Florianopolis Festivals and Social Life: New Year, Carnival, Oktoberfest, Iemanjá, and the Gay Beach
The festival calendar and social life of Florianopolis spans the New Year beach celebration, the community carnival, the day trip Oktoberfest of Blumenau, the Iemanjá ocean offerings, and the inclusive LGBT beach culture of Praia Mole that makes Florianopolis the most open coastal destination in the south of Brazil.
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New Year in Florianopolis: The Reveillon Experience
The New Year celebration in Florianopolis, where the entire beach promenade of each major beach becomes a party venue with concerts, fireworks, and the white-wearing tradition adopted from the Candomble Iemanjá offerings by secular Brazilians throughout the country, is one of the largest New Year celebrations in South America after the Rio de Janeiro Reveillon.
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Carnaval de Florianopolis: The Unpretentious Alternative
The Florianopolis carnival, while less famous and less spectacular than the Rio and Salvador street carnivals, is celebrated with genuine local enthusiasm in the street blocos of the Lagoa da Conceicao and the Centro, and provides an experience of Brazilian carnival that is less overwhelming and more genuinely community-based than the mega-events of the northeastern cities.
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Oktoberfest Blumenau: The Day Trip
The Blumenau Oktoberfest, held in October over three weekends, is accessible as a day trip from Florianopolis by bus or car and provides the combined experience of the second largest Oktoberfest in the world in the context of the genuine German colonial city, with the historic center of Blumenau showing the architectural heritage alongside the temporary festival infrastructure.
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Festival of Iemanjá in Florianopolis: February 2
The Florianopolis celebration of Iemanjá on February 2 mirrors the Salvador celebration in smaller scale, with Candomble communities and secular participants bringing flowers and offerings to the ocean at the Ponta das Canas beach in a ceremony that demonstrates the national spread of the Afro-Brazilian religious calendar beyond the northeast.
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Music Scene: Florianopolis Independent Artists
The Florianopolis music scene has produced a number of independent Brazilian artists in the popular and alternative music genres who have gained national followings while maintaining a connection to the island lifestyle culture; the live music venues of Lagoa da Conceicao and the bars of the Centro provide the performance space for a diverse local music community.
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Gay Florianopolis: Praia Mole and Community
Praia Mole is the most established LGBT beach in the south of Brazil, with a beach culture that combines the surf crowd with the LGBT community in a social environment notable for its openness and its lack of the conflict that marks some beach destinations. The Florianopolis LGBT community is served by bars and clubs in the Agronômica neighborhood and around the Centro, and the city has a visible and politically active LGBT civic community.