The History Of Rio De Janeiro's Carnival Part 1

By Author: Razvan Jr
Total Articles: 273
Comment this article

The Rio de Janeiro carnival is without any doubt the biggest annual party in the world, gathering hundreds of thousands of people that for a couple of days dance until they can't dance no more. We have to go back in time in 1723 as these are the first records of Carnival festivities and celebrations in Rio de Janeiro. The Entrudo was introduced by the Portuguese immigrants from the islands of Cabo Verde, Madeira and Acores. The idea behind these celebrations was to get everybody soaking wet. During those times, the people that participated at these shows would go out in the streets with limes and buckets of water and basically everyone was a potential victim. Even the Emperors took part in this so-called party. On a funny note, in 1885 a woman was arrested for throwing a lime at Dom Pedros I's escorts.

In the mid 19th century, Ze Pereira was another addition to Rio's parties and was a contribution of a Portuguese by the name of Jose Nogueira de Azvedo, a shoemaker. During the Mondays of the Carnival, him and a couple of his friends roamed the streets and playing tambourines, drums, whistles and pans. Nobody was excluded ...
... from the fun; anybody was more than welcome to join their party.

In 1855 debuted the Grandes Sociedades (Great Societies) which was the first properly organized parade. It consisted of a group of eight aristocrats that had masks and paraded in luxury costumes, flowers and music. It was a huge hit back in the days and Tenetes do Diablo, Fenianos and Democraticos were the most popular groups of the time.

In 1870 the Corado Carnavalesco was born and these were characters like dancers, peasants, witches, kings and queens who performed according to the various costumes that they were wearing. Another group was the Cordoes de Velhos who danced wearing gigantic papier-mache masks and walk in an old man's gait.

Two years later in 1872, the Ranchos Carnavalescos started as a working class festivity and the group was created by Bahia immigrant by the name of Hilario Jovino da Silva. The people in the group would dress up in various costumes and perform on the parade while at the same time being accompanied by an orchestra of strings as well as flutes, ganzas and other musical instruments. The group was considerably more organized in comparison with the Cordoes and became a huge hit around the early 1910s.

Thanks to the fact that they were sponsored substantially by the Hanseatica brewery, they started organized competitions. Together with the Great Societies, they became the most important attractions of the Rio de Janeiro Carnival. Their parade already included a abre alas (first-wing), porta bandeira, a couple of mestre sala, an orchestra as well as a male and female choir. During the World War II their parade was interrupted but they came back in 1947. In that year the competition took place on Av. Rio Branco. Their last competition was organized in 1990 and the winning club was Decididos de Quintino.

Join us for the second part of the article where you will learn more about the history of Rio's carnival along with info about samba, born in the same city.

About Author: FuiViagens is one of the most successful travel companies from Brazil and it offers high quality Europe travel packages (Viagens Europa) as well as many affordable and exciting Japanese travel packages (Viagens Japao pacotes). Visit us at www.fuiviagens.com.br .