Tag Archives: brazil

Curupira, Brazilian Protector of the Forest

Text:

M: we have a creature called Curupira. Which is a guy that his feet are on the opposite side. Like if you’re walking like this [forward walking] the feet are like this [facing backwards].

Me: oh, they’re like reversed? Like backwards?

M: yes, and he’ll walk like forward normally, but then his footprints would seem like he was walking the other way

Me: are his knees the right way?

M: umm I

Me: is that too niche of a question?

M: I think its the opposite like he would walk like, you know those birds that like flex the other way

Me: yeah

M: yes!

Me: Okay so he did have backwards knees

M: yes. And the whole thing is like he did that because he was the protector of the forest. So he would go after the people that were like cutting trees and stuff like that. He was the defender of the forest. And his feet were like that so when people would go after him, they would think he was going the opposite way.

Me: ahhhhh [realisation]

M: and that’s why his feet are like that

Me: and he was just like shaped like a guy?

M: shaped like a guy.

Me shaped like a guy

M: oh, did he have fire in his head? He might have fire as hair

Me: respectable

M: yeah, we like fire apparently

Me: what’s your take on that? whats your analysis? if you will

M: this is very much like indigenous folklore. So it’s very mu— probably like it, cause indigenous cultures were very like in touch with nature and like giving and receiving. And they had a big problem with like when Europeans came they were. The first thing that started to take in brazil was the trees. The tree that was called ‘Brazil stick’, that’s why they gave the name to the land for as Brazil. Cause of the tree they were taking.

Me: oh I had no idea

M: yeah, ’cause they used to make red ink from it. And so that was like the tale they used to tell, so like: do not mess with nature, it will mess back!

ME: and he would, and he would kill them?

M: yes

Me: he would kill the loggers, okay

M: yes, he will 

Context:

The informant, M, is a 19-year-old USC international student from Brazil. She delivered this piece in the workroom of a campus center before class alongside other pieces in order to share some personal and Brazilian folklore. She learned about this legend growing up in Brazil.

M says that this legend originates in indigenous Brazilian culture.

Analysis:

This figure and legend, Curupira, does feel very indigenous. As a “protector of the forest” figure who hunts and kills people destroying forests, Curupira’s values align well with the values of protecting nature and the forest (commonly held indigenous values). Curupira’s connection would also be an indicator of these pro-nature values in the people who share his story.

Brazilian New Year’s Tradition

Background

This is a description of the Brazilian New Year’s tradition, specifically that of northeast Brazil. The informant is a third-generation Brazilian American, although she has spent a considerable amount of time living in northeast Brazil–specifically the state of Bahia–and is fluent in Portuguese. The informant describes the rituals and traditions common for New Year’s Eve and Day in northeast Brazil. She is careful to note that the traditions come from the traditional Brazilian religion espiritismo, which is a syncretic mix of African religions and Catholicism. She is not an adherent of espiritismo, but she states that the tradition is widespread in Brazil, even for those not following the religion.

Text


MM: Um, so on New Year’s Eve, you typically wear a color that signifies what kind, what you want to bring into the new year. So the most traditional one is white. People want a peaceful new year, that’s white. Um, but the other most popular colors that people wear are yellow to signify wealth and prosperity in the new year. And red to signify passion and love and romance and sex in the new year.


MM: Um, and then on New Year’s Day, there’s a tradition in the northeast of Brazil, Bahia, to go to the ocean and, um, give, put white flowers on the water, um, as an offering for the new year for Iemanjá, who is the goddess of the sea and the most powerful, uh, deity in Brazilian spiritism.

Analysis

As is clear from the informant’s description of the tradition, while there are clear connections to espiritismo, it is not necessary to adhere to the religion to be influenced by it in Brazil. The informant knows that the deity is Iemanjá who controls the sea, but the deity is described from a secular perspective rather than a religious one. That an expat can experience this tradition is indicative of its pervasiveness in Brazil and espiritismo’s entrenchment in Brazilian culture.

The colors are significant here, too, and point to cultural perceptions of color in Brazil. Red, for example, is associated with passion and sex, suggesting a connection with fertility, menstruation, and blood. The three mentioned are common color associations in European culture, but given the syncretic nature of espiritismo, the associations very well could have originated in Africa.

