THE Grande Rio samba group, whose parade advocating condom use was censured by the Catholic Church, marched early Monday with two of their floats covered in black plastic.
Their samba, "Let's Wear the Little Shirt, My Love," slang for wearing a condom, upset the Church who sued at the last minute to require the school to cover floats depicting Adam and Eve copulating and another featuring scenes from the Kama Sutra.
"It (explicit sex) is all right on TV but in carnival it's not," complained parade designer Joaosinho Trinta.
It wasn't the first time that the 70-year-old designer was sued by the church over one of his parades. In 1989, he was forced to cover a float depicting Rio's mountain top Christ statue.
That year, he covered the statue parading under black plastic with a sign that said "Even though you are banned, watch over us." This year the signs on floats merely read "Censured."
"Grande Rio tried to get the injunction against them lifted, but they didn't have time," said Carlos Danilo da Cunha Ribeiro one of three court officials on hand at the stadium to ensure the floats were appropriately covered.
The parade opened Sunday night to the riveting beat of a 300 piece drum section, when thousands of elaborately sequined and feathered dancers from the Sao Clemente group charged into the stadium in hail of fireworks.
The group's samba with the irreverent refrain: "Sao Clemente makes us believe that in Brazil what is serious is carnival," set the evening's tone.
Next, the group Unidos da Tijuca mounted a parade honoring children's TV show presenter Xuxa and featuring a giant pyramid made up of over 120 mostly naked men in blue body paint.
The parades, which continue Monday night and will run into Tuesday morning, feature Rio's 14 top-tier samba groups, each battling for the right to be declared this year's champion.
The distinction brings little more than bragging rights.
The Sambadrome performances, which will be televised live across this nation of 175 million people and the groups, mainly from poor communities - have spent the year preparing for their moment of glory.
Tickets for the Sambadrome celebration, the highlight of carnival, are too pricey for many Brazilians. Each group has 80 minutes to parade dancers, singers and drummers down the 697m-long stadium in an effort to win over the crowd and judges.
The groups are judged on criteria that include music, costumes, originality, float designs, percussion and even enthusiasm.
This year marks the Sambadrome's 20th anniversary and carnival organizers have encouraged groups to revive past hits for this year's parade.
But only four groups have done so, mostly because of the difficulty in attracting lucrative sponsorships with old songs.
Outside the stadium, a group called "Youth with a Mission" united scores of young Evangelical Protestants who crowded around a rock band to listen to Christian music and preach against the evils of carnival.
"If you don't want your happiness to end on Ash Wednesday, remember Jesus," said one young woman who would only identify herself as Cristina.