February 17th, 2026 - Boi Tolo: Rio’s Relentless Carnival Street Party

Well before sunrise, the square in Rio de Janeiro’s historic center began to fill. Some revelers arrived in neon fishnets and glitter, while others who had partied through the night stretched out on the grass for a brief rest. Musicians trickled in last, hauling drums and trumpets as the sky lightened over the city.

It was carnival Sunday, and the gathering marked the start of Boi Tolo, a roaming, unscripted block party that sweeps through Rio like a marathon. There is no fixed schedule, no official route and no central organizer directing the crowd. Instead, thousands of euphoric participants surge through the streets at a relentless pace, improvising each step as they go.

Those who miss the beginning spend hours trying to catch up, peppering group chats with the same urgent question: “Where is Boi Tolo?” Keeping up is physically demanding. “You start wondering if you should give up,” said Lucas Fagundes, 35. “It’s like the ultimate test of stamina.”

By 6:50 a.m., several hundred people in jeweled cowboy hats and glittering bikinis had packed the square. The band launched into a brassy, percussive rhythm, and a human chain formed around the musicians as the procession surged into the narrow streets, halting traffic. Stilt walkers weaved past stranded buses, and a costumed Medusa blew soap bubbles toward bewildered commuters.

One of the few unwritten rules is to keep moving. When couples paused for dramatic kisses, the crowd chanted, “Kiss and walk!” The route is decided on the fly, said Luís Otávio Almeida, one of the event’s founders. The tradition itself began two decades ago when revelers showed up for a party announced in a newspaper that turned out not to exist. Frustrated, they improvised with a borrowed tambourine and drum, and someone scrawled “Boi Tolo”, “foolish bull”, on cardboard. The name stuck, and the spontaneous gathering has since grown into an annual phenomenon drawing tens of thousands.

As the morning heat intensified, the procession spilled into a park and then toward tunnels leading to Rio’s beachfront. Temperatures climbed past 90 degrees, and participants doused one another with water as makeup melted and costumes sagged. Yet the tunnel passage, with drums echoing off the concrete walls, produced a surge of collective exhilaration. “It’s magical,” said Perola Mendonça, 26. “It’s pure ecstasy.”

Even after 12 hours on foot, hundreds refused to stop. They marched back toward the city center, detouring onto the sand where a drummer hooked his instrument onto a soccer goal. As twilight settled in, the crowd shouted an anthem that summed up the day’s endurance: “I’m not going home!” Exhausted but elated, newcomers like 22-year-old Yasmin Santiago realized they had finally found what they had been searching for. “This is Boi Tolo?” she exclaimed. “We were looking for it for ages.”

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster) - Abdicate (verb, AB-dih-kayt) - Abdicate usually means “to renounce a position of power, such as a throne, high office, dignity, or function.” It can also mean “to fail to do what is required by (a duty or responsibility).”

Example: I know many challenges lie ahead, but I take this role on willingly, and will not abdicate my responsibility.

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