Culture & Traditions of Brazil:
Maculelê Halloween is rich with brazilian culture, folklore and superstitions....
ANHANGA
:
Anhanga is an animal protector ghost.
It can also protect people.
Usually it appears as a white deer with fire eyes and a cross in its forehead. But it can also appear as other animals and even take up a human shape, frightening hunters and travelers.
As the ledgend goes, whoever sees, feels or hears the Anhanga will have bad luck, Places it hangs around at are considered haunted!!
BOTO ROSA
Another interesting character belonging to the Brazilian rich folklore is the Boto Rosa. Boto in Porguguese is a kind of freshwater dolphin and Rosa means pink, also known as Boto Tucuxi....G-d knows what Tucuxi means.
It is one of the most notorious legends in the Amazonia. At night "he" takes up the shape of a tall and strong young man, wearing a hat which he uses to hide the hole in his head through which he breaths...he goes a lot to parties and dances well, sweeping the young women off their feet. he is really funny, a joker, charming children as well. At dawn, the flirtatious lad jumps and dives into the river, returning to live in the waters...
He protects everybody from drowning. Has a reputation of being a heartbreaker, seduces the girls because he becomes this very good looking stud. Wonderfully smelling and elegantly dressed, out of the water he hopes to take over, by storm, the heart of the most beautiful girl.
He dresses in white and shows up at parties like a stranger, graciously gets everybody's attention and the beautiful girls hearts. The dolphin charms the young women - that he does, yes! He is the most powerful of men's rivals.
Fishermen capture and kill the creature to produce talisman with it, thinking the dolphin is to be blamed for the women two-timing them. Unfortunately it's not a legend, it's an endangered species and threat of extinction in Brazil is getting bigger and bigger.
CABRA CABRIOLA:
The CABRA CABRIOLA is a frightening being, half beast half snake, with sharp teeth, breathing out fire and smoke through it's nose, eyes and mouth. It's told it had already appeared in Para, Ceara, Pernambuco and in other locations in Brazil.
It's told it attacks children wandering about in the street, shoving them in a bag and taking them to make soap out of them....
The most terrible part of the legend is that the cabra cabriola also gets into houses looking for naughty, rude and impolite children, hiding in their rooms, inside closets, drawers or underneath their beds, to terrify them in the middle of the night.
The cabra cabriola is also known as 'bicho-papao' (bugbear)
UIRAPURU
The native people of the Amazonian Forest tell that in the South of Brazil there was once a brave tribe in which one of the warriors was in love with the Indian tribal chief's daughter. He was a strong intelligent young man and the lady was pretty and delicate.
They fell helplessly in love with each other, although her father had already promised her in marriage to another warrior. From that point on, they started a hidden romance, even though she felt distressed with the situation and wanted to disclose it all to her father, fearing his reaction if he was to find out by himself...
One day it happened, the tribal chief found out and was furious.
The chief, assisted by Tupa transformed the young man into a bird. The bird's name was Uirapuru.
As a bird he sang to his beloved every day, this way helping her with her longing for him. When the tribal chief became aware of the singing, he summoned hunters to track him down. The little Indian girl begged the bird to go away, to leave, First he did not want to but later gave in because if he stayed there, he would end up dead, and that would really make her suffer. This is the legend of the Uirapuru, a rare bird, reddish, does not show himself easily. When it sings, the melody is so beautiful that all other birds in the forest go silent.
According to the legend, whoever finds an Uirapuru can have any wish come true, because this bird is the magic symbol of happiness, and because of that the Indians respect it so much and pass it's story on form generation to generation.
Tupa: is the name of the Supreme G-d in the guarani creation myth.
COBRA HONORATO
A long time ago, a beautiful Tapuia (name of tribe) Indian girl used to bath in the Trombetas river waters, an affluent location on the left-margin of the Amazonas river.
All of a sudden, she thought she had seen a sailing ship when in reality it was the famous and feared Cobra Grande (big serpent), with its huge eyes shining like little suns.
It was already too late to escape the serpent, which was a male being that fell in love with the beauty of the young woman "involving" her AND surprise surprise,nine months after that the young Indian gave birth to twins. They were not children, they were two water serpents, very dark, and were called Honorato and Maria. They were brought up RIGHT there by the river, enjoying lots of freedom and amusing themselves everyday in the water currents.
