"Carnaval" is annual festival always celebrated the weekend before the beginning of Lent and ends on Fat Tuesday, the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. The festival dates back as far as 1723 and has roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia which was a farewell to a season of religious discipline to practice repentance and prepare for Christ's death and resurrection. Nowadays, it is known as one of the biggest parties on earth, with more than 200 different Samba schools that participate in the Rio Carnival, some of which are expected to spend up to $3 million on outfits and preparations. There are more than 2 million people on the streets every day during the carnival, which has become an event of huge proportions and is the most famous holiday in Brazil. The country stops completely for almost a week to take part in the intense festivities day and night.

History

The roots of Carnival trace back to ancient times when people celebrated the rites of spring. Across Europe, including France, Spain and Portugal, people annually gave thanks by throwing parties, wearing masks and dancing in the streets. Such traditions were carried over to the New World, with the Portuguese first bringing the concept of celebration or carnival to Rio around 1850. The practice of holding balls and masquerade parties was imported by the bourgeoisie from Paris. In Brazil, the traditions over time acquired unique elements deriving from African and Amerindian cultures.

Groups of people would parade through the streets playing music and dancing. During Carnival, it was normal for aristocrats to dress up as commoners, men would cross-dress as women and the poor would dress up as princes and princesses; social roles and class differences were expected to be forgotten once a year for the duration of the festival.

The government accepted the festival as an expression of culture and the black slaves became actively involved in the celebrations when they were able to be free for five days. Nowadays, the slum communities are still most involved in all the carnival preparations and they are the ones for whom the Rio Carnival means the most.

By the end of the 18th century the festivities were enriched by competitions. People would not only dress up in costumes but also perform a parade accompanied by an orchestra of strings, drums and other instruments. These increasingly organized competitions have become the main attractions of the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the carnival in Rio was a segregated people of European ancestry that did not mix with the emergent working class -- made up mainly of Afro Brazilians, gypsies, Russians, Jews, and Poles who developed their own music and rhythm. The parades were halted during World War II but restarted shortly thereafter in 1947. Since then, Carnival has gone a long way since it was first brought to Rio and has become one of the biggest events in the World.

Music

Each of the states has their own style in their Carnival celebrations. Rhythm, participation, and costumes vary greatly. The southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Vitória see huge organized parades that are led by samba schools in official parades which are meant to be watched by the public. The northeastern cities of Recife, Olinda, Salvador and Porto Seguro have organized groups parading through the streets and the public interacts directly with them. In the northeast, the Olinda carnival features unique characteristics that are heavily influenced by local folklore and cultural manifestations.

Just like how the parade styles differ between regions, so too does the music. The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are the samba-enredo, the samba de bloco, the samba de embalo and the marchinha in Rio de Janeiro and the Southeast Region in general. Samba was originated and developed in Rio de Janeiro and is still one of the most popular styles of Brazil, always evoking a warm and vibrant mood. Singer and actress Carmen Miranda introduced Samba to the world with her films and it even became the national music during the rule of Getúlio Vargas

In Pernambuco, Bahia and the Northeast Region of the country, the main genres are the frevo, the maracatu, the samba-reggae and Axé music. Axé, meaning "good vibration," is the name given to artists from Salvador who make music with northeastern Brazilian, Caribbean and African rhythms with a pop-rock twist. Axé was first used by a journalist who intended to create a derogatory term for the pretentious dance-driven style. Frevo originates from Recife and Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil. It is said that the sound of the frevo will make listeners and dancers feel as if they are boiling. It started when bands from the Brazilian Army regiments played religious procession marches and martial music, playing faster and faster, louder and louder. When competing bands met each other in the streets, fights between capoeiristas led to arrests, and now they carry umbrellas instead of knives and disguise the capoeira movements as dance movements.

Tourism

The Carnaval in Brazil might be known as the world's most famous annual party, bringing in millions of tourists from around the globe who wish to experience the vibrant parades and elaborate costumes of Carnival. Carnaval is celebrated in towns and villages throughout Brazil and other Catholic countries but Rio de Janeiro is known as the "Carnival Capital of the World" with the biggest celebration. The country plays it up because it knows the economic importance of the tourism. According to the Rio Carnival's website, the greatest element of the Rio Carnival is that it provides entertainment for many people around the world and gives a chance to learn about the true culture of Brazil. Carnival is important to Brazilians because it sums up their culture; it is an euphoric event where people dance, sing, party and have lots of fun. The many parties that take place before, during and after Carnival all night and all day allow someone's true heart to come out and have as much fun as possible.

Rio de Janeiro expects to welcome 920,000 tourists over the course of the long weekend. Rio's Sambodrome hosts a spectacular opening ceremony every year to begin festivities. King Momo, the symbolic overseer of Latin American carnivals will be crowned by the city's mayor before the start of the official samba parade. According to the tourism board, the Carnival generates more than $250 million in Rio alone, three-quarters of which comes from tourists. Celebrations take place in cities across the whole country but Rio locals proudly describe the Rio Carnival as "the greatest show on Earth."

Other important Carnival cities are the north-east region of Brazil, which expects 1.6 million tourists and $200 million; the state of Bahia, which will welcome 700,000 tourists to the 15-mile stretch dedicated to the festival parades, which are free for all to attend. Sao Paulo is known for its Samba dance competition in which the city's dance schools compete to get the most audience members involved. Florianópolis hosts the famous Pop Gay beauty contest for drag queens and transgender people and attracts between 40,000 to 50,000 people as the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender center of Carnival. Brazil's tourism will be off the charts this year as it is also hosting the 2014 World Cup in the summer, bring the overall number of foreign visitors for the year to over 7.2 million.