The Carnival is significant to Brazil as a whole since it encompasses all of the social classes of the country. It is seen as a time to forget the dull, difficult, and unpleasant things in life (Chasteen, 29). The carnival was originally a mark for the approach of Ash Wednesday and Lent, but has since lost some of the religious significance it once had. Now, the parades and festivities of Carnival often revolve around sex.  The significance of the carnival in current times is more to help motivate and support the Brazilian people. “ The music is definitely a respectful prayer in honor of the sweet, the feminine, the great mother — the sensuous life-giving aspects of ourselves and our lives — and to the Earth, the mother of us all” (Chasteen 1996). Brazil has one of the most important carnivals in the world. “In present-day Brazil , Carnival and Lent continue their secular ‘quarrel’ as shown in the well-known Brueghel painting where there is fighting between the carnival and lent.( This is a link to the Brueghel painting by Pieter Brueghel. http://www.mnstate.edu/gracyk/courses/aesthetics%20of%20music/attali'snoise.htm )  Each year, the Catholic Church in Brazil attempts to keep Carnival within its limits. In 1996, the Archbishop of Bahia, D. Lucas Moreira Neves, condemned the extension of Carnival to Ash Wednesday, more common every year in the Northeastern capitals, and defended ending the festivities at midnight on Tuesday ‘in defense of the sacred right of Catholics and to the penitence and religious celebrations’” (Chasteen 1996:29).

   The Carnival is a celebration that represents all the people of Brazil ; for some children, it is like a rite of passage. Many children see the Carnival as a turning point in their lives because it represents the peak of summer when the children are involved in their samba schools. When over 3,000 children perform in one samba, they feel important and think they attain a purpose. Many of these children are from poor homes with little or no family support. The samba and Carnival represents a new beginning for the four days that the Carnival takes place. Unfortunately after the festivities, the children return back to reality. “In some way the Carnival is a rite of passage since it involves transformation. It is also a celebration of success and is a landmark of another passing of a year” (Oliveria 1996). For some, the Carnival represents a way for the people to come out of their natural physical and social boundaries. As said by James N. Green in his book, Beyond Carnival , “As local Carnival street bands beat out samba rhythms amidst flag-waving soccer fans, a tidal wave of sweating bodies, rainbow flags, drag queens, and buffed up male beach beauties slowly pulsated along Avenida Atlântica. Following and mingling among a fleet of floats and sound trucks, they radiated sexuality, joy, and ecstasy about the nation's victory and their own visibility as women and men openly and unashamedly proclaiming their sexual desires. The merger and mixture of bodies - costumed and bare - spoke to an unleashed freedom, familiar during Carnival, but generally repressed during the rest of the year.”