Known to be plural and multicultural, the Carnival of Pernambuco – besides the various manifestations all over the state – stands out in the cities of Recife and Olinda.

In Pernambuco there were over thirty of these societies which formed the genesis of Clube do Cupim, as many of its founding members had already actively participated in some of them.

In 1897, a group of rowers, captained by João Victor da Cruz Alfarra, created the ‘Recreio Fluvial’ (Fluvial Recreation) club, a society that rented boats that ran from the old Lingueta, in the Recife neighbourhood, to the Bathhouse, located on Pina.

Created on 3 February 1914, the Santa Cruz Football Club was conceived by a group of boys who played football on the pavement by the Igreja de Santa Cruz (Church of the Holy Cross), in the Boa Vista neighbourhood of Recife. The name of the team is an allusion to the place where it began.

Founded on 13 May 1905 through the initiative of Pernambuco-born Guilherme de Aquino Fonseca, Sport Club Recife – written this way because of the influence of the English language, and without the ‘do’ (meaning ‘of’) that it has now – was the first football team in Pernambuco.