A samba dancer participating in Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | Photo by GTSA South America (Flickr/Creative Commons)

As January comes to an end, people are excitedly preparing for the upcoming music festival season. One of the largest, most extravagant events in the near future is Brazil’s Carnival, most popularly celebrated in Rio de Janeiro (amongst other places).

According to the Rio Carnival website, the event is 5 days long and happens in February before the beginning of lent (in which “one is supposed to abstain from all bodily pleasures”), so it “could be interpreted as an act of farewell to the pleasures of the flesh.”

At the heart of Carnival is Brazilian music culture, and Rio Carnival states that samba makes up the vast majority of the music played. Its yearly Carnival programs include watching and interacting with street bands, popular dances, concerts and parades — all related to…