Rio Carnival Historical Timeline

From Entrudo to Samba

Carnival's roots stretch back to ancient spring festivals honoring Dionysus in Greece and Bacchus in Rome, later absorbed by the Catholic Church as a final indulgence before the fasting of Lent. Portuguese settlers brought their own pre-Lenten tradition, the Entrudo, to Brazil in 1723 -- a rowdier affair of water fights and flour and lime throwing in the streets. By the following decade, horse-drawn floats and military bands had turned the celebration into an organized street parade.

The Carnival most visitors recognize today took shape in the early 20th century, as African rhythms and Indigenous traditions blended with the imported European festival to create samba. Rio's first samba school, Deixa Falar, formed in 1928, and the first organized samba school parade followed in 1932. For decades afterward, the schools paraded straight through Rio's streets.

The Sambadrome era

That changed in 1984, when architect Oscar Niemeyer designed a permanent parade venue built in just four months for that year's Carnival. The Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí stretches roughly 700 meters through the Cidade Nova district and can seat around 90,000 spectators, giving the samba schools' competitive parade a stage built specifically for it. More than 100 samba schools now rehearse throughout the year for a chance to parade there, each telling its own story through costume, choreography, and elaborate floats.