Brazil's Carnival 2009

On Saturday 21st of Feb Brazil’s 2009 carnival began in what has commonly become known as the ‘Carnival Capital of the World’. The streets of Rio de Janeiro were decorated in vibrant colour and alive with the sounds of the Samba.
The festivities permeate almost every residency and business in the vicinity, people turning out in their droves to celebrate the final big party before Lent begins tomorrow on Ash Wednesday. The carnival represents a climax of debauchery, a final binge of self-indulgent pleasure which ends on ‘Fat Tuesday’ (today) , 40 days before Easter, thus a day before abstinence from ‘pleasures of the flesh’ begins.
For 4 days carnival- goers dress in outrageously-loud glittering, feathered costumes and swing their hips to the Capoeira, while the bands belt out the traditional energising sounds that the procession has become infamous for. The celebrations are said to attract around 500,000 foreign visitors per year, and is the most popular festival for the residents of Rio. The carnival is rich in Brazilian culture artistically revered, and is often considered as the ‘greatest carnival in the world’.