Rio Carnival 2009; The Dates

Rio Carnival 2009; The Dates

The Rio Carnival 2009 starts on the 21st of February and go on until the 24th. These dates change every year, it´s usually in February and sometimes in March. It lasts officially four days starting on Saturday and finishing on Tuesday. I think it´s better to see Carnival as starting on Friday night and finishing on the Wednesday when the judges announce the winners of the samba competition. On Saturday after Carnival there is also the "Winners Parade" where all the best schools parade for one last time.

Another way to look at this is that there is a Carnival Season starting in January when increasingly more and more festivities occur until culminating on Carnival Tuesday (also known as Fat Tuesday). To get a complete experience of Carnival in Rio you should probably stay here all the way from New Years until after Carnival.

Carnival Sunday is 49 days before Easter Sunday and that´s the only sure way to calculate when Carnival will be.

Here are the official dates until 2013:

2006 Feb 25 - 28

2007 Feb 17 - 20

2008 Feb 2 - 5

2009 Feb 21 - 24

2010 Feb 13 - 16

2011 Mar 5 - 8

2012 Feb 18 - 21

2013 Feb 9 - 12

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