carnival celebrations were developed by Afro-Brazilians and make use of European instruments like the cavaquinho and pandeiro to create melodies and arrangements, also the fantasies and costumes in the Brazilian carnival borrow concepts from the clothing of the natives, like the use of feathers and the tendency to use lighter pieces of clothing. Historically its origins can be traced to the Portuguese Age of Discoveries when their caravels passed regularly through Madeira, a territory which already celebrated emphatically its carnival season, and where they were loaded with goods but also people and their ludic and cultural expressions. Disruptions The Carnival was first suspended in 1912, following the death of the Baron of Rio Branco, at the time Brazilian Minister of External Relations. The mayor of Rio reportedly postponed all licenses for the Carnival associations, but despite this many residents still partied in the streets anyway. The Carnival went on as scheduled despite World War I and World War II, besides during Brazil's military dictatorship, despite strict regulations. The first disruption to the Carnival in 108 years took place in late September 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil, when the 2021 festival was cancelled. The next festival was scheduled from 26 of February - 2 of March 2022, depending on the evolution of the epidemiological situation in the country. The Carnival celebrations finally returned in February 19, 2023 after 2 years in hiatus, but floods and landslides caused some festivities to be cancelled. By region Rio de Janeiro In the late 18th century, the "cordões" (literally "cords", laces or strings in Portuguese) combined with the "dança do coco" (literally "coconut dance" an Afro-Brazilian dance troupe form) were introduced in Rio de Janeiro. These were pageant groups that paraded through city avenues performing on instruments and dancing. Today they are known as Carnaval blocos (blocks), consisting of a group of people who dress in costumes or special T-shirts with themes and/or logos. Blocos are generally associated with particular neighbourhoods; they include both a percussion or music group and an entourage of revelers. They eventually became the "fathers" of what everyone today knows as the famous and internationally renowned samba-schools in Brazil. Samba-schools (not only in Rio de Janeiro, but in São Paulo and several other cities) are the cultural epicenter of the Brazilian carnival, in terms of the "parading style". The first registered samba-school was called "Deixa-falar", but disappeared later and