Carnivals around the world :

• RI DE JANEIRO CARNIVAL :
  
  
  
  • In pictures: Rio de Janeiro carnival - 10 January 2013 - "The beautiful and the outrageous on parade at the Rio carnival."
    (BBC)

    Rio de Janeiro Carnival 2013: the first night of parades in the Sambadrome - 35 photos
    (telegraph.co.uk)

• Samba troupes parade at Rio's Carnival - 20 February 2012 "Brazil's Samba groups donned elaborate costumes and paraded through the Sambadrome stadium as they competed for a spot among the capital's top 13 troupes in front of 70,000 spectators."
  (telegraph.co.uk)
  
  
  
• In pictures: Rio de Janeiro carnival - 7 pictures - 20 February 2012
  "Sumptuous Rio carnival kicks off in the Sambadrome."
  (BBC)
  
  
  
• In pictures: Brazil celebrates Carnival - 7 pictures - 19 February 2012 (BBC)
  
  
  
• Rio de Janeiro awash with colour and craziness as Carnival begins - 18 February 2012
  "The start of the world's biggest party saw hundreds of thousands of revellers take to the streets of Brazil's capital
  in the annual show of music, mayhem and colourful costumes...
  Every year it brings some 250,000 tourists to the city who join millions of locals to party day and night."
  (telegraph.co.uk)
  
  
  
• In pictures: Carnival in Brazil - 7 March 2011(BBC)

  
  
  
  

• Huge crowds flock to Rio carnival
  "Thousands of people have been joining in carnival celebrations in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro."
  (BBC)

  

• Barack Obama and Silvio Berlusconi feature on satirical carnival floats in Europe (11 pictures)
  "In Cologne, Barack Obama is depicted as a cowboy guarding a fort, while Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leads a Trojan horse containing a nuclear bomb towards him."
  (telegraph.co.uk)

  

• Carnival : Origins of the Carnival season - Special celebrations around the world - Funfairs...
  (Wikipedia)

• Carnival : Definition - Origins - Shrovetide - Special celebrations around the world
  (The Free Dictionary)

• Carnival - with photos -
  San Francisco - Toronto - London - New York - Trinidad - New Orleans - Vera Cruz, MX
  (carnaval.com)

  

Notting Hill Carnival (in London) : Click on the map.

• In pictures: Notting Hill Carnival 2012 - 27 August 2012 + In pictures: First day of Carnival
  (BBC)

• Notting Hill Carnival 2012 - 15 photos
  "Thousands of people cheered the Notting Hill Carnival's colourful procession through the sunny streets to the beat of steel drums and sound systems."
  (telegraph.co.uk)

  

• Notting Hill Carnival (BBC)
  Explore "its history and traditions, with plenty of lively music and voices."
  
  
  
  
• The Notting Hill CARNIVAL (information) - (carnaval.com)

• The Notting Hill Carnival (BBC)
  Audio + PICTURES

• The Notting Hill Carnival - photographs and a video (nottinghill-carnival.co.uk)
  
  

Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus in New Orleans :

• Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus (neatorama.com)

  

  "Last Sunday, the Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus – thereafter referred to as the best krewe EVAR – made its debut in New Orleans.
  Here’s how they described themselves:

  The Krewe of Chewbacchus is a Carnival Krewe for the most revelrous of Star Wars Freaks, Trekkies, Whovians, Mega-Geeks, Circuit Benders, Cryptozooligists, UFO Conspiracy Theorists, Mad Scientists, and all the rest of Super Nerdom.

  We are Bacchanalian Revelry + Sci Fi = BacchanALIENS.

  [...] The Chewbacchus parade includes a fleet of UFlambOs, a Bar2D2 float pulled by an X-Wing Fighter bicycle, giant BacchanALIEN and Robot puppets, a 20 ft long Quetzalcoatl Space Dragon, and much much more…"

• MORE here. (neworleans.com)


Chewbacca and Han Solo in 'Star Wars'



• See PHOTOS. (flickr.com)

New Orleans Mardi Gras (in Louisiana, USA) : Click on the map.

• See Intergalactic Krewe of Chewbacchus

• See New Orleans

• "Simon West’s 'Stolen' (a film) is based in New Orleans, the place that hosts a carnival popularly known as Mardi Gras (French for Fat Tuesday).
  The citizens take to the city streets in costumes and participate in a frenzy called a parade."
  (filmfare.com)
  "During Carnival 2011, the production got permission to roll its own float - plus fake traffic, Cage and a bunch of extras
  - down part of Canal Street on Fat Tuesday itself and on the Sunday prior."
  (nola.com)
  "Most portions of the plot unfold with the colourful Mardi Gras parade festivities as a backdrop.
  The processions, the masks, the lazy carnival revelry in exotic New Orleans make the film a visual stunner."
  (goastreets.com)
  There is "a long chase sequence in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans."
  (fridae.asia)

  Stolen (2012 film) with Nicolas Cage.
  (Wikipedia)

  

• New Orleans - Mardi Gras as History (PBS)

  

• New Orleans Mardi Gras (information, history, pictures and videos)
  (mardigrasneworleans)

Interactive exercises :

• Quiz - Mardi Gras
  - "It's Carnival Time here in Louisiana. Here are some questions on the Mardi Gras experience. Note, a Krewe is the group of people who organize and ride the floats."
  (funtrivia.com)

• Quiz - Mardi Gras
  - "There are lots of misconceptions about Mardi Gras... how much do you really know about it?"
  (funtrivia.com)

Lesson plans :

• Rio carnival says "no" to violence - a lesson plan
  (Breaking News English)

• Carnival - a lesson plan (Elementary - Pre-Intermediate)
  with Notting Hill Carnival, London - Rio de Janeiro Carnival - New Orleans Mardi Gras
  (mardigrasneworleans)

• Carnival - a lesson plan (absolutenglish-972)
  "In this lesson, you will learn some basic vocabulary and facts on the Rio de Janeiro Carnival in Brazil
  and the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Great Britain."

• Story telling: Carnival crime (BBC)
  Topic: Carnival in Brazil and a Diamond theft
  "This particular lesson focuses on extended listening skills and getting students to actively participate in the story telling process, allowing them to use their prediction skills in a creative and fun way..."

   

Webquests :

• Carnival (absolutenglish-972)
  "In this lesson, you will learn some basic vocabulary and facts on the Rio de Janeiro Carnival in Brazil and the Notting Hill Carnival in London, Great Britain."

Literature :

• Something Wicked This Way Comes (novel)
  It "is a 1962 novel by Ray Bradbury. It is about two thirteen-year-old boys, Jim Nightshade and William Halloway, who have a harrowing experience with a nightmarish carnival..."
  (encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com)
  Consult SparkNotes

• The Dragon Can't Dance by Earl Lovelace
  "The novel centers around Aldrick Prospect, a man who spends almost the entire year preparing for the annual Trinidad Carnival, where he plays 'dragon'..."
  (Wikipedia)