The document provides descriptions of Mardi Gras and carnival celebrations taking place in various locations around the world in mid-February, including in New Orleans, Nice, Rio de Janeiro, Ivrea, Mohacs, and Venice. The celebrations involve parades with elaborate costumes and masks, orange battles commemorating a local revolt, masked men parading on boats, a young drum queen crying at her position in a samba school parade, and revelers in carnival costumes and masks in St. Mark's Square in Venice.

1. Bull market
Members of the Krewe of Rex, parade down
St. Charles Avenue during Mardi Gras in New
Orleans, Louisiana on February 16.
Hold my train?
The carnival parade on Shrove Tuesday, part
of the Mardi Gras celebrations in Nice,
France. The theme of the 126th carnival of
Nice is "King of Blue Planet."

2. Yeah, sew?
Elaborate costumes parade during carnival
celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de
Janeiro, Feb. 16.
Mardi Gras madness
A member of the Mondo Kayo Marching Club
poses during Mardi Gras, Feb. 16, in New
Orleans, Louisiana. The annual Mardi Gras
celebration ends at midnight, when the
Catholic Lenten season begins on Ash
Wednesday.

3. Getting their Vitamin C
Rival teams pelt each other with oranges
during the annual carnival battle in the
northern Italian town of Ivrea, Feb. 15. The
battle, which every year turns the small town
into a mass of fruit-flinging madness,
commemorates a local revolt which took
place when a medieval count tried to
exercise his right to sleep with a newly
wedded girl on her wedding night.
Row, row, row your
boat ...
Men masked as Busho cross the Danube by
boat, marking the start of the annual Busho
Carnival in Mohacs, south of Budapest,
Hungary, on Feb. 14. Local carnival tradition
here stems from a 16th century attempt to
scare away Turkish invaders by putting on
bizarrely painted wooden masks and clothes
made from sheep fur.

4. Comforting a queen
Drum Queen Julia Lira, 7, of the Viradouro
samba school cries as she is carried by her
father, Viradouro's president Marco Lira, to
her position at the start of their contingent in
the carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's
Sambadrome Feb. 14. Lira's position as the
youngest drum corps queen in memory
caused controversy as well as tears.
Venetian view
A person in a carnival costume and mask
poses for a picture in San Marco square in
Venice on Feb.7, during the annual Venice
Carnival. First recorded in 13th century, the
central feature of the festivities is the masks
worn by revelers, a subversive act against
laws enacted against them.

5. Once a pagan celebration in ancient
Rome, Carnival in Rio de Janeiro
is now considered one of the greatest
shows on Earth. Rio de Janeiro is
known as the cultural capital of Brazil
and was the administrative capital
from 1822 to 1960, when Federal
Government moved to the new capital,
Brasilia. The first festivals of Rio date
back to 1723.