Carnival

The article speaks of a national Hispanic heritage as impossible as it is too general. I completely agree. Hispanic culture is spread over three land masses (Europe, South America, and Central America), has numerous dialects that cannot translates (for example the word potato in Castilian Spanish has a completely different meaning in South American countries' dialects). I was not surprised at all to find group-specific cultural/folklore activities such as Carnival Bahia. There may be similar activities in other countries but their differences are often quite noticeable. The same can be said of America. We may all speak the same language, but a carnival in NoVa is highly different than one in WVA. Nova carnivals involve mechanical rides and creepy carnies, WVA carnivals have hay rides and corn field mazes. They'll have similar overlap in foods (cotton candy, caramel apples, funnel cakes and so on), age groups (young children with their parents), and so on but when compared side by side they are noticeably different.

The Carnival in the article seems much more low-key than Carnival Bahia. The one mentioned in the article (Brazilian inspired) is only 1 day long instead of five, furthermore it does not unify the neighborhood as much as Carnival Bahia simply because the Brazilian version leaves the main neighborhood. One of the major similarities, however, are the floats of differing nationalities and ethnicities. This allows the mass to unify under one broad banner while being separate facilities on their floats. Also, both Carnivals are heavy with Afro-tradition despite the fact that most people no longer identify with such traditions (either because they have no Afro-heritage personally or because that have been so long removed from it).