Plots, religiosity and symbolic constructions in the 2024 Rio’s carnival

Abstract

This article analyzes how the religious field operates in constructing narratives about success and failure in Rio de Janeiro’s samba school parades. Based on ethnographic research conducted during the 2024 carnival cycle, two emblematic cases are examined: Mangueira’s tribute to singer Alcione and Unidos do Viradouro’s plot about the vodum Dangbé. Using Clara Flaksman’s concept of “enredo” (plot) to understand relationship systems in Candomblé, we demonstrate how Afro-Brazilian religions constitute a structuring dimension of contemporary carnival. The research reveals that, while Mangueira faced internal conflicts related to the management of the sacred in its biographical plot, resulting in narratives of failure associated with the invisibility of religious care, Viradouro established a formal and explicit relationship with the religious field, incorporating sacred elements both in its plot and public communication. This difference in approach was reflected in interpretations of events that occurred during the parades: at Mangueira, the breaking of a float was seen as a consequence of the lack of religious care; at Viradouro, the unplanned inversion of the order of floats in the champions’ parade was interpreted as a manifestation of the honored vodum itself. The analysis shows how, regardless of the chosen theme, the religious field remains an essential element in the structure of carnival, capable of influencing narratives and shaping interpretations about the outcome of the parades, revealing the persistence and centrality of Afro-Brazilian religiosity in the production of the carnival spectacle.