Copacabana Beach hosts Rio de Janeiro's famous New Year's Eve fireworks and white-clothing celebration.
The celebration, commonly called Réveillon de Copacabana, attracts enormous crowds to the beach and its waterfront avenue. People traditionally wear white, a color associated with peace, while many participants also make offerings or prayers connected with Afro-Brazilian religious traditions, especially the sea goddess Yemanjá.
Fireworks are launched from barges offshore, allowing the display to be viewed along the broad curve of the beach. The event also features live music and performances, and its scale has made it one of the world's best-known New Year's celebrations.
Copacabana is sometimes confused with neighboring Ipanema, another famous Rio beach. Ipanema has its own cultural identity, but the internationally recognized beach Réveillon spectacle is centered on Copacabana. Exact crowd sizes and performance lineups vary from year to year.