Word "carnival"

[Bassim]

I am looking at the word "carnival" in my dictionary, but I am not sure I know when to use the article with it. Would you please correct my mistakes in these sentence.

1. The city has decided to arrange carnival this year. (Does "carnival" needs "the?)
2. I went to Brasil to watch carnival.
3. Peter's wife wanted to go to carnival, but he dissuaded her from going.
4. I saw so many beautiful woman at the carnival that my head started to spin.

 

[MikeNewYork]

My understanding is there are two main uses of this word. One is a specific festival that is held in Catholic countries in relation to Lent. This is often capitalized. If that is the intended reference, I would not use the article. The other use refers to traveling events that occur at different times of the year offering a variety of games, rides, and amusements. That would not be capitalized and I would use an article.