(February, 2021)
One of the most fascinating aspects of mythology is how such stories, legends, and folk tales, despite the frequently untraceable source, are spread from mouth to mouth, travel across lands and time, change their components, while adapting to local realities and perceptions. Mythological elements might be fabricated, fantastic creations of human minds, but many of them were actually symbolic representations of lessons, history, or values.
One of the most well-known mythological creatures in Brazilian folklore is the curupira, a legendary being that was mentioned in historical records since colonial times, in the Sixteenth Century. As expected, after crossing so many years and yards, the story received so many adaptations until today, from one state to the other, so what we will provide is just some versions of this story.
Curupira is often described as a boy with both feet turned back, red-colored hair, and no orifice in his body. Many records also describe curupira riding a wide pig through his forests. His feet create fake footprints, so, if someone tries to follow the tracks, they will just walk in the opposite direction. However, you will probably not want to meet him, since some stories tell that a person that meets a curupira will go mad and never come back to normal.
Curupira's figure and his actions were already mentioned in a letter of 1560, written by Anchieta, a Spanish Jesuit priest and a missionary, who created the first grammar book about the ancient tupi, a language spoken by many indigenous groups who lived across Brazilian coastline. In the letter (free translation below), he explains the existence of not only one, but many curupira demons:
"It is well known and everybody's mouths say that there are certain demons, who the Brasis call corupira, who attack the indigenous people many times in the woods, whip them, hurt them, and kill them. Our brothers are witnesses of this, and sometimes they saw the dead ones, killed by them [by the corupiras]. For that reason, the indigenous people tend to leave along their way, through the harsh woods of the midlands, in the highest summit of the mountain, when they pass through there, birds feathers, fans, arrows, and other things, similar to a kind of oblation, begging fervently for the corupiras not to harm them."
Most versions of the story portrays curupira as a forest animal protector. Therefore, his main targets are the hunters, thus he uses many strategies to lead them to all sorts of misunderstandings or to punish them. Curupira is deceiving and usually portrayed as rigorous, but not evil, since he allows hunting, as for the hunter and his family's subsistence. However, curupira will not be indulgent towards nasty hunters, those who hunt just for fun or sport, those who hunt cubs, and those who are unnecessarily cruel.
For those unkind hunters, curupira can impose very harsh punishments. The most shocking account describes that curupira will turn the hunter's wife and kids into prey and force them to meet the hunter, who will chase and murder his own family without knowing that they are his own family. This information will be somehow revealed after the family was already killed, which will cause the hunter grief and regret until the rest of his life.
Other versions of the story even tell that curupira's powers go beyond divine powers, which include the capability of resurrecting animals that were killed by hunters. So, yeah, guess it is better to just avoid meeting him.
But what can you do if such a meeting eventually happens? It is said that curupira is quite curious, so if you want to escape from him or his traps, you should make a yarn out of vine and hide the tip, so he will get busy trying to untangle it. Other possibilities include an old trick adopted since old times by indigenous people and hunters, which is offering something he appreciates. Hunters used to offer pinga (Brazilian alcoholic beverage made of sugar cane) or tobacco, for example; you can bring such gifts to be offered before entering the forest.
Similar to the curupira, caipora is another mystical creature from Brazilian folklore. However, the physical description of caipora is more intimidating: his looks are represented as a strong thug with the body covered with hair. Sometimes caipora is also presented as a woman, an image that became very popular after the transmission of the Brazilian television show of the 90s, Ra-tim-bum Castle. In the TV show, however, she is a friendly figure, with a black painted mask and red-dyed skin, that would always appear after the sound of a whistle. The character was passionate about the fauna and flora, so her presence was dedicated to raising children’s environmental awareness.
Both words are originally from tupi. Curupira means "body of a boy" and caipora means "resident of the jungle". Because of the folk tales, in the past, the word "caipora" was used by other people to refer to hunters who were not lucky in their quests; the word gradually evolved to refer to unlucky or unfortunate people in general.
Mythology can be related to reality, not literally, but metaphorically. Many indigenous people, hunters, or visitors that entered Brazilian dense tropical forests probably got lost or hurt during the excursion, so meeting a mythical creature that leads people to misunderstand to save the animals became an explanation for such mistakes and accidents in the forest.
However, the presence of these creatures in the human imaginary must be understood from a symbolic perspective as well. Even years before the modern concept of environmental conservation, traditional knowledge and popular belief would warn people about human onslaughts against nature. Nowadays, curupira and caipora are common, friendly figures in environmental education and children’s books. After all, such stories raise a moral standard that human beings should not be greedy and predatory towards nature.
How about you? What mythical creature in your country and culture is responsible for protecting the nature?
References:
[1] Maria Litz. Missão curupira: proteger as florestas e seus habitantes. Available at: https://www.ufmg.br/cienciaparatodos/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/leituraparatodos/e5_24-missaocurupiraprotegerasflorestaseseushabitantes.pdf
[2] José de Anchieta. Carta de São Vicente, 1560. Available at: http://www.rbma.org.br/rbma/pdf/Caderno_07.pdf
[3] A. S. Franchini. As 100 Melhores Lendas do Folclore Brasileiro. L&PM, 2011.
[4] Dicionário Tupi Guarani. Available at: https://www.dicionariotupiguarani.com.br/