Exercises on the History of Carnival

The carnival party, in Western Antiquity, was related to pagan rituals that involved drunkenness and sexual promiscuity. Two of these rituals were performed between the end and beginning of each year, that is, one in December and the other in February. They were:

a) the Saceias and the Olympics

b) the Apollonians and the Syriacs

c) Pão e Circo and Lupanar

d) the Saturnalia and Lupercalia

e) the Bread and Circuses and the Apollonians

The word ''carnival'' comes from the Latin carnis levale and means "to take away the flesh," or to get rid of the flesh. This designation began to be propagated during the rise of Christian civilization in the Middle Ages. Taking this into account, what period of the Catholic liturgical calendar is preceded by the day of the carnival?

a) All Saints' Day

b) Christmas

c) Lent

d) the Day of Saint Kings

e) Saint Lucia's Day

(PUC-RS) Zé Carioca, a character in comic books and Hollywood films, was created by Walt Disney from an interpretation of the popular figure of the carioca rogue linked to samba and carnival . The creation of this cartoon character to represent the Brazilian national identity is related to which of the contexts below?

a) The First World War and the US commercial penetration effort in Brazil.

b) To the effort of approximation and alignment between Brazil and the USA, in the context of World War II.

c) The internationalization of the Brazilian economy of the JK Era.

d) The expansion of American-influenced pop culture in the Cold War.

e) US cultural imperialism in the context of the military dictatorship.

(PUC-RS) "Aquarela do Brasil", by Ary Barroso, was a samba-exaltation composed in a context characterized by the censorship of lyrics that spoke of trickery and by the political use of samba through the radio - including the composition of carnival marches - in the sense of forging political consensus around a populist and authoritarian modernization project, which characterized the government of:

a) Juscelino Kubitschek

b) Eurico Gaspar Dutra

c) Castelo Branco

d) Jânio Quadros

e) Getúlio Vargas

Letter D

The Saturnalia, orgiastic rituals dedicated to the god Saturn, in ancient Roman civilization, were practiced on the winter solstice, which fell in the second half of December, and were characterized by the extravagance of carnal pleasures. In the same way, the Lupercalias, peasant rituals dedicated to the inferior – or infernal – gods took place around February 15 and were also characterized by the practice of orgies, being directly associated with what would later receive by the Christians the name of “carnival”. ''.

Letter C

Lent is the forty-day period leading up to Christian Easter, which celebrates the Resurrection of Christ. The beginning of Lent takes place on Ash Wednesday, which, in turn, is preceded by the day of Carnival. Both dates are determined by the day of Easter, which is celebrated on the day the spring equinox occurs.

Letter B

Zé Carioca is a character who follows the stereotype of the carioca rogue from the 1930s/1940s. Disney took advantage of the international image that the carioca carnival had (and continues to have in the world) and, especially in the USA – at that time –, mainly due to the shows by Carmem Miranda, to strengthen cultural ties with Brazil.

Letter E

The various styles of samba from the 1930s/1940s, including the extremely popular carnival marches, were used by Getúlio Vargas' propaganda service, in favor of the government itself, to build a positive image of the dictator and disseminate it to the mass of radio listeners, as television had not yet been created at the time.