Micaretas are off-season celebrations similar to

Brazilian Carnival The Carnival of Brazil ( pt, Carnaval do Brasil, ) is an annual Brazilian festival held the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and s ...

. The ''micaretas'' are similar to the

Bahian Carnival ) , image = File:Bloco da camisinha circuito Campo Grande Salvador.jpg , caption = Carnival parade in Salvador, Brazil , celebrations = Parades, parties, open-air performances , longtype = cultural, religious , type = chris ...

and very different from the

samba school A samba school ( pt, Escola de samba) is a dancing, marching, and drumming (Samba Enredo) club. They practice and often perform in a huge square- compounds ("quadras de samba") and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an Afro-Brazilian ...

parades that are popular in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. The central feature of a ''micareta'' is a large truck called a "

trio elétrico Trio elétrico (, ''electric trio'') is a kind of truck or float equipped with a high-power sound system and a stage for music performance on the top, playing for the crowd as it drives through the cities. It was created in Bahia specifically for ...

." The trio elétrico is wired with loudspeakers and has a band performing on the truck's trailer. The truck drives slowly along the streets or sits parked in an enclosed space and a crowd follows the trio elétrico singing, dancing, and jumping to the sound of the music. To be allowed to follow the truck, one must buy admittance to one of the several "blocos" (block). A bloco is an enterprise which obtains permission to participate in the micareta, hires the band, sells admittance, and controls access. Brazil has several ''micaretas'' that take place throughout the year in various cities. They are conducted either in the streets (''traditional micareta'') or in enclosed spaces (''indoor micareta''). The first ''micareta'' took place in

Feira de Santana Feira de Santana (; Portuguese for "Saint Anne's Fair") is a city in Bahia, Brazil. It is the second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 619,609 according to IBGE's estimate in 2020. It is located 100 km northwest of Salva ...

, the second largest city of the state of

Bahia Bahia ( , , ; meaning "bay") is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo, Minas Gerais, and Rio de Janeiro) and the 5th-largest b ...

. That micareta started because rain destroyed what had been prepared to celebrate carnival. Following the cancellation of their Carnival celebrations, the city's inhabitants celebrated a micareta at a later date. The resulting ''Micareta de Feira'' is one of the most important micaretas of Brazil.

Carnatal The Carnatal () is the largest ''micareta'', or off-season Carnival, in Brazil. It is held annually in December in the city of Natal in the state of Rio Grande do Norte. Like other micaretas, Carnatal is different from the samba dance school p ...

is the largest ''micareta'' in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.Micareta shakes Sobal
Diario do Nordeste ortuguese 10/12/17 It is held annually in December in the city of

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

in the state of

Rio Grande do Norte Rio Grande do Norte (, , ) is one of the states of Brazil. It is located in the northeastern region of the country, forming the northeasternmost tip of the South American continent. The name literally translates as "Great Northern River", re ...

References

Entertainment events in Brazil Brazilian Carnival Feira de Santana {{Brazil-culture-stub