the dance contests, either on TV. To Americans, the best way to describe the contest is a type of parade, but way more elaborate.”
“It’s KIND of like mardis gras, as that it marks the beginning of Lent and people use the opportunity to drink, have sex and eat lots of meat before they have to stop for 40+ days. But imagine instead of it being just limited to New Orleans it’s the ENTIRE COUNTRY.”
And if you really get stuck, “sexy Brazilians dancing samba” might work.
Now, I can’t promise the celebrations here in L.A. will be anywhere near as elaborate as the ones in Brazil, but you’ll probably still have a blast.
