The Maskatorium: hundreds of masks collected from around the world over the past 20 years.
posted by gman on Oct 30, 2009 - 6 comments

Carnival is home again.
The small Caribbean island of Trinidad has one of world's most lively Carnivals. An historical overview and explanation.
Lets start with the mas(querade); and Peter "see the music, hear the dance" Minshall without doubt the greatest ever carnival costume designer.
The music's inside. [more inside]
posted by adamvasco on Feb 7, 2009 - 6 comments

Handy Guides for how to win at rigged carnival games like the dime toss, the milk bottle toss. or even beat those claw on a crane machines. But what about matching wits with an online guess a number carny?
posted by tatnasty on Dec 17, 2008 - 35 comments

Should you be attending this year's carnival in Rio, you probably won't be seeing a huge float rolling down the parade route depicting an enormous pile of emaciated corpses and a samba-dancing Hitler. But that's only thanks to a Brazilian judge's decision.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jan 31, 2008 - 53 comments

Looking for somewhere to go and see how humanity celebrates being alive? Or maybe you're just interested in nettle eating, a parade of the unmarried women, wife carrying championships, sand sculpture or kinetic sculpture. If you're gonna make an omlette, you have to break some eggs.
posted by lalochezia on Mar 18, 2006 - 6 comments

It's Carnival Time! In 2002, Silflay Hraka launched the internet's first carnival: The Carnival of the Vanities. Carnivals are showcases of the best that blogs have to offer; bloggers send in posts they have made that they are especially pleased with, and a rotating editor collates them into a weekly edition with editorial comments. Think of carnivals as best-of-the-blogosphere magazines. The Carnival of the Vanities (current edition here) doesn't have any particular focus, but a number of offshoots dedicated to specific fields have popped up. Stay up to date on blog postings about philosophy, science, history, the early modern period, sex, Canada, and (if desperately bored) cats. A new carnival about atheism, The Carnival of the Godless, will be coming out at the end of the month.
posted by painquale on Jan 23, 2005 - 5 comments

So, carnival is over in Rio, but festivities continue until Sunday in Salvador and other northeastern cities in Brazil. In Rio's samba parade, Beija-Flor was the winner, but Mangueira, last year's winner, came in as a very close second. But what am I saying - gotta go get some sleep. See you all here in 2004!
posted by falameufilho on Mar 5, 2003 - 3 comments

venetian carnival masks
posted by crunchland on Mar 4, 2003 - 12 comments

There Is Only One Carnival... but a lot of sambas to go with it. Get Rio de Janeiro's 2003 songs here and, at least spiritually, join the escola (school) of your choice. It's the real stuff, guaranteed to put a spring in your step. If you get the French Fashion TV channel, you can watch the desfiles (parades) live! Oba! Oba![Some Real, WM or something required - forgive the indefinition, I'm just back from the first Carnival party and a bit drubk. Last year's songs were featured in this post.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Mar 1, 2003 - 8 comments

It's Carnival Time! New Orleans Mardi Gras celebrations are steeped in tradition. From beads and king cakes to invitation-only balls, carnival has been a part of the city's history since the French held private masked balls and parties in 1718. Although Spanish rule interrupted the party for 90 years, many of the krewes have been around since the 1800s. Today, parade floats are considered an art form and some krewes spend up to $700,000 on a single float. With such excess abounding, consider yourself warned.
posted by ajr on Feb 27, 2003 - 15 comments

Not Flying Down To Rio For The Carnival? Never mind! Beat the crowds but catch the beat by listening to this year's terrific sambas before the rest of the world can. This is the real shanty-town stuff, not the watered-down touristy rubbish[WindowsMedia required]that passes for Samba. This year my favourite for first prize is Mangueira. What's yours? The Brazilian Carnival[learn all about it here] starts Saturday and goes on straight through to Tuesday. For the latest inside information - including the Bin Laden Mask controversy - O Globo's special web site[In Portuguese]is unbeatable. Enjoy!
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 6, 2002 - 13 comments