Iemanjá being the primary deity in espiritismo might allude to the importance of the ocean during the colonial period, especially given that such a massive proportion of the Transatlantic Slave Trade ended up landing in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. The treacherous journey across the ocean might be one influence, and the fact that Brazilian colonies largely existed along the coast might be another.

New Years in Brazil

Informant Information 
Nationality: Brazilian American 
Occupation: Student 
Residence: California
Date of Performance/Collection: Apr 27, 2022
Primary Language: English 
Other Language(s): Portuguese

Background
My informant is a good friend of mine and we started talking about her Brazillian culture in McDonald’s after our bible study.

Performance
S- So for New Year’s, everyone wears white to symbolize new beginnings. So everyone has on a white outfit and then you basically party all night, watch the fireworks that’s all normal. Everyone makes wishes and dreams but it’s mostly wearing white and a night full of dancing and celebration and stuff but when we say a night full of dancing, it really is like It’s not fake like America like we danced for an hour and then we call it a night, like we are dancing, we’re celebrating we’re feasting and dishes of fish and so usually on more celebratory days fish is the option because steak is a common thing and there’s a famous meal called bacalhau, which is I forget what type of fish it is in English but it’s a fish dish with potatoes and vegetables and it’s so bomb and it’s the steakhouse the rest of the time, we’re all carnivores.  

Thoughts
This is the first time I’ve heard of wearing all white as a New Year’s. If carnival is any indication of how long and hard Brazilians can party, I believe that New Year’s would be no different.

Personal Ghost Story

Text/Interview:

DS: “One summer, I was visiting family in Brazil. There are lots of storms there over the summer. One night there was torrential rain. However, it was not the rain that woke me up. Instead, I arose to a little rattling noise. As I came to, the room filled with fog. My room started to get really cold and I saw this demonic figure in the corner of the room. The figure was dark and skeletal. I could feel its evil aura and was completely petrified. I couldn’t move. The figure slowly crept closer and closer until he was right at the head of my bed. The sheets went flying right as thunder struck and he vanished into thin air.”

Context:

DS has family who lives in Brazil. According to him, the house he was staying in was extremely old and the architecture is not quite safe. As a result, he believes that someone either died in the house over its long history or someone died during its construction. Either way, DS knows that there is an evil spirit that haunts that house in Brazil and it is seeking revenge.

Personal Opinion:

While I do not know the validity of the story, I believe that DS saw what he claims to have seen. Encounters with evil spirits are not too uncommon and a rainstorm would be a perfect time for one to strike. Spirits are liminal figures who are neither alive nor dead. Thunderstorms are a liminal time between two sunny days. There is a great in between and I would not be too surprised if this is when spirits roam in Brazil.

A Tame Sort of Trance

During high-school, my dad studied abroad in Brazil for a year. He stayed with a family of Lebanese immigrants who showed him both Brazilian and Lebanese traditions, and always included him in everything. Growing up, I heard tons of stories from his time there. The Brazilian stories were relatively tame – beaches, clubs, schools, etc. But the Lebanese culture was of particular interest.

Driving home from lunch one sunny afternoon, I ask him and my mom if they have any stories that I could use for my folklore project.

“I was just thinking about my experiences when I was a teenager in Brazil with a family of Lebanese immigrants who were Druze, and had the belief of many paths to the mountaintop. But they also had a uh.. a spiritualist element. And after I’d been there several months, they let me go to a family ceremony which was on a Sunday. One of the uncles would go into a trance and kind of channel spirits and try to get insight into some of the issues facing the family. So he would stand there and close his eyes, and appear to be communing with the spirits. And everybody would be quiet and sitting around, um, and then he would speak to them. But that was all in Arabic so I didn’t understand a word. Um.. But other than that, then they would say he’s asking about some problems we’re having with the business or this or that, and he would get some direction. They…they had these kind of sessions where one or more of them would kind of be in a sort of trance-like state. So I remember viewing that and thinking that was sort of interesting.”

Whenever I think of communing with the spirits, I picture ouji boards or fire-and-brimstone preachers in the deep south flailing around with snakes on their arms. I picture people getting real serious and asking about life’s deeper questions. It’s quite funny to picture this fairly frequent occurrence, where a member of the family would go into a trance and just ask advice for everyday problems. Obviously, the whole thing was treated seriously, as my dad had to earn a certain amount of trust before he was allowed to attend. But even so, there’s a lightness to it that is not normally associated with channeling spirits.