I went to church tonight to hear the Christmas Cantata (Cantata do Natal) and it was pretty amazing. Brazilians love music, and so when they have the chance to sing, boy do they get into it! I had to laugh because some of the songs were a little different:
"Angels We Have Heard on High" was sung to a samba beat. My friend said "Only in Brasil will they put a samba beat and Latin in the same song, at the same time." And her sister added, "Yeah, and at Christmas too!"
"Hallelujah Chorus" was jazzed up a little bit, too. They sang it in the "classic style" last Sunday night and definitely adapted it to Brazilian culture tonight.
It's still weird to be hearing Christmas music when everyone in the praça is fanning themselves with the bulletin. But Christmas time it is!