Carnaval

"Four days and nights of lavish self-indulgent anything-goes exotic exhibitionist spectacle" Sounds like a description of Mardi Gras right? Well, it's actually describing Carnaval, a Latin American festival celebrating the beginning of Lent. The most well known celebration occurs in Rio de Janiero, Brazil. In the beginning, the higher classes celebrated privately in their homes while the poorer classes took to the streets in unplanned and unformed revelry. The upper classes soon joined in the fun wearing masks. Today there is competition between the different street and neighborhood samba schools which dance in the parades. Interestingly the word carnival is thought to come from the Italian carne vale or farewell to meat, which was not eaten during Lent.