Macapaba- meio do mundo

Well, my trip to Brasil is just around the corner... ...and with it the preparations are hitting full stride! OBA!
I might be parading for G.R.E.S. Beija-Flor de Nilópolis, one of the samba schools in Rio with the most tradition, and the defending champion of the parade. My aunt's cousin will try and order the costumes this week, so I'll know very soon. Pity it couldn't be for Salgueiro, my childhood favorite, but Beija-Flor is almost beyond compare in tradition, so who the hell am I to complain!?

on to the theme, or enredo:

background: Macapaba literally means, in an indigenous language of northern Brasil, a concentration of native palm trees, called bacabas. This word led to the name of the capital of the state of Amapá, which is Macapá. The city, the only brazilian state capital not connected to any other by road, turns 250 years old on the day of carnaval, February 4th. The theme calls for a celebration of this city with some of the indigenous roots of Brasil, where explorers came to look for mystical Eldorados, and which sits right on the equator, or the middle of the world (meio do mundo). It also helps the school's cause that there is a rare species of beija-flor (hummingbird) that inhabits the forest surrounding the city.
enredo: Beija-Flor is celebrating the city of Macapá as symbolic of the roots of Brasil: a hidden, natural utopia, filled with myths of riches unimaginable, with geographical and ecological symbolism to match. This is a land of some of the original peoples of Brasil, not as fully integrated into the rest of the country as in most places; a land where local legend and folklore loom as large as in any other. A land where the unknown lurks, where anything can happen...
*I really tried to translate the general idea of the text from their website, but it was daunting; there was no real story to be found, except for some mentions of a germination of a new being from the fusion of two indigenous plants... ...I may need to brush up on my folklore, but the rest just seemed like the listing of a bunch of folkloric and historical figures and events, with no real story. But that in itself is just a celebration of the place, just as carnaval is just a celebration of Brasil and its people. So I guess it makes sense in the most basic sense...

the song, or samba-enredo:

“MACAPABA EQUINÓCIO SOLAR VIAGENS FANTÁSTICAS AO MEIO DO MUNDO”
Autores: Cláudio Russo- Carlinhos Detran - J. Velloso - Gilson Dr. – Kid - Marquinhos
Intérprete: Neguinho da Beija-Flor
Arranjo/Regência: Alceu

É manhã
Brilho de fogo sob o sol do novo dia
Meu talismã, a minha fonte de energia
Oh deusa do meu samba, a flor de Macapá
No manto azul da fantasia
Me faz mais forte, extremo Norte
A luz solar, ilumina meu interior
Vou viajar na Linha do Equador
Emana ao meio do mundo a beleza
A força da Mãe Natureza, é Macapaba
O rio beijando o mar, encontro das águas

Marejando meu olhar

Quem foi meu Deus que fez do barro poema
Quem fez meu Criador se orgulhar
Os Cunanis, Aristés, Maracás,
Foram dez, foram mais, pelo Amapá

Um dia, navegando em rios de Tupã

A viagem fantasia, dos filhos de Canaã
A mágica da terra, a cobiça atraiu
Ibéria se enleva no Brasil
A mão de Ianejar

Na fortaleza pela proteção da vida
Em São José de Macapá
Brilha Mairi a minha estrela preferida
Herança moura em Mazagão
Retiro meu chapéu de bamba e assim
O marabaixo ao marco zero cai no samba
Soam tambores no tocar do tamborim

O meu valor me faz brilhar
Iluminar o meu estado de amor
Comunidade impõe respeito
Bate no peito eu sou Beija-Flor

Don't even ask me to translate this...

the costume for our group, of a pescador (fisherman):

This fisher(wo)man is DECKED OUT! I guess they fished by diving in and letting the fish get stuck on the fake algae on their "wings". But who am I to question time-tested sustenance methods?

Well, i'm gonna rock that costume, and have a damn ball!
Olha a Beija-Flor aí, gente!