Rio Carnival, the winners parade photo by emmablackburn

So, since we posted the first two entries in Flight Centre’s Party around the Planet series we’ve heard loud and clear that we need to devote a post to two of the most famous; Rio Carnival and Mardi Gras. People travel from near and far to attend these annual parties of parties for their vacations and holidays.

Rio Carnival

This is one crazy 4 day (and all-night) festival in Rio de Janeiro occurs 40 days before Easter and culminates on Fat Tuesday. About a half a million visitors partake in this celebration of abandoned merriment and street pranks. Based on ancient Roman pagan celebrations, Rio Carnival is not a festival for the faint of heart thanks to its celebration of the flesh and recent ‘pushing the envelope’ when it comes to skin. Samba, samba, and more samba is on the menu for this party and the parade that navigates the length of the Sambodromo; a sight to behold. Samba schools compete for the best floats costumes and dancing. This truly is a celebration of music and dance.

Mardi Gras

Mardi Gras (01) - 23Feb09, New Orleans (USA) photo by philippe leroyer

Fly from Brazil straight to New Orleans to join in on the Fat Tuesday celebrations leading up to Ash Wednesday, or Lent. Mardi Gras (literally translated to ‘Fat Tuesday’) has become a party and celebration that takes over Bourbon Street and the French Quarter with parties, balls, and parades that carry on well into the wee hours. Purple, gold, and green are the colours of choice for the masquerades, costumes, and beads and trinkets exchanged by the merrymakers. Dating back to the 1600s, Mardi Gras is recognized as one of ‘the’ North American parties you must attend at least once in your life time; I certainly have it as one of my goals.

Well, mix up food, music, drink, and high spirits and, apparently, I now have 2 Fat Tuesday celebrations to attend… running to check bank account.

New Orleans is highlighted on the Flight Centre travel map.

Categories: Destinations

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Destinations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.