The ‘‘Barbarous Game’’: Entrudo and Its Critics in Rio de Janeiro, 1810s–1850s

Abstract This article examines the pre-Lenten festivities labeled entrudo in early nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro and traces the efforts to repress them, which enjoyed a measure of success by the mid-1850s. During this period, the predominant form of pre-Lenten revelry involved various forms of water play that transgressed the boundaries between the sexes but tended to respect other social hierarchies. After independence, authorities and members of a self-proclaimed ‘‘civilized’ ’ elite sought to repress what they condemned as a ‘‘barbarous’ ’ game. These efforts obtained some success in the 1840s and 1850s as masked balls and parading by elite carnival societies came to dominate middle- and upper-class forms of celebration, although entrudo persisted longer among the lower classes. Based on travelers ’ accounts and the extensive newspaper debates about entrudo and its repression, this article analyzes a major cultural change among the Brazilian capital’s elite. O ne evening just before the start of Lent in 1844, the French chargéd’affaires’s residence in Rio de Janeiro was attacked. The Count of Ney had just finished hosting a dinner for Théophile de Ferrière Le Vayer, com-mander of a French naval expedition en route to China. After dinner, the diplomat’s guests gathered at the windows overlooking the narrow street to watch the ‘‘animated scenes’ ’ as residents poured water from bottles, carafes