President Rousseff Excluded from Parade of the Giant Dolls in Olinda

02/17/2015 - 09h28

The replica of President Dilma Rousseff (PT) has been left out of the traditional parade of the giant dolls in Olinda, Pernambuco on Monday (16).

The reason, according to Leandro Castro, the parade organizer, is to prevent booing.

"Last year she got badly booed", he said. "Since I thought it best to remove Dilma, I took out the other politicians too."

Without the politicians, dolls representing the writer Ariano Suassuna; the character Chaves, from the Mexican TV series El Chavo del Ocho; Darth Vader and Gandhi with an Indian elephant were among the new dolls this year.

Accompanied by a frevo (a type of music native to Pernambuco) orchestra playing Beatles songs, they paraded amongst favorites such as Bob Marley, the bandit leader and folk hero Lampião, and Supreme Court judge Joaquim Barbosa.

The parade, which was created by the artisan Silvio Botelho, has been running for more than 40 years and included over 60 dolls.

One of the most successful dolls was Mauro Shampoo, formerly of Ibis Sport Club, a football team from the town of Paulista, in Pernambuco.

He was known as the world's worst player. He accompanied his doll personally.

"The story of the worst team is a beautiful story. I did everything to be a true football player, but I failed. So I became a hairdresser instead", he said.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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