Unlike the countries that border Mozambique, Portugal and Brazil heavily influence my host country, culturally speaking. The Latin influences here can be seen in some of the dances, music, food, language, and events such as carnival, or carnaval.
This past weekend (February 28th-March 1st), about 25 other volunteers and I celebrated carnival in a city called Quelimane. I've been to the carnaval in Uruguay and I've seen footage of the ones in Brazil where people make their costumes and practice their routines for an entire year for the special event that marks the beginning of Lent. However, carnaval isn't as big here as it is in Uruguay or Brazil and the dancers here don't typically wear the extravagant peacock feathers with drummers smacking their tambores whose beats seem to shoot rhythmic life into their legs and hips.
But the parade here is nice as well. There were about 20 different groups who danced, sang, and paraded in a large circle shaking their hips like a happy tail of a dog. In Mozambique, the dancers and the crowd tend to wear glittery masks and costumes and dance samba. For the record, a lot of the group members in the parade were amazing dancers! After the parade, many people went to a club to continue the dance party until five in the morning.
Here are some pictures of the event:
My friend Tommy and I taking a picture with someone with an interesting costume.
Amazing dancers
Here I am with other PCVs wearing our glittery masks.
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