The
Carnival of Brazil (, ) is an annual festival held between the Friday afternoon (51 days before
Easter) and
Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of
Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. On certain days of
Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival," from
carnelevare, "to remove (literally, "raise") meat."