They include activities such as parades and galas to choose the Carnival King.

The Carnival is celebrated for three days and nights, when the legendary King Momo takes over the state and the streets come alive with music and color.

The first is held on the first day, during which the " Carnival King " ( either a person in costume or an effigy ) rides through the city on his carriage.

The grand parade of masked troupes and floats is held at noon on Tyrine Sunday, and culminates in the ceremonial burning of the effigy of King Carnival at the Patras harbour.

It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday, and typically includes masked balls, fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions, lavish late-night parties, a colourful, ticker-tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival ( Maltese: ir-Re tal-Karnival ), marching bands and costumed revellers.

The events start with the building of a huge barrel and end with its burning together with the effigies of the Carnival King and Queen.

Carnival on these islands also includes a middle-of-the-night j ' ouvert ( juvé ) parade that ends at sunrise with the burning of a straw King Momo, cleansing the island of sins and bad luck.

Carnival means weeks of events that bring you colourfully decorated floats, contagiously throbbing music, luxuriously costumed groups of celebrants of all ages, King & Queen elections, electrifying jump ups and torch light parades that wind their way through the streets at night, the Jouvert morning: the Children's Parades and finally the Grand Parade.

On the evening before the start of Lent, Carnival officially comes to end with the symbolic burning of " King Momo.

Also taking place on this day is the crowning of the Road March King or Queen, where the singer of the most played song at judging sites over the two days of the Carnival is crowned winner, complete with prize money and usually a vehicle.

* Carnival of Fear ( July 1993 ), by J. Robert King, ( ISBN 1-56076-628-X )

An annual King and Queen of Carnival are secretly selected to reign over Carnival activities.

The festival starts with the entrance parade of the King Carnival, followed by a fancy-dress competition for children.

* Rei Momo (" King Momus ") is one of the figures of the Brazilian Carnival.

The Carnival Of Champions, as Don King nicknamed it, was an important boxing event held in New Orleans's Louisiana Superdome on December 3, 1982.

Each year a Winter Carnival King and Queen, who preside over carnival activities, are selected from village residents based upon their contribution to Saranac Lake, while the prince and princess are from the two local colleges, North Country Community College and Paul Smith's College.

* Berlioz Harold in Italy, King Lear Overture, Le Corsaire Overture, Les Francs-Juges Overture, Les Troyens Overture, Roman Carnival Overture, Symphonie Fantastique, Trojan March, Waverley Overture

" The practice originated in 1892, when Rex ( the King of Carnival ) and his Queen paid a formal visit to the throne of Comus.

Although Rex is the titular " King " of Carnival, some observers believe that the Meeting of the Courts – in which Rex leaves his own festivities and is received by a seated Comus at the Mistick Krewe's bal masque – establishes Comus as the more prestigious of the two organizations in the Carnival hierarchy.

Rex is Latin for " King ", and Rex reigns as " The King of Carnival ".

* King Momo ( Carnival character )

Many parts of Belgium celebrate Carnival, typically with costume parades, partying and fireworks.

The third and largest takes place on the last day of Carnival, and involves hundreds of people walking in costume along the town's longest avenue.

The Rheinish Carnival is held in the west of Germany, mainly in the states of North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland Palatinate, and is famous for celebrations such as parades and costume balls.

Actress Grazielli Massafera wearing a Carnival costume.

The pivotal moment in the story comes while the characters are all attending the Venetian Carnival in costume.

Such costume crowns may be worn by actors portraying a monarch, people at costume parties, or ritual " monarchs " such as the king of a Carnival krewe, or the person who found the trinket in a king cake.

A Dominican Carnival costume band

In July 2010, the students in the School of Hospitality, Tourism and Culture participated and partnered for the very first time with North America's Largest Cultural Festival-Scotiabank Caribana ( now formally called Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto ( SBCCT )- Festival Management Committee and Tribal Knights with Dexter Senshuai created a Queen costume worn by Salome Odney a hospitality student under the theme " Tropical Amazon " which was presented at the Annual King and Queen Competition and then at the Annual Parade.

* Carnival: during Carnival the typical costume is Cicciulin

That year Vicki Celto was the first Carnival Queen for Leeds in a costume titled " Sun Goddess ".

