Claim: There are parades in Rio de Janeiro.

Carnival of Brazil ' -LRB- Carnaval do Brasil , -LSB- kaʁnaˈvaw -RSB- -RRB- is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon -LRB- 51 days before Easter -RRB- and Ash Wednesday at noon , which marks the beginning of Lent , the forty-day period before Easter . On certain days of Lent , Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry , hence the term `` carnival , '' from carnelevare , `` to remove -LRB- literally , `` raise '' -RRB- meat . ''   Rhythm , participation , and costumes vary from one region of Brazil to another . In the southeastern cities of Rio de Janeiro , São Paulo , and Vitória , huge organized parades are led by samba schools . Those official parades are meant to be watched by the public , while minor parades -LRB- `` blocos '' -RRB- allowing public participation can be found in other cities , like Belo Horizonte , also in the southeastern region . The northeastern cities of Recife , Olinda , Salvador , and Porto Seguro have organized groups parading through streets , and public interacts directly with them . This carnival is also influenced by African-Brazilian culture . It is a six-day party where crowds follow the trios elétricos through the city streets , dancing and singing . Also in northeast , Olinda carnival features unique characteristics , heavily influenced by local folklore and cultural manifestations , such as Frevo and Maracatu '' .   The typical genres of music of Brazilian carnival are , in the Southeast Region in general , mostly cities of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo : the samba-enredo , the samba de bloco , the samba de embalo and the marchinha ; and in the Northeast Region including Pernambuco -LRB- mostly cities of Olinda and Recife -RRB- : frevo and maracatu , and Bahia -LRB- mostly the city of Salvador -RRB- : samba-reggae , pagode -LRB- also a type of Samba -RRB- and the main genre axé music .   Carnival is the most famous holiday in Brazil and has become an event of huge proportions . 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 . Rio de Janeiro 's carnival alone drew 4.9 million people in 2011 , with 400,000 being foreigners .   Arguably , this cultural manifestation could be historically traced to the Portuguese Age of Discoveries when their caravels passed regularly through Madeira , 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 .