is a

carnival block Carnival blocks, carnaval blocos or blocos de rua are street bands that mobilize crowds on the streets and are the main popular expression of Brazilian Carnival. These parades fall under the term "street carnival", and happen during a period of ab ...

Olinda Olinda () is a historic city in Pernambuco, Brazil, in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region. It is located on the country's northeastern Atlantic Ocean coast, in the Recife metropolitan area, Metropolitan Region of Recife, the state ca ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. The block was created in 1931 by Benedito Bernardino da Silva, Luciano Anacleto de Queiroz, Sebastião da Silva, Cosme José dos Santos, Heliodoro Pereira da Silva, and shoemaker Manoel Joaquim dos Santos. It parades on

carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...

Saturday midnight at Olinda's historical center, being the first block to perform. '' frevo'' is the main played rhythm, but others are also played, such as samba and

marchinha Marchinha (, also called "marchinha de carnaval", "marchinha carnavalesca" or "marcha carnavalesca) is one of several genres of music typical of Brazilian Carnival The Carnival of Brazil (, ) is an annual festival held the Friday afternoon bef ...

s. O Homem da Meia Noite is an

intangible cultural heritage An intangible cultural heritage (ICH) is a practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skill considered by UNESCO to be part of a place's cultural heritage. Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property. In ...

Pernambuco Pernambuco ( , , ) is a States of Brazil, state of Brazil located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.5 million people as of 2024, it is the List of Brazilian states by population, ...

since 2006.

History

Homem da Meia-Noite was founded on February 2, 1931, following an internal dispute at . Luciano Anacleto de Queiroz, Sebastião da Silva, Cosme José dos Santos, Heliodoro Pereira da Silva, and shoemaker Manoel Joaquim dos Santos (Neco Monstro) were not accepted at the block's board, and decided to create the new block. Back then, Cariri Olindense was the first block to parade at Olinda's carnival. Thus, to rival with them, the founders decided to parade at the midnight hour between carnival's Saturday and Sunday, becoming the opening act since then. Later, both blocks have reconciled. Now it is a tradition that Homem da Meia-Noite hands in the city key to Cariri right after its parade. Between 1931 and 1932, Homem da Meia-Noite had only a

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object ...

(with a clock showing midnight hour) and the doll. After, it has incorporated other carnival elements. The block did not parade between 1950 and 1953 due to financial issues.

Family

Other characters have been created in association to Homem da Meia-Noite. was created in 1967. The doll only parades on Sunday, thus only meets Homem da Meia Noite when all giant dolls parade together. The figure was created by the craftsman Julião das Máscaras, who was inspired by Monalisa. It has long dark hair, a gold tooth smile, and wears yellow and blue in a reference to

Yemọja Yemọja (also: Yemaja, Yemanjá, Yemoyá, Yemayá; there are many different transliterations in other languages) is the major water spirit from the Yoruba religion. She is the mother of all Orishas. She is also the mother of humanity. She is an ...

Oshun Oshun (also Ọṣun, Ochún, and Oxúm) is the Yoruba orisha associated with love, sexuality, fertility, femininity, water, destiny, divination, purity, and beauty, and the Osun River, and of wealth and prosperity in the Yoruba religion. Sh ...

. Homem and Mulher were "officially" married in a ceremony in February 1990. is the first offspring of the marriage between Homem da Meia-Noite and Mulher do Dia. The figure was create in 1974 also by Julião das Máscaras. He is dressed as an adult. In 1977 was created by Sílvio Botelho. The character is a vain girl who wears new clothes every carnival.

References

Olinda Brazilian Carnival Parades in Brazil Festivals established in 1931 {{Brazil-culture-stub