Colors of Sao Paulo - traditions, festivals, mentality and lifestyle

The most waited event of the cultural life in Sao Paulo is still a carnival which is thoroughly prepared through the whole year. By its scale and staginess the carnival equals the globally renowned Rio Carnival. Thousands of tourists visit the destination to observe breathtaking performances of the best dancers. The carnival engages the best dance masters of local samba schools preparing to the festive dance march all the year round.

Bright costumes of the participants of the march are objects of admiration of the festival guests. The suits are jeweled with thousands of shining gems and bright scraps of all colors of the rainbows. It should be noted that for the last decades the Sao Paulo Carnival has sufficiently changed. Today this scale event is focused primarily on tourists. The event features plenty of amazing shows and entertainment programs, loud music and numerous amusements.

Many tourists associate the city of Sao Paulo first and foremost with the Carnival that is why many ethnic fests and celebrations may seem to foreign tourists rather uncommon. Each year the city of Sao Paulo witnesses another great holiday which is the Festival of Pizza. This Neapolitan treat being a globally known and popular all over the world dish has become one of the most favorite treats among local folks. Approximately almost a million of pizzas are eaten annually by local residents. The Festival of Pizza was first celebrated twenty years ago. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

The main events of the fest take place in buzzing streets of the city. Guests of the festival may enjoy exciting contests of expert cooks and experienced housewives competing in cooking of this delicious treat. The contest is judged by the guests of this pizza event. The pizza holiday features plenty of different contests and competitions. Expert cooks are offered to compete in making the largest and at the same time the thinnest pizza dough meanwhile pizza addicts are offered to perform their skills in speed pizza eating. During the pizza festival almost all restaurant of the city offer their guests special menus. The festival guests may take part in various master classes held by expert cooks.

The same engaging and interesting is the Festival of Japan in Sao Paulo. The matter is that the city of Sao Paulo is home to a great community of immigrants of this eastern country. The Festival of Japanese Culture invites guests to visit great tea ceremonies, to master the basics of origami art and to watch the performances of martial art masters. An original Japanese-Brazilian festival has become rather popular among foreign guests of the city and today it attracts tourists from all over the world gaining recognition of even more travelers year by year.

Another interesting festival that takes place in the largest city in Brazil is the famous three-day event called Lollapalooza. In Sao Paulo, the festival takes place in springtime (in late March or in early April), and it always brings together thousands of fans of rock and pop music. You can listen to various genres of rock and metal here, as well as electronic music. The festival is attended by famous headliners, both foreigners and natives of Brazil (among them Sepultura, Metallica, Skrillex, Three Days Grace). The place where the huge music concert takes place is the massive Autodromo de Interlagos (or Autódromo José Carlos Pac). The festival has long attracted an established audience and is the largest musical event in the country.

Another musical event well-known internationally is Dekmantel São Paulo. It is traditionally held at the beginning of the second month of winter and is dedicated to electronic music; its various genres are presented here – from rave to ambient. The clubbers, visiting Playcentre at this time, will have only one thing to complain about, and that is that their legs are tired of dancing under the fiery beats of electronic music. It is also worth making mention of such a fest as Electric Daisy Carnival, which is held at the end of November in the same large-scale auto track of the Autodromo de Interlagos. As you can easily guess from the title, the festival is dedicated to electronic music – the likes of rock and metal, which are very fond of on the expanses of Brazil. In addition to the musical component, the fest offers you the opportunity to enjoy gorgeous art installations and theatrical shows.

The cosplay and dressing up in colorful costumes are also loved in Sao Paulo, and confirmation of this is not only the organizing of the earlier mentioned carnival. At the beginning of December, a wonderful festival called the Comic Con Experience is held at the São Paulo Expo exhibition center (it has been held for several years now). For four days, visitors of the event will have the opportunity to look at brightly dressed people and see familiar vestments – costumes of famous heroes of anime, games, films, TV shows and comics. A distinctive feature of the festival is that, traditionally, popular directors and actors are invited as honorary guests – the likes of Nikolai Coster-Waldau, Will Smith, Jason Momoa, David Tennant, and also Vin Diesel and Neil Patrick Harris, have been in attendance.

Festivals dedicated to art are of great interest for fans of event tourism. One of the oldest is the Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo festival, which takes place over odd years for a duration of three months (starting in early September and ending in early December). The venue for the event traditionally remains the Auditório Ibirapuera pavilion (built, by the way, according to the project of Oscar Niemeyer). During the festival, works of contemporary artists are presented. Within the frames of the festival, there is also an exhibition dedicated to architecture and design.

Fashion lovers will be interested to learn the fact that Sao Paulo is among those cities which annually participates in the Fashion Week event. For Brazil and Latin America in general, the festival is a big recognition from the fashion community. Fashion shows are held in the picturesque Parque Ibirapuera park twice a year: in January and in June. In addition, various social actions are often held as part of the event. As for the fashion shows themselves, their frequent guests include Gisele Bundchen, Adriana Lima, Isabeli Fontana. Among Brazilian designers-participants in the festival, you can hear names like Ronaldo Fraga, Ricardo Almeido and Pedro Lawrence.