while blocos may seem a simple gathering of people dancing and following around town a truck with a band on it playing music, they actually have a significant history and tradition.

in fact, blocos evolved through history, starting as simple gathering in portuguese villages, changing into 'cords' of people in urban areas, maturing in what they are today, and even expanding in groups that became samba schools.

street carnival was introduced by the portuguese in the sixteenth century with entrudos, games that already existed in villages, in general among families and friends.

typically, these games involved the use of small wax balls containing lemon-scented water that people would throw jokingly at one another.