Zombies!

The parade is actually a competition, with an elaborate judging system where each different component of the parade -- floats, drum corps, pretty ladies carrying flags, etc -- gets judged and one of the 12 schools is declared the best for that year. Like in soccer leagues, the school that comes in last is relegated to the second division, and the winner of that parade is promoted to the top division the next year. One element of all this is that each of the 12 samba schools competing in the parade picks a theme. This year, for example, one school's theme was "Germany;" another was "Fame" (yesterday's photo of a portrait gallery float was from the "Fame" theme). This group, despite the fact that I saw the whole thing, I can't recall what their theme was. There was something that looked like a Mississippi river paddle boat and... uh... some other random stuff... and this float of ultraviolet zombies. It was all fun, but I don't think they probably won high marks for coherence and dedication to theme.