Rio de Janeiro  - Millions of Brazilians and tens of thousands of foreigners were poised to put aside their worries about the global financial crisis in favour of the fantasy of Carnival, which starts Saturday and lasts through Tuesday.

At the center of festivities will be Rio de Janeiro, which is gearing up for the festival feast marked by glitter, glamour and sensuality and attracts rich and poor, famous and anonymous, locals and foreigners alike.

Carnival has its origins in Catholic and some Protestant regions as a festival for letting off steam and stoking up on calories before the weeks of fasting, called Lent, that leads up to Easter. It is celebrated worldwide, including in Germany, where it is called Fasching.

Rio's celebration is considered the "mais grande do mundo," the world's biggest, an annual pagan celebration of the flesh, of beauty and fantasy, up to and including Fat Tuesday.

On Ash Wednesday, the religious devout among the celebrants will put such distractions aside, go to church for a dab of ash on their foreheads, and give up some things from their diet or lives in preparation for the Christian belief in Easter and Jesus Christ's resurrection from the dead.

Easter is April 12 this year.

For Carnival, the spirit of King Momo - who takes over symbolic control of the city during his reign - has already been apparent across Brazil in recent days, as participants worked to get every detail on the parade floats right, and practising the final samba steps that are the heart of the country's samba schools, or "escola."

In Rio, the samba stadium, the Marques de Sapucai Sambadrome, has already felt the fast, rhythmic pace of thousands of dancers practicing their routines and putting final touches on their allegorical floats. Over the weekend, competition will heat up as the samba schools vie for prestigious prizes.

Coming in the middle of summer, it seems appropriate that water will be a major theme.

No less than 7,000 litres are to be used in a spectacular bath sponsored by the legendary "escola" Beija-Flor. All eyes will be on a Cleopatra character bathing in an immense vat of "dancing" water rising up to two metres high. Cleopatra is set to meet with her beloved Mark Antony in a crystal pyramid.

The Grande Rio "escola" will pay a salute to France. The Tijuca "escola" plans to deliver an irreverent commentary on a space odyssey. On a more serious note, there will be a salute to the late Brazilian writers, Machado de Assis and Joao Guimaraes Rosa.

In a surprise move, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has confirmed he will participate in the parade, the first time for a president to get involved since 1994, which ended in scandal when then-president Itamar Franco was photographed hugging a female samba dancer wearing just a T-shirt, with no underwear.

On a curious note, the ailing singer Neguinho da Beija-Flor, 59, the official "voice" of one of the most popular "escola," was to get married Monday at the sambadrome in front of the Carnival audience. Neguinho asked Lula to be one of his best men, although Lula had not formally accepted the offer.

The singer is fighting intestinal cancer and undergoing chemotherapy.

Best man or not, Lula's plans to attend prompted Rio de Janeiro Governor Sergio Cabral to strengthen security plans for the Carnival. The Armed Forces and intelligence services will be involved, along with militarized police officers. Among other plans, over 400 men were set to occupy two "favela" - or slum - complexes near the samba stadium to prevent trouble.

The widening economic crisis has seen some sponsors reduce or even cancel the funds they used to donate to the "escolas de samba."

It also means that tourist planners are expecting fewer foreign tourists and more Brazilians.

"We generally receive 70 per cent foreign tourists and 30 per cent Brazilians, but this year, because of the crisis, I think it will be half and half," said Alfredo Lopes, president of the Brazilian Hotel Industry Association (ABIH).

Hotel bookings in fact are higher than last year, with 82 per cent of all rooms already reserved compared to 75 per cent in 2008.

Lopes said many Brazilians confirm their reservations at the last minute, so they expect a final occupancy rate of 90 per cent.

An estimated 46,542 tourists were set to disembark in Rio from cruise ships that arrive in the city in time for Carnival, ABIH said. All told, an influx of more than 700,000 people is expected.

Municipal authorities estimated that Rio would earn about 13.6 million dollars this year from carnival-related tourism. (dpa)