Text:
M: umm , oh another one is the, ah, mula sin cabeza. This is actual like folklore that umm basically is the… mula sin cabeza its a type of horse without their head, that’s the name
Me: ok
m : umm
Me: is it mula sin cabeza?
M: yeah, aaand what happened is it’s a creature that is created or born or whatever, when a woman sleeps with a priest. Which your no supposed to cause like a priest is like
Cannot have sex and bla bla bla. But, if you do, the woman becomes that horse
O: what!?
M: yes..
O: that is so anti-woman.
I laugh
M: well, whatever, it’s, it is what it is
Me: maybe society is anti-woman
M: yeah
O: oh m goodness society
M laughs
M: and then so she would
[I laugh because o realizes that I’m recording and leaves]
M: she would like walk around at night, cause you know the mystic anything will transform at night
[O leaves closing door]
M: and so, and the way she is, imagine like a horse without a head, and on the place the head was supposed to be its just flames
Me: yo, thats metal
M: right, it’s literally that! It like a horse without its head and in its place fire. What else we have…
Me: wait wait, what does the horse do?
M: just haunt the city
Me: the whole city.
M: yeah cause, like it would like walk around us when it was.. And don’t have a head. And it was like a punishment for like sleeping with the priest. Cause you’re not supposed to sleep with the priest
Me: that’s your take on it? You’re not supposed to sleep with a priest
M: yeah basically. In conclusion, do not sleep with priests
I laugh
M: so fleabag would not have survived Brazilian culture
ME: you’re right
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.
O is a mutual friend of the informant and me, they briefly walked into the workroom and commented on the legend, before realizing I was recording and leaving.
Analysis:
As M said “You’re not supposed to sleep with the priest.” this legend clearly indicates the cultural value of not sleeping with priests.
To me (as partially stated in the text) transforming the woman who slept with the priest rather than the priest indicates blame on women for the sex rather than priests/men. This would indicate a larger cultural understanding that having sex with a priest is wrong, not a priest having sex. This could relate to western christian notions of purity culture that blame women for the loss of virginity and other sexual acts.
The specifics of M’s speech also indicate that mystic transformations are thought to more commonly happen at night,