Carnival in Brazil

Carnival. The biggest party on earth. The ultimate expression of what it is to be brazilian.

That's the openning line for the video clip below. I don't think my wife agrees with it though. She's not a fan of carnival because she feels the world judges all of brazil based on that one event. When I explain that it's hard for us not to, because that's the most visible thing about brazil, she shakes her head and groans.

Carnival is about to begin. It starts in just 6 days, and runs from Feb 2 thru Feb 5. You may have already known that Carnival is a huge party. But what you may not know is that it's a competition in which samba schools compete with extravagant parade floats that show off their mad skills for over 75,000 spectators in the "samba-drome". The samba, the music, the drums, the costumes, all tell the tale of Brazilian history and culture.

Carnival is mostly known for the scantily clad women that dance on the floats and for the general hedonism of the whole thing. But there's more to Carnival than just that. The following clip is a PG-rated, family-safe production, that show-cases what it's really all about by following one girl as she goes through the experience of performing in the parade.

Enjoy this clip.