january 6th officially closes the christmas festivities with the twelfth night celebrations -  throughout rio, small parades dramatize the pilgrimage of the  three kings, melchior, gaspar and balthasar.

also on the 6th is the taking down of the world's largest floating floating christmas tree on the rodrigo de freitas lagoon, and the start of a long wait until the weekend before ash Wednesday and the start of the world's largest carnival.

january 20th is saint sebastian's day, saint patron of rio de janeiro - this holiday is a very rich and festive celebration much loved by all cariocas.

hoping to create a 'french antartica', in 1555 the french established a settlement, but they were driven out in 1567 by rival portuguese colonists - who in the meantime founded the city of são sebastião do rio de janeiro in 1565.