Entre Laranjas e Limões: A participação de negros e escravizados no Entrudo de Desterro

Abstract

This article investigates the practice of shrovetide in the city of Desterro, during the 19th century, focusing especially on the participation of black people and slaves in carnival festivities. The shrovetide, a game characterized by the wetting of people with water and other liquids, was one of the forms to celebrate the carnival and involved several sections of the population. The research approaches the tension between the officer's repression and the popular resistance, making it clear how the authorities tried to control the activities through law and punishment. The participation of black people and slaves in shrovetide reveals a space of agency and subversion, where they could express, even if in a limited way, their identities and resistance. The study bases itself on historic documents, like police reports and newspapers of the time, to trace a panorama of the cultural practices and social dynamics involved in shrovetide.