This Friday (13th), the first night of Carnival in São Paulo, Mocidade Unida da Mooca, a newcomer to the special group, opens the parades at 11pm. The last to enter the sambadrome will be Barroca Zona Sul, which begins work at 5:30 am on Saturday (14).
There will be seven schools on Friday and seven more on Saturday. Of the 14 associations that will parade this weekend, two will be demoted after the results are calculated, scheduled for 4pm on Tuesday (17).
See the schedule of this Friday’s parades:
Mocidade Unida da Mooca (11pm)
The school presents the samba “Gèlèdés – Agbara Obinrin”, a tribute to the Gèlèdés Institute, an organization founded by black women to discuss and mobilize around social issues, with racial issues as a guiding element. The association has already honored other important black figures, such as Abdias do Nascimento, on their way through the access categories.
“Every black girl that passes me
Retrace the path of so many Iyás
Make an uprising, collective, brotherhood
Show your pride for equality
Resist with the drumhead, face the oppressor”
(Excerpt from the samba “Gèlèdés – Agbara Obinrin”)
Colorado do Brás (0h5)
In the first minutes of Saturday, Colorado do Brás sings about witches, in their “A Bruxa está loose – Senhoras do Saber Renascem na Colorado”. Ranked tenth in 2025, the school in the central region uses the character to discuss female solidarity, rebellion and strength.
“Come and see! Let the cauldron boil
There’s magic on this floor
Where the witch is queen”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “The Witch is loose”)
Real Dragons (1h10)
Sixth place last year, just two tenths behind champion Rosas de Ouro, Dragões da Real brings native peoples as inspiration in the samba-plot “Guerreiras Icamiabas – A Legendary History of Strength and Resistance”, resuming the legend of the Amazons and discussing indigenous resistance.
“The saga renews hope
Courage, today is a spear
In the greed of the invader”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “Guerreiras Icamiabas”)
Tatuapé Academics (2h15)
The fourth group to perform, the 2025 runner-up with the same score as the champion, the school founded in 1952 sings about agrarian reform and agriculture for food production in the samba “Plantar para Colher e Alimentar”.
“But greed for land without people
It makes a lot of landless people cry!
Whoever plants evil spreads ambition
Give it to me! Give me a little piece of floor”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “Planting to Harvest and Feed”)
Golden Roses (3h20)
Rosas de Ouro will bring the space to the early hours of São Paulo, with the samba-plot “Escrito nas Estrelas”, with the big bang, astronomy and astrology combined. Punished for failing to submit documents for the parade, the school will have an almost impossible path to the second championship, starting with half a point less. In 2025, the association lost just 0.2 points in all criteria.
“He designed the destiny of reason
Elevated the time of creation
Shined in verse and prose
With a blue soul, with a pink ascendant”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “Written in the Stars”)
Go-Go (4h35)
The oldest among the associations that parade among São Paulo’s elite, Vai-Vai is also the largest holder of titles, with 15, of which nine after the start of the parades at the Sambadrome. Despite this successful past, its most recent consecration was in 2015. From the memory of the immigrant workers, present at the founding of the Bixiga school, and the beginning of São Paulo cinema comes the theme for this year, with the samba “A Saga Vencedora de um Povo Heroico no Apogeu da Vedete da Pauliceia”.
“Whoever works has a soul and a heart
It is not iron, nor machine, of exploitation
It’s worth the sweat, don’t take it the wrong way
If you disbelieve, you will stop!”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “The Winning Saga of a Heroic People”)
Baroque South Zone (5h30)
Representing Jabaquara and Health, Barroca Zona Sul closes the parades on the first night of the Special Group with the theme “Oro Mi Maió OXUM”, paying tribute to the orixá of fresh waters.
“I saw Mama Oxum harvesting lilies, lilies,
Harvesting lilies to decorate your congá
He is the one who governs the power of enchantment
It’s the mirror that will never break”
(Excerpt from the samba-plot “Oro Mi Maió OXUM”)
How to follow
Anyone going to Anhembi, on Avenida Olavo Fontoura, can use public transport, using one of the special bus lines that will serve from the Portuguesa-Tietê and Palmeiras-Barra Funda Metro stations.
It is also possible to access the sambadrome from one of the five parking spaces designated for those traveling by car or motorbike. Those who choose to take a taxi can preferably disembark near Ponte da Casa Verde and Avenida Braz Leme, which has the shortest distance to the entrance gates. At the exit of the event, four pockets are set up for boarding passengers.
It is permitted to enter the sambadrome with a backpack, raincoat and flag without a flagpole, as well as non-perishable food, with a limit of up to three items per person, packed in flexible packaging (plastic bags). The place has restrictions on street vendors. Rigid bottles, thermal cups, cans, umbrellas and other objects that could hurt are prohibited, as are bladed or firearms, fireworks, sprays and laser pointers or other light-emitting devices.
