Carnival in Natal - 2005

Below, the programme of carnival 2005 in Natal (published by newspaper Tribuna do Norte on Jan 30th 2005).

Carnival will be officially opened on Friday, Feb 4th, 10 pm, with a Ball of Masks at Confeitaria Atheneu; the mayor will turn the key of the city to the King Momo and the Queen of Carnival.
On the 5th and 6th, there will be the XVIII Parade of Samba Schools and Indian Tribes; this year, the parade will be at Avenida Duque de Caxias, between the Banco do Brasil branch and the old bus station of Ribeira. According to the organization, 5,000 people are expected to watch the parade.
Also on the 6th, around 6pm, another traditional carnival event of Natal: the Parade of Kengas ("kenga" is a pejorative word for a certain kind of woman; however, in this context, kenga is a reference to men who want to be a woman), which will start at Rua Ulisses Caldas and will move towards Largo da Rua Chile. Note from the webmaster: telling by past years, this event is safe; there is a profusion of gays, drag queens and gender transformers; there is a contest for best kenga, most feminine kenga, and so on; many families attend the event. It may be a different way to spend carnival in Natal.

Pre-events.
Jan. 30th: at Cidade das Crianças (City of Children), a ball for children, starting at 4 pm.
Feb. 2nd: a Bloco called Maria Mula Manca will parade along Praia do Meio main avenue (transit is closed for cars); from noon on until the night.
Feb. 3rd: Baile de Ouro (Golden Ball) at the AABB (Banco do Brasil Club, avenida Hermes da Fonseca, Tirol), starting 11 pm; contest of luxury fantasies.

Beaches in Natal.
Praia da Redinha: official opening on Friday, Feb. 4th, at a bar called Pé do Gavião (Hawk Foot), from 8pm to midnight; a band of frevo will be performing, and a water-truck will be available to cool down the crowd.
On Saturday and Sunday, two stages will be mounted: one at the beach avenue, near Extremoz, with performances of local bands (forró and similar), and another one at Praça do Cruzeiro, with performances of frevo bands.
Besides, as is traditional in Redinha, several blocks will parade around the streets, at different times, to keep up the animation. It is estimated that 20,000 people per day will come to the carnival in Redinha.
At Praia do Meio/Praia dos Artistas, a few blocks will parade all through the four days.
At Ponta Negra, there will be frevo orchestras and some tradicional blocks (Carecas - Baldheads, Bruxas e Lobisomens - Witches and Werewolwes, Poetas - Poets) going about.
Note from the webmaster: this description of carnival events in the urban beaches in concise because the official releases are also concise.

Below, the schedule of the Natal Parade:

XVIII Parade of Samba Schools and Indian Tribes
Where: Avenida Duque de Caxias, Ribeira
When: from 18h to 4h
The order of the performances:
Feb 5th (Saturday)
•Tribo de Índios Potiguares - Patrimônio do Carnaval
•Grêmio Recreativo Império do Vale
•Tribo de Índio Tupy Guarani
•Grêmio Recreativo Grande Rio do Norte
•Tribo de Índio Tabajara
•Grêmio Recreativo Acadêmicos do Morro
•Grêmio Recreativo Águia Dourada

•Feb 6th (Sunday)
•Tribo de Índios Tapuia
•Grêmio Recreativo Berimbau do Samba
•Tribo de Índio Guaracy
•Grêmio Recreativo Em Cima da Hora
•Grêmio Recreativo Malandros do Samba
•Grêmio Recreativo Balanço do Morro

Notice: we visited the carnival of Natal in 2006. See info about carnival in Natal and photos of the samba schools parade.



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