Bloco da Lama, Paraty, Brazil 2015 photos: Revellers get dirty for mud block carnival party

People covered in mud attend the traditional "Bloco da Lama" or "Mud Block" carnival party, in Paraty, Brazil.

Legend has it the "bloco" was born in 1986 after local teens hiking in a nearby mangrove forest smeared themselves with mud to discourage mosquitoes and then wandered through Paraty.

The party grew year after year, but revellers eventually were banned from parading in the colonial downtown after shopkeepers complained pristine white walls were stained with the hard-to-remove mud.