Revellers from Grande Rio samba school dance atop a float during the first night of the Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro's Sambadrome February 22, 2009. [Agencies]

Hundreds of informal, around-the-clock street parties, celebrations that many describe as the soul of Brazil's Carnival, hummed along outside the stadium Sunday, with the largest gathering attracting more than a half-million people.

Samba schools also staged early parades Sunday in Sao Paulo, a business-oriented city that some Brazilians say is too straight-laced to throw a proper party.

But Swiss tourist Christoph Fischer, 42, seemed to appreciate the milder version of events, noting that in contrast to the anything-goes chaos of Rio's pre-Lent bash, "Carnival in Sao Paulo is very organized."

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