You could use a little bit of info to relax and enjoy the greatest popular festival in the world? Need some tools to make the most of it? Follow these 25 links to get a glimpse of the history of Brazilian Carnival, the regional variations and the spectacular visual.

So, what is your most urgent Carnival-related need, my friend?

Race of Giant Dolls, in Olinda. Photo by Prefeitura de Olinda/Flickr

You wonder what’s the fuss about?

13 things you didn’t know about Carnival

A Carnival glossary (no English translation)

Would like to know how it was in old days?

Orson Welles in Rio’s Carnival

Carnival pictures in family albums

Two centuries of Rio’s Carnival in images

Need a soundtrack to incorporate the Carnival spirit?

Round-up of the 20 best sambas enredo of Rio’s carnival since the 40s

Listen to 2012 Carnival sambas

Martinho da Vila, Carnival king

Have no clue how to samba…

Samba master class

…or what the main samba lyrics say?

Classic Carnival songs translated into English

Would love to play percussion during a Carnival parade?

This interactive animation allows you to coordinate a whole samba school drums section.

Want to celebrate in Rio?

Begin with this little overview of the parade elaborated by Lonely Planet or this sneak peak by the Huffington Post

Schedule of all street parties (blocos) in 2013 (in Portuguese, but reasonably easy to understand) or this very complete list of balls and other activites (in English)

Brilliant stop motion animation of Rio Carnival

Great Carnivals of Joãosinho Trinta

Gorgeous Rio Carnival

Street Carnival

Want alternatives to Rio?

Pernambuco

The unique Carnival of Pernambuco

Gorgeous Maracatu

Recife and Olinda: Brazilian Carnival beyond Rio)

Bahia

Schedule of all street parties in 2013 (in Portuguese)

A taste of Carnival in Bahia

Samba de roda, mother of Rio’s Carnival