The famous Rio de Janeiro beach associated with white-clad crowds and New Year’s Eve fireworks is Copacabana Beach.
Rio’s Réveillon celebration is held along Copacabana’s waterfront, where enormous crowds gather for concerts, ceremonies, and fireworks over the Atlantic Ocean. Wearing white is a widely recognized part of the celebration, linked to ideas of peace and good fortune.
Many participants also make offerings or pay respects to Iemanjá, an important figure in Afro-Brazilian and Brazilian popular religious traditions. Some people place flowers or small offerings in the sea, although practices differ among celebrants.
Copacabana is a neighborhood and beach in Rio’s South Zone. Ipanema is another famous Rio beach, but it is not the standard answer for the principal New Year’s Eve gathering described here. The celebration is commonly called Réveillon in Brazil, a word derived from French.