The first festival dates back to 1723 and its purpose is for samba schools to compete with their rivals. The samba schools choose a team and they try to design the best costumes and build the best floats in order to represent the theme. The music played by 'the bateria' (the school's band) completes the performance of the dancers.

The most important days of the carnival are Sunday and Monday, and the tickets are also quite expensive for these two days.

Another way of enjoying the spectacle is through the street festivals, which are very common between the locals. Of course they are not so extravagant, but the music and the dancing are still common. Everyone can participate at the street festivals and enjoy the rhythm of the samba.