The Carnival of Brazil (Portuguese: Carnaval do Brasil, IPA: [kaʁnaˈvaw]) is an annual festival held the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter.

[2][3][4][5] Except for industrial production, retail establishments such as malls, and carnival-related businesses, the country unifies completely for almost a week and festivities are intense, day and night, mainly in coastal cities.

[8] Historically its origins can be traced to the Portuguese Age of Discoveries when their caravels passed regularly through Madeira island, a territory which already celebrated emphatically its carnival season, and where they were loaded with goods but also people and their ludic and cultural expressions.

In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Vitória, huge organized parades are led by samba schools.

The northeastern cities of Recife, Olinda, Salvador, and Porto Seguro have organized groups parading through streets, and public interacts directly with them.

Also in northeast, Olinda carnival features unique characteristics, heavily influenced by local folklore and cultural manifestations, such as Frevo and Maracatu.

These rhythms were mainly developed by Afro-Brazilians and Pardos, incorporating and adapting many cultural influences, from the percussion beats of Africa to the military fanfares of Europe and iberian music in the use of instruments like pandeiro and cavaquinho.

Today they are known as Carnaval blocos (blocks), consisting of a group of people who dress in costumes or special T-shirts with themes and/or logos.

Samba-schools (not only in Rio de Janeiro, but in São Paulo and several other cities) are the cultural epicenter of the Brazilian carnival, in terms of the "parading style".

"Cordão do bola preta" ("Polka Dot Bloco"), that goes through the heart of Rio's historical center, and "Suvaco do Cristo" ('Armpit of Christ the Redeemer', referring to the angle of the statue seen from the neighborhood), near the Botanical Garden, are some of the most famous groups.

[17] They are part of an official competition, divided into seven divisions, in which a single school is declared the winner, according to ten judging categories[18] that include costume, flow, theme, and band music quality and performance.

An Electric Trio is characterized by a truck equipped with giant speakers and a platform where musicians play songs of local genres such as axé.

[22] In 2017, the Sexual Diversity Museum of São Paulo formed its own Carnival group to provide the message of inclusion, peace, and respect for all LGBT people.

More than the traditional school parade, the carnival in Espirito Santos includes a large set of attractions, especially in the beach areas of the state, from north to south.

Carnival in Minas Gerais is often characterized by blocos carnavalescos with varying themes and costume styles, typically accompanied by a brass and drums band.

The most traditional carnival parades happen in the historic cities of Ouro Preto, Mariana, São João del Rei, and Diamantina.

The city has a large proportion of students, who during the year live in places called Repúblicas (a Brazilian equivalent to a frat house).

[27] Some Southern cities such as Uruguaiana, Florianópolis, and Porto Alegre have smaller samba school groups or blocos, but like São Paulo state towns, they seem to prefer balls to street dancing.

[28][29][30][31] The Carnival parades in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo take place in their sambódromos, located close to the city center.

Its origins can be traced back to the 19th century in Salvador, Bahia which had strong links with western Africa and a contained a large black slave and ex-slave population.

[34] Despite much initial distaste for the genre from the Brazilian government and those of high social class (who were striving for a more European culture),[35] "sambistas" continued playing, singing, and dancing the samba.

In the 1930s, a group of musicians led by Ismael Silva founded in the neighborhood of Estácio de Sá the first samba school, Deixa Falar.

[38] In the following years, samba has developed in several directions, from the gentle samba-canção to the drum orchestras which make the soundtrack of carnival parade.

One of these new styles was bossa nova, a musical movement initially spearheaded by young musicians and college students from Rio de Janeiro.

In the sixties, Brazil was politically divided, and the leftist musicians of bossa nova started to draw attention to the music made in the favelas.

Names like Cartola, Nelson Cavaquinho, Velha Guarda da Portela, Zé Keti, and Clementina de Jesus recorded their first albums.

[39] Frevo is a wide range of musical styles originating from Recife and Olinda, Pernambuco, Brazil, all of which are traditionally associated with Brazilian Carnival.

By the end of the 19th century, bands from the Brazilian Army regiments based in the city of Recife started a tradition of parading during the Carnival.

As singer Daniela Mercury began her rise to stardom in Rio and São Paulo, anything coming from Salvador would be labeled Axé Music.

Since 1991, Globo's broadcast of the parades, now dubbed Globeleza, at the Sambodrome in Rio and São Paulo have become the center of national and international attention.