Sambas de Enredo

The Brazilian Carnival is an annual celebration in Brazil held forty days before Easter and marking the start of Lent. During Lent, Roman Catholics, which constitute the majority in Brazil, are to abstain from bodily pleasures. Carnival, which is celebrated as a profane event, can thus be likened to a farewelling of the pleasures of the flesh.



The modern Brazilian Carnival finds its roots in Rio de Janeiro in the 1830s, when the city’s bourgeoisie imported the practice of holding balls and masquerade parties from Paris. It originally mimicked the European form of the festival, over time acquiring elements derived from African and Amerindian cultures.