History of Carnival in Brazil

Carnival is the most popular celebration celebrated in Brazil and, over time, has become an element of national culture. However, carnival is not a Brazilian invention, nor is it realized in this country alone. The history of Carnival dates back to antiquity, both in Mesopotamia and in Greece and Rome.

The word carnival comes from the Latin, carnis levale, whose meaning is to remove the flesh. The meaning is related to the fast that was to be accomplished during Lent and also to the control of worldly pleasures. This demonstrates an attempt by the Catholic Church to frame a pagan feast.

In ancient Babylon, two feasts possibly originated what we know as carnival. The Saceias were a feast in which a prisoner assumed for a few days the figure of the king, dressing himself like him, feeding himself in the same way and sleeping with his wives. In the end, the prisoner was whipped and then hanged or impaled.

The other rite was performed by the king in the days leading up to the spring equinox, a period of New Year's celebration in the region. The ritual took place in the temple of Marduk, one of the first Mesopotamian gods, where the king lost his power badges and was beaten in front of the statue of Marduk. This humiliation served to demonstrate the submission of the king to the deity. Then he again assumed the throne.

What was common in both parties and which is connected to the carnival was the character of subversion of social roles: the temporary transformation of the prisoner into king and the humiliation of the king against the god. Possibly the subversion of social roles in carnival, how men dress in women and vice versa, can find their origins in this Mesopotamian tradition.

The associations between carnival and orgies can still be related to the parties of Greco-Roman origin, as the bacanais (Dionysian parties, for the Greeks). They would be celebrations dedicated to the god of wine, Bacchus (or Dionysus, for the Greeks), marked by drunkenness and surrender to the pleasures of the flesh.

There were still in Rome the Saturnalia and the Lupercálias. The first occurred at the winter solstice in December, and the second in February, which would be the month of the infernal deities, but also of purifications. These feasts lasted days with food, drinks, and dancing. Social roles were also reversed temporarily, with the slaves placing themselves in the places of their masters, and these placing themselves in the role of slaves.

But such feasts were pagan. With the strengthening of its power, the Church did not look favorably on the feasts. In this conception of Christianity, there was the criticism of the reversal of social positions, since for the Church, by reversing the roles of each in society, the relationship between God and the devil was also reversed.

The Catholic Church then sought to frame such celebrations. From the 8th century, with the creation of Lent, these feasts began to be held in the days before the religious period. The Church intended, therefore, to keep a date for people to commit their excesses, before the period of religious severity.

During medieval carnivals around the eleventh century, during the fertile time for agriculture, young men who fantasized about women were out on the streets and fields for a few nights. They were inhabitants of the frontier of the world of the living and the dead and invaded their homes, with the acceptance of those who lived there, being fed with food and drink, and also with the kisses of the young women in the houses.

During the Renaissance, in Italian cities, appeared the commedia dell'arte, improvised theaters whose popularity occurred until the eighteenth century. In Florence, songs were created to accompany the parades, which also featured decorated cars, the trionfi. In Rome and Venice, the participants wore the bauta, a black hooded hood that shrouded shoulders and head, plus three-pointed hats and a white mask.

The history of carnival in Brazil began in the colonial period. One of the first carnival manifestations was the Entrudo, a party of Portuguese origin that in the colony was practiced by the slaves. Then came the cords and ranchos, the parties of parlor, the corsos and the schools of samba. Afoxés, frevos and maracatus also became part of the Brazilian carnival cultural tradition. Marchinhas, sambas and other musical genres were also incorporated into the largest cultural manifestation in Brazil.