Mardi Gras

A lot of Americans think of New Orleans when Mardis Gras comes around. Personally, I prefer Carnival to Mardis Gras, and I tend to think of Rio de Janeiro and samba. The scantilly clad women, the giant floats, and the samba contests are so vivid and colorful, they make Mardis Gras in New Orleans seem like a kindergarten outing in comparison!

Almost all of the music played during Rio Carnival is samba. It is a uniquely Brazilian music originating from Rio and a dance form that was invented by the poor Afro-Brazilians. The word samba comes from the Angolan world semba referring to a type of ritual music. The word had a variety of meanings to the African slaves brought to Brazil during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. It meant to pray or invoke the spirits of the ancestors and the gods of the African Pantheon. As a noun, it could mean a complaint, a cry, or something like "the blues".

Although Carnival (Carnaval in Portuguese) is celebrated in towns and villages throughout Brazil and other Catholic countries, Rio de Janeiro has long been regarded as the Carnival Capital of the World. The Rio Carnaval is not only the biggest Carnival, benchmark against which every other carnival is compared but also one of the most interesting artistic events on the Globe. Pretty much everyone has heard of the Rio Carnaval. Foreign visitors to it alone number around 500,000 every year.

On Fat Tuesday, I'll switch over and blog some live shots from New Orleans, which has a number of webcams that stream live from Burbon Street.