Brazilian Carnival

The Carnival of Brazil 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. Carnival is the most popular holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions. Brazilian carnival in essence is a synthesis of European, Native American, and Afro-Brazilian cultural influences, each group has played an important role in the development of the structure and aesthetic of the Brazilian carnival of today.