Chris Miller, who was one of the writers of Animal House, attended Dartmouth College where the toga party was a popular costume event at major fraternity parties ( such as Winter Carnival and Green Key Weekend ) during the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Carnival was created when the indetured laborers and slaves who saw the French celebrating in costume and mimicked them while combining aspects from their own cultures ( predominantly African ).

Carnival in Minas Gerais is often characterized by blocos carnavalescos with varying themes and costume styles, almost always accompanied by a brass and drums band.

In June there is also the Old Windsor Carnival, when the Fun Fair comes to town and villagers parade around the streets on floats and in costume, revolving around a specific theme dictated each year by the Carnival Committee.

The town holds its yearly " Rievocazione della Mea " festival on the last Sunday of Carnival and Shrove Tuesday as well as a similar celebration in the summer with parades in historical costume and a show in the main square.

In 2008 Grampound resident Colin Terry, a Chief Superintendent in the local police service on secondment to the Home Office, appeared in a fancy dress parade at the Grampound Carnival dressed in a comical cartoon costume of Osama bin Laden.

A Carnival de Barranquilla costume.

Their Majesties, The Queen of Carnival and The Queen of Comus, have jointly issued invitations for Shrove Tuesday evening at midnight at which time they will entertain in the grand ballroom of a downtown hotel following the balls of Rex and Comus.

Miss Katherine Vickery, who attends Sweet Briar College in Virginia, will rejoin her father, Dr. Eugene Vickery, at the family home in Richmond pl. Wednesday for part of the Carnival festivities.

La fiera was written for Carnival in 1772 and premiered on 29 January.

The drive was called the Carnival Against Capital, or J18 for short.

" The Elephant " from Camille Saint-Saëns ' The Carnival of the Animals is a satirical portrait of the double bass, and American virtuoso Gary Karr made his televised debut playing " The Swan " ( originally written for the cello ) with the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein.

Warner issued three singles under the name " Jan and Dean ", but a 1968 Berry-produced album for Warner Bros., the psychedelic Carnival of Sound, remained unreleased until February 2010, when Rhino Records ' " Handmade " label put out CD and vinyl compilations of all tracks recorded for Carnival, along with various outtakes and remixes from the project.

Though Insane Clown Posse's Violent J disliked Kid Rock's rapping style, he paid Kid Rock to appear on Insane Clown Posse's first album, Carnival of Carnage in 1992, in an attempt to gain notice for the album.

The Werribee International Horse Centre at Werribee racecourse is the Victorian quarantine station for international horses competing in the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival.

Nash wrote humorous poems for each movement of the Camille Saint-Saëns orchestral suite The Carnival of the Animals, which are sometimes recited when the work is performed.

Carnival starts the Saturday prior to Ash Wednesday and goes on for four days.

He also opened the first public opera house in Rome, and for the Carnival celebrations of 1668, commissioned Antonio Maria Abbatini of the Sistine Chapel Choir to set to music his free Italian translation of a Spanish religious drama La Baltasara.

There are currently orders for four new vessels which are being built and would be handed over mid to late 2010. They have now arrived named: Carnival Runner, Calypso sprinter, Paria Bullet and the Trini Flash

In February 2009, SBS TV programme RocKwiz hosted a 50th anniversary concert for the Myer Music Bowl, RocKwiz Salutes the Bowl, which included " World of Our Own " performed by Rebecca Barnard and Billy Miller and " The Carnival Is Over " by Durham.

In the 1980s, the Carnival of Venice was revived and the city has become a major centre of international conferences and festivals, such as the prestigious Venice Biennale and the Venice Film Festival, which attract visitors from all over the world for their theatrical, cultural, cinematic, artistic, and musical productions

In Goa, Carnival is known as ' Intruz ' ( from the Portuguese word Entrudo, an alternative name for Carnival ), and the largest celebration takes place in the city of Panaji.

The Carnival is unique to Goa in India, and was introduced by the Portuguese who ruled over Goa for over four centuries.

The Asakusa neighborhood in Taitō, Tokyo is famous for its annual Carnival.

The Carnival at Aalst, which is celebrated for the full week preceding Ash Wednesday, received the same recognition in 2010.

Just before the end of Carnival, every Kvarner town burns a man-like doll called a " mesopust ", who is blamed for all the strife of the previous year.

Carnival has been celebrated on the island of Cyprus for centuries, and the tradition is believed to have been established under Venetian rule around the 16th century.