Most of the Christian world prepares for the onset of fating in Lent by an all out pancake extravaganza, cramming crepes of honey and sugar into their mouths and marvelling at their own decadence.
In Brazil they hold a 4 day sex, drugs and samba party instead.
Carnival in the big cities like Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo are huge affairs but mainly suit spectators. There are world class shows put on in the Sambadrome with samba floats passing by with sexy dancers in sequins and less, strutting their stuff, drummers on stilts and the most imaginative costumes and displays they can come up with.
Given that the samba parades of the Carnival started off in the samba schools of the favelas, it seems kind of corrupt that the poor can't afford tickets to see the shows they started. Their best chance of seeing the samba parades are to take part in them.
Some feel that Carnival in Rio and Sao Paolo is just put on for the tourists now and prefer to get involved in the street action at the other main centres, Salvador and Olinda. Salvador is in Bahia, the black capital of Brazil and takes on a very exuberant, African feel. It gets pretty rough some times though and gringos are often singles out for harassment and theft.
Olnda is a town so close to the big city of Recife that it's practically a suburb. But whilst Recife is dirty, smelly and dangerous, Olinda is quiet, scenic and generally pretty peaceful. For a week each year that changes though as half a million people sweep down in fancy dress to drink, take drugs and dance.
It's a lot of fun during the day with the Brazilians dressed up with incredible imagination as police, thieves, angels, devils, phone boxes, witches, school girls, pirates, doctors or any kind of insect,and animal imaginable. At night though it gets a little heavier and you're best off taking a taxi to a music show in Recife.
Carnival in Brazil happens on every level and even if you're not in a major centre people will still have barbeques at their houses or parties in the street. If you want the real experience though you're best off trying one of the above.