A ceremonial parade in Oruro, Bolivia lasts for 20 hours and covers 4 kilometers. Participants put on hand-crafted masks and join in the traditional celebrations.
Revelers of the Beija Flor samba school perform at the Sambadrome during the first night of Rio de Janeiro’s famed carnival parades (Vanderlei Almeida/AFP – getty images)
A person in a carnival costume and mask poses for a picture in San Marco square in Venice during the annual Venice Carnival (Damien Meyer/AFP-getty images)
A reveler spits fire during a carnival parade in Barranquilla, Colombia. Barranquilla’s carnival was declared Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003 by UNESCO. (Fernando Vergara/AP Photo)
A member of the Mondo Kayo Marching Club poses during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Patrick Semansky/ Getty Images)
The carnival in its modern form dates from the 1980s but carnivals in Venice go back to the 13th Century. (AFP – BBC news)
Dancers perform at the carnival parade at the sambodrome in Rio de Janeiro (Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo)