Traditions of Rio de Janeiro
The city of Carnaval, samba schools and New Year's Eve in white on Copacabana, with Brazil's national dish, feijoada.
Rio de Janeiro is the postcard city of Brazil, set between mountains and sea. Its Carnaval is the world's biggest, with samba schools parading in the Sambadrome. At New Year, millions dress in white and gather on Copacabana to offer flowers to Iemanjá, the sea goddess, in a tradition rooted in Afro-Brazilian faith.
Carnaval and Iemanjá
Samba schools spend the year preparing themes, floats and costumes, with drum sections, bateria, of hundreds. The competition runs for two nights. At street parties, blocos fill neighbourhoods. On 31 December, people throw white flowers and floating gifts into the sea and jump seven waves for good luck.
At the table
Feijoada, a stew of black beans and pork, is the Saturday dish, with rice, collard greens and orange slices. Pão de queijo, cheese bread, and açaí with granola are common, and caipirinha, with cachaça, lime and sugar, is the national cocktail. Brigadeiro, a chocolate sweet, is made for parties.
Signature traditions of Rio de Janeiro
Also part of it, and being written: Samba (The dance.), Iemanjá (The sea goddess.), Feijoada (The stew.), Caipirinha (The cocktail.).
A trail idea for Rio de Janeiro
- Sambadrome See the parade.
- Mercado Municipal Visit.
- Lapa Hear samba.
Written by the EveryParampara desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, markets and festival dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
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Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Rio Carnival: Sergio Luiz, CC BY 2.0, source
- Capoeira: Augustus Earle, Public domain, source
- Olympic flame: RuinDig/Yuki Uchida, CC BY 4.0, source
- Jongo: Vanessa Freitas, Public domain, source
- Carnival: Etienne Le Cocq, CC BY-SA 3.0, source