Carmelites takes crowd to the streets of Santa Teresa under strong sun

Cortejo transforms the hillsides of the neighborhood into a stage of encounter, memory and celebration.

The sacred and the profane met again on the afternoon of Friday, February 13, through the streets of Santa Teresa. The Carmelite bloc dragged a multitude of revelry that faced the scorching sun, and a temperature of 32 degrees, to accompany the famous friars, the largest symbol of the block, along the procession.

With the theme "Among us it is secret, my nun", Carmelitas mixed good humor and an acidic criticism of the conditions of the neighborhood.

Simone Feital has been paraded in Carmelitas for 20 years and states that the most beautiful of the block is the collective construction of a cultural manifestation.

"That means a lot in our lives, because it's at this moment that we get together, that we exchange information, that we get into the fun, that we invent a story, a style," he said.

For this year's parade, she bet on a fantasy with the message of living women against feminicide.

"Machismo kills. And this year, me and a group of friends are dating this proposal to relate folia to the deepest movement, which is an extremely necessary movement against feminicide. Because we are seeing absurd things happening today and we need to say no to this, so that's it, it's not no, my body, my rules", he completed.

One of the singers in the block, Júlio Pajé told us that he began to compose sambas in Carmelitas.

" Since then I have been invited by the board to sing alongside the other performers. I think Carmelitas is an important block for Santa Teresa, for the city, for Carnaval... It's really hard for you to keep 36 years a block on the street. There is all the difficulty of musical production, executive production, organization, all that this demands. So I think the maintenance of blocks like Carmelitas is important for the maintenance of the carnaval as a manifestation of popular culture," he said.

Of the doors and windows, residents of Santa Teresa joined the party. Singing, dancing and throwing water in the revelries to ease the intense heat, they showed that Carmelitas goes far beyond a block of carnaval, is a true heritage of the neighborhood.

André Luiz, of the coordination team, celebrated the trajectory of 37 years of the block, marked by joy and irreverence. "It's like son, only love for the block that does it."

Bandeira 16 years ago, Iara Barbosa was born and raised in Santa Teresa. "My father is one of the founders of Carmelites and everyone in the bloc is friends with my parents, so I grew up with the block. It's a big family in the neighborhood, the block comes by my house. It is an honor to take the flag of the Carmelites, which I am as a child, through the streets of Santa Teresa", vibrou.

" This year we've been talking about more love, please, right? I think we have to look at the neighborhood, which is a steeped heritage, taking care of our tram, our infrastructure, transportation is very important... The bloc has always been making social criticism, politics and much characteristic irreverence," he added.