Rio de Janeiro is one of the few places in the world that offers interesting things to do every single month. With this article we will put aside the beaches, nightlife, beautiful women and we will concentrate upon the most important events in December this month.

The Christmas Festival  is the largest contemporary street art event in the world, where visual designers, architects, creation artists, fashion designers, carnival professionals gather together in order to present the 50 best natural size nativity scenes which will be exhibited at shopping centers, public squares, airports and other popular locations in the city.

The National Samba Day was born at the closing of the I National Congress, which took place between November 28 and December 2, 1962 when Samba Day was initiated. It was created by a decree and it is considered a tribute to artists and all other people that turned the Carnival in one of the magnificent public manifestations in the entire world.

The International Humor Festival of Rio de Janeiro will be held throughout the entire month and this year it has reached the second edition. It will cast the lights upon graphic humor and contemporary theater through exciting drawing and sketches contests, theatrical performances as well as unique exhibitions.

The Vale Open Air is a festival that will gather movies, music as well as several attractions in one public space. It will include showcases of Moo and Dancing Cheetah parties and also Whitest Boy Alive and Lucas Santtana. Food will be served to the large public in the form of pizzas, Japanese and Mexican cooking and ice cream.

The 2010 Carnival will start actually in 2009 with the pre-carnival events that are filled with parties, live rehearsals of groups and bands, samba shows at Terreirão as well as other rehearsals of the samba schools.

On December 6, 2009, the sixth edition of the Christmas Bazaar by Ressurgir Rio will be held and 25 exhibitors that will sell their outfits, boxes, shoes, mosaics, garlands, decorative candles and many more, will support it. The event will also feature “Estrelinhas de Natal” children choir, body massages and other interesting activities.

We could not leave out football fans, the Football Expo will be held this month and it will exhibit equipment, projects, products, services and solutions for the sports sector and many more. In addition to all of this, the 5th edition of the Footecon which is a forum for exchanging experiences between professionals in the soccer area, will be held.

Another major event in Rio this month is the fourth edition of Bromeliad Plants Exhibition, which will gather the best of the Brazilian production for sale, and exhibition. Biologist Nara Vasconcellos who is in charge of the botanic garden: “This season’s warmth may cause a large number of plants to be blooming during the exhibition. However, even when they are not in bloom, bromeliads provide a spectacle of colors and patterns, which draws a legion of fans towards this vegetable family - despite all that, it is an endangered species amongst plants.”

As you can see from the above mentioned, there are many things to do in Rio de Janeiro besides the things that made Rio so popular. Each month, year-by-year, new and various events are being held to the delight of the tourists and local inhabitants. We will continue presenting other events in the second part of this article. Stay tuned.