(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Dancers looded Rio's streets yesterday as revellers cranked up the volume at Brazil's Carnival festival.
Crowds of residents and tourists partied during the joyous carnival, considered the greatest show on Earth by many who live in the "Marvellous City".
Despite sweltering heat, millions of people joined multiple street parades in Rio, an annual celebration for almost a century.
The first record of carnival celebrations dates back to 1723 - but the first
samba school was not formed until 1928.
People partied into the night after the symbolic head of Carnival, King Momo, declared the five-day frenzy open Friday.
Party-goers were revved up at dawn, many decked out in the distinctive black and white polka dot outfits inspired by Rio's oldest street party group Cordao da Bola Preta.
The decibel count soared by early afternoon, the air filled with the distinctive orchestral samba blend of drums, shakers, bells, brass instruments and countless guitars.
Brazilians have endured plenty of setbacks since last year's carnival with the economy tanking, the flagship oil firm Petrobras mired in a huge corruption scandal and their football team dealt a World Cup humiliation by Germany.
But Carnival is a chance to ignore all that.
"Life is short. For five days we forget our worries," said Leonard Ramalho, 38, clad in a huge red headdress.
Other cities were also enjoying their own festivities, notably Sao Paulo and the northern city of Recife, where some 2mn people were expected to join in the revelry.
The Recife parade, which attracted a street party world record 2.5mn people two years ago, occurs every carnival Saturday in the Sao Jose district of the city.In Sao Paulo, revelers swapped their usual business attire to let their hair down as a tidal wave of people joined the party fray overnight. Fourteen schools will sashay down Sao Paulo's 530m runway at the city's Anhembi Sambadrome venue.
With Sao Paulo hit by months of the worst drought in decades, leading to water shortages, several samba schools made references to rain as part of their routine.
Rio authorities hope up to 5mn people, including around 1mn tourists, will
enjoy the action through Tuesday and spend up to $500mn as part of festivities.
The Rio tourist office put the attendance at 1.3mn, below initial expectations of 2mn, while police gave no official crowd estimate.
"The heat maybe kept a few at home - saving their energy for after the sun goes down maybe," said 17-year-old Liz Sandry, dressed in gold with black polka dots.
One woman, who gave her name only as Bianca, was dressed as a pirate.
"Just an ironic touch. The real pirates are in Planalto," she told AFP, referring to the seat of government in Brasilia.
"It's a unique moment, we can do what we want. We wait all year for this," Aldemir Sena, 26, told AFP as he downed a cold drink in the stifling heat.
Visitors come to Rio for the parades, but also to enjoy the so-called "blocos", Carnival groups who go through the streets with many thousands of people in tow. Anyone can join in, and participants wear costumes that often reference controversial topics.
The 2015 variants will include car wash staff uniforms, a reference to so-called Operation Car Wash, an investigation into a political kickback scheme at state-controlled oil giant Petrobras that amounted to at least $3.7bn embezzled from company contracts during 2004-12.Making the most of the water shortages that have hit many parts of Brazil, one Carnival reveler named Evandro wrote on his costume: "Don't waste water. Let's shower together."
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