Flames, feathers and fangs constituent in impressive parade

Ricardo Moraes / Reuters A reveller from Beija-Flor samba school performs, wearing bright green weathers and a headdress resembling a black panther, performs at the Sambadrome during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro on 4 March, 2025

The Beija-Flor samba college has been topped winner of Rio de Janeiro’s celebrated carnival parade pageant.

Thousand collected on the town’s vast Sambadrome area to look at the supremacy 12 samba colleges struggle it out for this 12 months’s name.

Beija-Flor was once topped winner on Wednesday for the fifteenth year, narrowly beating second-placed Grande Rio.

Its efficiency was once an homage to its past due director, Luiz Fernando Ribeiro do Carmo, higher referred to as Laíla, who died in June 2021 with Covid-19.

Day the overarching theme of Beija-Flor’s parade was once a tribute to its past due director, it additionally featured floats with pyrotechnic presentations and dancers dressed as devils.

Flames, feathers and fangs constituent in impressive parade

Mauro Pimental / AFP A reveler of the Beija-Flor samba school performs dressed as a devil. He is is gesturing and is surrounded by jets of flame.

The performances are judged over 10 sections by means of a complete of 40 judges.

One of the most supremacy 12 samba colleges competing for the name was once Paraíso do Tuiuti, whose dancers paraded in joyful feathers.

Pilar Olivares / Reuters Revellers from Paraiso do Tuiuti samba school perform at the Sambadrome during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

A few of the implausible number of costumes and performances, Vila Isabel’s ghosts clad totally in white had been a counterpoint to the kaleidoscopic costumes conventional of Rio’s carnival.

Ricardo Moraes / Reuters Revellers dressed as ghosts from Vila Isabel samba school perform against the wider backdrop of the Sambadrome

Performers from the Grande Rio samba college, which got here a related moment in the back of Beija-Flor, stored a watchful optic at the parade.

Wagner Meier / Getty Images Three members of Grande Rio perform wearing costumes involving giant single eyes and teeth.

Mocidade overjoyed spectators with a vast puppet.

Getty Images A robot puppet and performers dressed in black from the Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel school

Lots of the Mocidade’s dancers wore futuristic costumes, impressed by means of its theme track, which this 12 months was once entitled Again To The Day – There Are Refuse Limits Dreaming.

Tita Barros / Reuters A woman performs in a silver costume in front of a space themed display

Imperatriz got here 3rd this 12 months with a parade which incorporated revellers decorated with gold and white skulls.

Andre Coelho / EPA Members of the Imperatriz samba school, their faces painted in white and black paint, are surrounded by plastic skulls, some painted white, others gold

Portela samba college paid tribute to the mythical Brazilian musician Milton Nascimento. The 82-year-old singer-songwriter waved on the population right through the parade.

Antonio Lacerda / EPA Milton Nascimento, sitting on a float painted gold, waves to the crowd

Regardless of their remarkable floats, Unidos de Padre Miguel got here closing this 12 months and due to this fact is probably not competing within the supremacy tier in 2026.