Carnival in Rio de Janeiro the final Stretch

The globe’s biggest Carnival bash opened Friday, when Rio de Janeiro’s mayor handed the key to the city to rotund King Momo, the mythical jester figure who reigns over Carnival. About 850,000 tourists are expected in Rio during the raucous, five-day free-for-all. Millions of people across the country will take to the streets and sambadromes to dance and party, effectively putting Brazil on a week-long hiatus. 

The Vila Isabel samba school was crowned champion of the 2013 Rio Carnival on Wednesday for its parade highlighting Brazil's agricultural might as "the world's breadbasket." In a feverishly awaited verdict, a 40-member jury gave the Rio school, considered a cradle of samba music in Brazil, the third title of its 65-year-old history. Vila Isabel received 299.7 points, edging the popular Beija-Flor with 299.4 and sparking scenes of jubilation at its northern Rio headquarters.

With its 3800 dancers and seven giant fantasy floats, Vila Isabel was the last of 12 elite samba schools to dazzle a capacity crowd early Tuesday at the 72,000-seat Sambodrome, the parade ground designed by the late star architect Oscar Niemeyer. With music composed by several popular sambistas, including Arlindo Cruz and 75-year-old composer Martinho da Vila, the school portrayed the simple customs of country people, their music, processions and festivals.

Last year, the Unidos da Tijuca school won the title, with its tribute to the late singer and composer Louis Gonzaga, the "king of Baiao," a popular music style from Brazil's northeast.The Sambodrome parades marked the climax of the pre-Lent bacchanalian Carnival festival, a national holiday celebrated throughout this huge and racially diverse country of 194 million people. Some six million people, including 900,000 tourists, are believed to have attended the five-day Rio extravaganza, which began Friday. Hailed as "the greatest show on Earth," the Rio Carnival also featured hundreds of street bashes marked by wild samba dancing and heavy beer consumption.

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Christmas Trees Around the World

Poles are walking around the Christmas tree in the center of Warsaw

 In the central squares of the largest cities in the world have started to establish Christmas trees. All the cities every year trying to bring what is in the design of new parts.In several cities unfortunately banned traditional eating place, because it offends the feelings of some of the "people."

Americans are skating around the Christmas tree in Pittsburgh, PA

Christmas tree in high-tech style on the Grand Place in Brussels, Belgium

Christmas Tree in Seoul, South Korea

Christmas Tree in Newport Beach, California

Tree in the Puerta del Sol in Madrid, Spain

Christmas Tree at the Staples Center arena in Los Angeles, California

40-year-old tree is full of lights in Baltimore mansion

 .The ceremonial lighting of the Christmas tree in Rio de Janeiro

Christmas tree on the background of the Capitol in Washington, DC

Workers decorate a Christmas tree in the center of Moscow

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Top 10 Fire Festivals Around The World

Guy Fawkes Night (Bonfire Night) - England: "Remember, remember the fifth of November - gunpowder, treason and plot" goes the nursery rhyme, chanted in the run-up to Guy Fawkes Night. It goes back to 1605 when Guy Fawkes, one of the members of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives in the House of Lords, London. With the plot to blow up the House of Lords - and kill King James I - foiled, Londoners lit bonfires around the city in celebration. The bonfire tradition continues to this day, and usually there's an effigy of Guy Fawkes placed at the center of it. One of the biggest celebrations is in the town of Lewes in Sussex where, in recent years, effigies of various current figures, including those from the U.K. banking world, have been burned. (Reuters).

 Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine's "Oniyo" - Fukuoka, Japan

Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine's "Oniyo" - Fukuoka, Japan: Fukuoka, capital of Fukuoka Prefecture on Kyushu Island, is one of Japan's largest cities and hosts one of its oldest fire festivals. Daizenji Tamataregu Shrine's "Oniyo" (Fire Festival) is a ceremony to drive away evil spirits that has been practiced for 1,600 years. It's held in early January each year. A "devil fire" that has been guarded at the temple is transferred - at around 9 p.m. on the seventh day - to six massive torches measuring one meter in diameter and 15 metres long. The torches are transported around the grounds of the shrine by a group of men in loincloths. It sounds like a potential health-and-safety issue, but it's considered to be good luck if embers or ash from the torches fall on them.

Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival - Jeju, South Korea

Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival - Jeju, South Korea: In early February, the Jeongwol Daeboreum Deulbul Festival takes place on the island of Jeju off the coast of South Korea. It's a fairly new festival, younger than 20 years old, but its origins go back to the time when families kept cows. To keep the grass grazeable, farmers set fire to the fields in the mountains to destroy old grass and kill harmful insects. Today, a hilltop is set alight to pray for health and a good harvest in the coming year. There's a torchlight march, straw-rope making competition and deumdol (rock) lifting. (Reuters)

 Diwali - India

Diwali - India: The best-known Hindu festival is known as the "festival of lights." Diwali (or Deepavali) means "rows of lighted lamps" and, during this time, houses, shops and public places are decorated with diyas (small earthenware oil lamps), elaborate feasts are prepared and spectacular fireworks displays light up the skies. The five-day festival celebrates the triumph of good over evil and is celebrated throughout India and around the world (in Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius, Myanmar and London among many others). (Reuters)

 Quema del Diablo (Burning of the Devil) - Guatemala

Quema del Diablo (Burning of the Devil) - Guatemala: In early December Guatemalans ready themselves for the Christmas season by driving the devil from their homes and burning him in the streets! For centuries - at least since the 1700s - the traditional ceremony has been performed to chase bad spirits from homes and neighborhoods. By watching bonfires, firework displays and burning devil figures in the streets, locals say they are spiritually cleansing themselves. The tradition is best experienced in Guatemala City and Antigua, but many towns throughout Guatemala host similar ceremonies. (Reuters)

 Samhain 2012 - Out of the Darkness - Altoona, Florida

Samhain 2012 - Out of the Darkness - Altoona, Florida: More than 500 pagans gather in Florida for the state's largest pagan festival. Each day is filled with feasting, rituals, drumming, dancing and live entertainment. The main ritual in 2012 is centered around the "Burning Times" when so-called "witches" were put to death. (QMI Agency)

 Ottery St Mary - Devon, England

Ottery St Mary - Devon, England: In the small town of Ottery St Mary, the bonfire and fireworks are not the focal point of the community's celebrations. It will be the local townspeople carrying flaming barrels of tar through the streets. In a tradition that predates even 1605 it is said, 17 barrels are carried, starting in the afternoon, with small barrels for boys, medium barrels for youths and women and big ones for the men. Traditionally, the barrels are set on fire at pubs and hotels around the town and a strict schedule is followed until midnight when the final barrel is carried in the square. (AFP)

 Up Helly Aa, Lerwick - Shetland Islands, Scotland

Up Helly Aa, Lerwick - Shetland Islands, Scotland: If you've ever wanted to see Vikings, this is the festival to see! Described as a Northern Mardi Gras, its origins stretch back 1,200 years, although the festival started in the 1870s. It's held on the last Tuesday of January (January 29 in 2013). On that evening, nearly 1,000 men march in ranks, carrying fencing posts topped in paraffin-soaked sacking. At 7:30 p.m. a rocket cresting over the Town Hall marks the start. Torches are lit, bands start playing and the men march with the Guizer Jarl (the head of the festival) who stands at the helm of a longship. Dragged to the burning site, the Guizer Jarl will leave his ship for it to be set alight. As the longship is engulfed by flames, the Vikings sing "The Norseman's Home" before heading to halls for feasts of mutton soup, bannocks and plenty of warming drinks. (Reuters)

Bonfire Night - Newfoundland

Bonfire Night - Newfoundland: When English and Irish people, in search of a better life, crossed the Atlantic Ocean to Canada, they took their traditions with them. The English took Guy Fawkes Night, the Irish took Samhain and over time the traditions merged into Mischief Week. With a belief that certain types of naughty behavior (soaping windows, taking pins from gate hinges or stealing old tires for bonfires) is permitted at this time, many of Newfoundland & Labrador's close-knit communities hold bonfires and celebrations. (Fotolia)

. Sadeh - Iran

Sadeh - Iran: Sadeh is an ancient Zoroastrian festival. While it refers to 100 days and nights before the New Year (Nowruz, which falls on the Vernal Equinox, March 20 or 21), it is celebrated 50 days earlier - around the end of January. It honors the discovery of fire that defeated the forces of darkness and cold. Traditionally, festivities went on for three days and gifts of food were given to the poor. Today, Zoroastrians light bonfires, perform religious rituals around them and thank God for his blessings. It's usually celebrated in the Kushk-e Varjavand gardens in Karaj (in Tehran province) where members of the Zoroastrian community congregate for the festivities. (Fotolia)

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