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Fernanda Torres já está TOTALMENTE PREMIADA no Carnaval de Olinda

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Who's Afraid of Xica Manicongo?

In this year’s Carnaval in Rio, the Paraíso do Tuiuti samba school made their whole presentation themed after Xica Manicongo, the first documented non indigenous travesti (a trans identity that’s very specific to South America) woman in Brazil’s history.

Xica was brought from Congo to Salvador, in Brazil, and sold as a male slave named Francisco Manicongo by the Portuguese in the 16th century. She would walk proudly around the city dressed with a cloth that was open on the side and tied around the front, typical for women where she was from, and was known for meeting with men during her outings.

A christian man once questioned her for the way she was dressed and demanded she would dress “as a man” but she refused to and continued to present as she was. In 1591, the man then accused her of sodomy and reported her to the Inquisition. The penalty for that crime at the time was to be burnt alive in a public square, so to avoid that fate, Xica then started to dress in men’s clothes.

Up until the 20th century, Xica Manicongo was mistakenly considered to be a gay man by historians, until her history was reviewed, and she was given the name Xica by Majorie Marchi, a black travesti woman, president of the ASTRA-Rio (Association of Travestis and Transsexuals of Rio de Janeiro) until her passing in 2016.

It was over an hour of presentation, around three thousand people involved, huge set pieces, all the costumes, music and everything else highlighting the history of trans women, of black trans women, of Xica Manicongo. The biggest cultural celebration in Brazil, people from all over the world come to see the Carnaval, especially in Rio, and this samba school showed this history so beautifully for all the world to see. And not only the history, trans joy, trans people who alive and well and fighting right now.

Among the members of the samba school they also invited many trans people to be a part of their presentation, among them there were deputies, councilors, activists, founders of social projects, actresses, artists, doctors, researchers, dancers, stylists, teachers, sex workers and more, many of them in highlighted sections (up on the floats, or in the opening act).

The samba school also made a partnership with ANTRA, the National Association of Travestis and Transsexuals, and together they founded the Trans-citizenship Project (Projeto Transcidadania), where they taught trans people to dance in preparation for the presentation, and created classes for trans people to teach them how to create costumes and props to be used in the parade. So dancing in the avenue where trans people using costumes made by other trans people, and now that they have those skills, they can be hired to future projects for other carnavals.

It was so beautiful to see, them showing all of that with so much pride and care and calling out conservatives directly. Brazil has been for over a decade the country that kills the most LGBT+ people in the world. The biggest Pride Parade in the world also happens in Brazil (the São Paulo Pride Parade). The fact that both of those things are true at the same time is something that I often think about.

I did my best to translate the lyrics of the song, there were some words that were very specific to African and African-Brazilian cultures that were very hard to translate so I included notes. Some of those words I was already familiar with but others were completely new to me, so I had to do some research, hope I didn’t make any egregious mistakes.

Rio Carnaval, Paraíso do Tuiutí, Pixulé · Sambas de Enredo Rio Carnaval 2025 · Song · 2024

As you can see those are very powerful and very direct lyrics. The “I’m travesti” absolutely impossible to ignore, sang so clearly and holding so much power in that song. Those are the lyrics that were being sung for the entire presentation, the lyrics that the thousands of people watching would sing along to.

The official VOD is behind a paywall on Globoplay, but you can watch it on youtube here (includes pre-show, interviews and commentary), you can also find recordings from the audience on youtube if you prefer.

If the whole thing a bit too long for you, at least watch the opening act. Here’s a recording where you can hear some of the audience’s reaction. Love to see it!! (includes some flickering lights, specially around the 2min mark)