Parintins Festival
29 Jun 2012 - 01 Jul 2012
Place: Parintins, Amazonas
The Parintins Festival, in Amazonas has its history represented by groups of indigenous and northeast Brazilian people. The festival represents an annual dispute between two rival teams, the red one know as Garantido and the blue one called Caprichoso.
However, the indigenous culture, which is the strongest, is considered the greatest popular party in the Amazon. The magnificent spectacle attracts thousands of tourists from Brazil and the world, not only for the rich scene and the creativity of artists that each year bring out their innovative creations, which leadto the arena of bumbódromo the rich culture of the region.
The oxes (boi-bumbás) performs in the month of June as part of June celebrations, holidays are more animated in the northern part of Brazil.In Parintins, however, the party gets more projection, with the creation of the Parintins Festival.
The lush and exotic beauty of the region are reasons to visit the festival here. With over one hundred thousand inhabitants, the city of Parintins is 320 kilometers from Manaus. The city is a river island and is located in the Lower Amazon, near the border of Pará state. It can be reached up only by regular boats that leave the city of Manaus three times a week.
The flights leaving from Manaus takeapproximately one hour, by boat, the trip to Parintins lasts on average 12 to 18 hours depending on the type of vessel and the route chosen. The trip Manaus to Parintins, which the river flows down can usually done in 12 hours. The return takes little longer, because of the opposite water currents.
Most of these boats operated like hotels because they remain anchored in Parintins.
The first stage of the festival are several folk groups, with their representations of the legends and songs through indigenous toadas (local music), ritual performances, costumes, funny pictures and curious minds of the region.
The festival Apotheosis happens on the 4th day when the public excitedly awaits the oxes being judged. The best of three nights festivals wins, or Garantido, or Caprichoso.
For decades they have dispute the condition of Parintin's better ox, just because of the local teams support is always divided between the red (color of the Garantido) and blue (the color of Caprichoso). 
The groups do not save on their animation efforts, leading to the arena of bumbódromo luxurious customs, allegories of toadas and much creativity. The boi-bumbás of Parintins, Caprichoso and Garantido have been there since 1913, but the festival was formalized in 1966, becoming the largest festival in Brazil and second most popular party in the world.
The Bumbódromo of Parintins, was inaugurated on June 24 and 22 open to the Festival in 1988. The Bumbódromo has 35 thousand seats, and cabin, and special bleachers for free. These represent 95% of the seats and are divided into two parts exactly equal to the hanks of Caprichoso, represented by blue, and the Garantido the red. Each side of the stand is painted with the color of its ox and as long as one team is performing the other must be quiet otherwise they will lose some points.
The monumental structures and allegories can reach 30 meters high, these show the local peoples' creativity. The figures are made with feathers, colors, light and steel and make for a spectacular three days of performance. Both Oxes dance and sing for a period of three hours, in order to gain entry into the arena every alternate day. 
The last weekend of June is dedicated exclusively to the two shows of the bumbo rivals, Caprichoso (blue) and Garantido (red), which perform a real Amazonian ritual including: tuxaua, Cunha poranga, Pajé and its many tribes, indigenous rituals and legends.
Within three days of the festival, the arena of Bumbódromo is divided in half with blue and red. During the presentation of a group, the other fans cannot express themselves.
