Brazil’s aluminum can street party brings joy, and a green message, to revelers

By ERALDO PERES and ELÉONORE HUGHES
Associated Press

MADRE DE DEUS, Brazil (AP) — Carnival revelers in Brazil’s Madre de Deus heard the aluminum can street party before spotting it. More than 30 paraders decked out in cumbersome outfits made from hundreds of beer and soda cans clanged their way around the island in Bahia state’s Bay of all saints. Each costume — called a “pierro” — is the result of arduous work, made from approximately 1,600 cans gathered over the course of the previous months, then thoroughly washed to dispose of lingering odors. Hundreds of joyful onlookers gathered despite a summer drizzle to watch the feast for the eyes and ears on Sunday, cheering on and applauding the much-loved ‘bloco da latinha’ as it is known in Portuguese.