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Show seem to live forever. Right now, during the days following Christmas, Christ-mas, prolific numbers are being heard in Rio and spreading to other cities. By Carnival time only a few survive they stay in the air newsboys whistle them, cooks hum them, and all Brazil dances to the tunes. Then they live on and on Great balls mark the end of the day and the beginning of another day. The biggest are held at the Teatro Municipal (which the president presi-dent usually attends), and in the internationally famous casinos, Copacabana, Atlantico and Urea. It is said that Carnival in Rio is as important to Brazil as football or baseball to the United States war or no war, it must go on. I KNOW YOUR 1 A? NEIGHBOR RA.U. CAKNIVAI4 IV RIO DE JANEIRO Combine the festivities of the New Orleans Mardi Gras, the beauty beau-ty of the Tournament of Roses, and the merry-making frolics of the famous Mummers parade in Philadelphia, and you get a fair conception of Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, Car-nival, an annual spectacle that includes in-cludes features of all of them and perhaps a bit more. Carnival in Rio takes place in Brazil's beautiful capital on the Sunday, Monday and Tuesday before be-fore Ash Wednesday ushers in the somber season of Lent. These three days are but the climax of a long : preparation. For months ideas have been developing, floats have! been under construction, dances and songs arranged. Rio's Carnival is a celebration of the people the common eople who set aside bits of their earnings for many months in order to enjoy fully a few carefree care-free days. It has been said that "Brazilians spend one-half of the year preparing for Carnival, and the other half resting from it." Much of Brazil's rich tradition has found its roots in Carnival time, when her people give expression ex-pression to their emotions in song and dance, in poetry and art, thus adding to Brazil's rich artistic lcfre. Not alone for fun. sones. dances. and music is Carnival in Rio important, im-portant, since in a manner the celebration cele-bration serves as a national safety valve by which Braizilians let off "steam." By song-, dance and allegorical alle-gorical floats, some satirical and others humorous, the man in the street expresses his opinion about national and international politics,1 religion and social matters. It is safe to assume that .government officials keep ears and eyes open during Carnival. Rio's Carnival is a remote offspring off-spring of the ancient Roman festivals fes-tivals and it was not until the middle mid-dle of the last century, when clubs were organized, that it assumed its modern shape. Today, nearly everyone every-one belongs to a club. Within recent re-cent years the Brazilian government govern-ment has lent financial support to the Carnival. King Momo, the Roman god of frolics, was incorporated into the Carnival a few years ago. His arrival ar-rival at the "dock," where he is greeted by the "Carnavalescos" and presented with the key to the city, starts the triumphal tour through the Avenida Rio Branco and the Beira Mar. Then begins the release of emotions that sweeps into the city for three successive days. Great expense and effort go into floats, which are constructed by the clubs in competition for prizes. In the early days, floats depicted' mythological events, then later,! such subjects as the faulty water! system of the city. On top of the floats scenes were enacted, in I which one person would discuss1 the subject with another, to the amusement of bystanders. Today, Hitler and Hirohito and what they stand for, will come into their share of "jibing," while happier events, such as Brazil's war on submarines and the United States'! landing in Africa will be portrayed. por-trayed. Carnival has become the theme of many songs, somo of which |