Olinda: Carnival and Cuisine

The city is very lively, but the most lively time is during Carnival.

Brazilian Carnival. Women wearing carnival costumes and dancing in Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil

Olinda’s Carnival is special because it’s a street party that preserves the purest traditions of Pernambuco and Northeastern revelry. It brings together frevo clubs, troças, blocos, maracatus, caboclinhos, and afoxés—events that showcase and confirm the blend of culture and traditions of white Europeans, black Africans, and native Indians, the foundation of the Brazilian people.

One of the biggest attractions of Olinda’s revelry is the **giant puppets**, a constant presence year after year, but always with new twists because their creators are constantly inventing new characters. Currently, over a hundred of them parade through the city’s streets and hills. On Fat Tuesday, they gather between the Guadalupe and Varadouro squares, in a gathering that has become a tradition at Olinda’s Carnival. These puppets are a European heritage and have their origins in 15th-century processions. There, they accompanied religious processions. Here, they adorn pagan festivals. The first puppet to take to the streets of Olinda, in 1932, was the Midnight Man, who still enlivens the festivities.

Some very popular Brazilian carnival festival costumes made of paper, fabric, and wood wore by locals in Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil during this one-week party

Typical cuisine

The city is a gastronomic centre where sophisticated restaurants of international standards coexist with casual bars that attract young people. The food from Olinda is also a heritage of the city. Influenced by African, indigenous and European cultures, it is diverse and exotic, based on natural products of the region: roots, fish, seafood and tropical fruits.

Sun-dried meat with beans, rice, farofa, cassava and vinaigrette. Carne de sol. Typical dish from the Brazilian northeast.

One of the most traditional dishes is “Camarão na Moranga” (shrimp served in a kind of pumpkin). Other characteristic flavours of the city include the traditional tapioca, found in Alto da Sé, as well as coalho cheese, handmade cookies and liqueurs produced in centennial convents and monasteries.

Prawns in Pumpkin (Camarao na Moranga) – Prawns with a creamy coconut milk sauce served inside a roasted pumpkin.