Carnival

Cyclists are invited to don their silliest costume and join the Ninth Bike Carnival in the northern port city on Thursday, February 8, which sets off on a tour of the city center at 7 p.m. from the Arch of Galerius and ends with a street party at Chrimatistiriou Square at 10 p.m.

As the annual Carnival season nears, the General Secretariat for Trade and Consumer Protection on Tuesday issued a warning to retailers against the sale or rental of costumes to children that are either sexually suggestive or could incite racist crime, such as masks or outfits portraying Hitler.

The Patra Carnival, Greece's biggest celebration of the three-week madness leading up to Lent, has started at the western port city with workshops for kids, street parties, tributes to traditional Greek customs and an exhibition of costumes from past events at the Agora Argyri Hall at 15 Aghiou Georgiou Street.

The nomination, put forward by Slovenia in 2016, has been backed with praise by an UNESCO expert body, which has proposed to the organisation's intergovernmental committee that the kurent become part of the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage.

The kurent is a traditional carnival costume originating from the area around Ptuj in north-eastern Slovenia.

The American Community Schools in Athens will be opening its campus for the annual Traditional Halloween Carnival, from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, October 27. The event will feature games, food, the Elementary Pumpkin Patch and a haunted house. Admission costs 10 euros and all proceeds will go toward the school's clubs and activities.

At least 20 people were wounded, three of which seriously, after an explosion in a carnival at Villepinte outside Paris.

The French authorities are investigating what went wrong.

Watch the shocking video.

Nine people were injured in Brazil on Feb. 28 during the fourth round of samba parades when the platform of a float collapsed under the weight of dancers. 

The incident happened around 3:00 a.m. during the Unidos da Tijuca parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambodromo, a day after a truck carrying a float ran into bystanders late Feb. 26 and injured 20.

Revelers celebrate 'Ash Monday' by participating in a colorful 'flour war,' a traditional festivity marking the end of the carnival season and the start of the 40-day Lent period until the Orthodox Easter, in the port town of Galaxidi, on Monday. [Alkis Konstantinidis/Reuters]

The Rio Carnival 2017 lived up to its reputation! Costumes, Theme chariots, fun, thousands of people and of course exotic Latin women!
As it happens every year Brazil gathered the attention of the world with tourists from every corner of the planet who traveled just for this annual festival!
Here are just a few pictures from Rio 2017!

(Click to enlarge)

The carnival in the city of Patras in the Peloponnese is known as the carnival of carnivals. It is the largest in all of Greece. It goes back 182 years, and the time for the carnival goers has arrived for this year’s festivities.