It is the biggest party in the world; there is no doubt about that.  The whole country is in frenzy.  Street dancing, drinking, music, costumes, and to some extent sex characterize the carnival of Brazil.  It is celebrated not only in Rio de Janeiro (the most lavish of all carnivals, but not necessarily the best) but also the rest of the country from north to south. 

Carnival is a celebration of the Christian world.  It is a form of bidding farewell to the pleasures of the flesh.  The world carnival comes from Old Italian carne (meat) and levare (to remove).   This is normally celebrated before Ash Wednesday (or forty days before Easter Sunday), which is the start of the Lenten and fasting season, an important religious period of the Christians. 

For many parts of the world, carnival has transformed into various forms of celebration.  Each country or geographical place had ways of blending the celebrations with the local culture.  (In the Philippines, the word carnival denotes a traveling amusement show usually including rides, games and sideshows.)  In Brazil the pagan, afro and lately the pop cultures have influenced much on the way the carnival is celebrated.  Given the diversity and enormity of the country, Brazilian carnival is celebrated differently in different places.  Music and dance would be one of the major variations. 

In Rio de Janeiro, samba is the music played which has its roots in the city itself.  It is a dance form created by the poor Afro-Brazilians.  The African slaves brought this type of music.  Samba schools are the major players in the carnival.  These are neighbourhood-based social organizations mostly coming from the slums or favelas.  This is very characteristic of most of the carnivals in Brazil.  The poor actually ‘create’ the carnival.  For them the carnival is one time in the year that they can have as much fun as they wish to.   

Samba schools have their own samba hall to entertain and practice their samba.  It is known as a ‘school’ not because they provide samba lessons but because they used to use school grounds to practice.  In-house production units within the school make their lavish costumes and floats.  They hire full-time famous samba school designers to create the costumes.  Whole year round these samba schools provide entertainment to the community. Visitors can also join the regular samba sessions.  They are open to the paying public to raise funds.  They hold samba nights and create a pageant for the Samba Parade.  Some of these schools are also football team supporters, which is the other passion of the Brazilians.  Being based in the favelas, it is sometimes thought that drugs also play a role in raising funds for the school.   The schools choose themes, write their own music and lyrics, make costumes and floats and practice whole year round.  Some locals told me that many of them work during the whole year to be able to participate for the one-time carnival.   

The carnival in Brazil is an interactive experience.  One can buy a costume.  It is a ticket for one to be in the parade. The carnival in Rio is held at the Sambodrome designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer.  If the person is interested to ride the float, the costume is more expensive.  If you are keen on just watching the parade, one has to buy tickets for the Sambodrome, which easily gets sold out.  In some parts of Brazil, some local governments provide opportunity for poor people to join in the celebration by exchanging some of their agricultural produce with costumes.  The products are then redistributed to other poor people.  So instead of using cash for buying the costume they can use other forms of payment. 

Many movie stars and famous celebrities are invited by the samba schools to join the parade.  They normally ride the floats.  Since this is a cutthroat competition, the schools do their best to attract attention and win.  It is an accolade that communities become proud of when they win.  Thus, it does not come as a surprise when they work hard during the year just to win accolades. 

I enjoyed the carnival with my German friend Jonas and American friend Giuliana who both work at the Seamen’s Centre where I stay.  We were real Gringos who enjoyed the festivities.  At times though I got a bit irritated by the same music being played during the long parade.  Each school has to perform within one-hour time limit.  The parade lasts for many hours.  The number of days of celebrations varies in different places.   The more schools the more parade days.  It culminates with the parade of champions during the weekend.  

Carnival serves its purpose of providing a means of escape from poverty for many of them.  The big party is an escape from reality.  It is also an inherent manifestation of the Brazilian character to party.  They always love to be happy.   Part of the carnival atmosphere is sex.  Thus it is interesting for the health ministry to distribute condoms.  Whatever you describe Brazilian carnival, whether its debauchery or religious practice, it is still one of the best parties of the world making the country the most tolerant society.  I just call it pure fun expressed by the fun-loving Brazilians.  In Brazil, if it is not a football day, it is a samba day.