Honorato was strong, happy and sociable. Maria was naughty and did lots of cruelties to the region inhabitants. Nobody liked her. Honorato used to try and free his friends from her the whole day long!!! He would only rest when the moon appeared in the sky. Then, he could leave the water and disenchant - leaving his snake leather skin in the margins of the river and become a nice looking guy.
Honorato had to obey the Cobra Grande, that's why he always came back to the river before dawn, since whenever the sun rose, he again became a serpent...
One day he explained to his mother that he wanted to be human, his mother educated him on how to break the spell and with the help and courage of a soldier he was able to do it - becoming a good looking young man. He then came to live with his mother, started to study and continued to perform his good deeds for the community.
CAIPORA
The Caipora is so similiar to the Curupira that some think is the same thing.
The Curupira is a small red-haired adult. The Caipora is usually a little Indian or a dark skinned man. He is hairy and usually rides a feral hog. Protects animals, when they die he is capable of resuscitating them. Seeing the Caipora is bad luck after seeing it everything starts to go wrong!
Watch Out!!!
CURUPIRA
Strange folklore characters: Meet the Curupira.
He is as tall as a seven year old child, extremely red-haired, his teeth are green and his feet turn backwards....
Considered one of the fiercest nature protectors, he is an animal lover and friend.
He is so fast, your eyes fail to follow...
He enjoys intimidating hunters in the forest, terrifying them to death...
Smartly producing false footprints and whistling, he distracts the hunters, making them lose their way.
He strongly protects animals and plants, cruelly punishing who kills expectant females.
He loves booze and a good smoke and the peasants leave him these kinds of gifts by the paths in order to appease the creature...
MULA SEM CABECA
The story of the beheaded mule was brought by the Portuguese pioneers. It tells about a being that breaths out fire through it's neck and terrorizes the villagers. It is brown or black and always has a few utensils with it, like steel or silver horseshoes and what's more, it's head is involved by a fire torch.
The beheaded mule or in Portuguese "Mula sem Cabeca" is in reality a woman who fell in love with a priest that being that being the reason why she was transformed into a beast.
Every night, from Thursday to Friday the poor soul becomes the "Mula sem Cabeca" and out it goes galloping until dawn.
Still today, during the Friday wee hours, and specially when the full-moon is happily shining in the skies above, people say they can see and hear priests riding 'mulas sem cabeca'
NEGRINHO DO PASTOREIO
During slavery, a small and weak but very skilled black negro boy worked in a big farm in Rio Grande do Sul (one of Brazil's Southern states). His master was very cruel. One day, accidentally the "Negrinho" lost his master's favorite horse, what was followed by a brutal beating. In the next day the Negrinho found the horse during a terrible storm and was unsuccessfully trying to tie it down, when he finally succeeded the horse ran away. He returned and told the master about that which cause yet another beating.
The next day, the cruel farmer woke up and went to see the Negrinho. The boy was already there, without a single scratch or scar from the beatings and without any ant biting marks. Right next to him there was this saint and a little further from them the favorite horse, together with another 29 horses...
The horrible farmer begged for mercy. The Negrinho without uttering a single word, climbed the favorite horse and left, nobody knows where to.
Some folks attest they have seen the Negrinho riding, touring about the Pampas (remote Brazil South region, where the Brazilain "cowboys" come from).
NEGRO D'AGUA
The Negro D'agua (Water Negro) lives in the waters, in the Brazilian Middle-West Region. It's a wierd looking being, half man, black, tall and strong, half amphibious, the body covered in fish scales which blend with human skin.
It seldom goes out for a ride, It shows itself and scares the fishermen mainly. It is like the Saci Perere, naughty, punching the fishing nets, destroying the baits that were thrown into the water, scaring the hell out of the people on boats...
It seems it is making a point of letting humans know it wants them out of his "home".
SACI
The myth of the Saci is from Indian origin, but somehow it got mixed up with slaves culture. That's why the Saci is a black boy. Nobody can stand up to him because he has magical powers. His strength is in the red cap.
the is not a day in which Saci isn't up to something...He is always playing tricks, the young boy in the red cap, always jumping in his one leg and smoking the pipe.
He has one leg only!!
Black, short and bold, with very white teeth and a red cap buried in his head.
He shows up on the road to terrorize travelers.
He is wicked and hooligan.
Only for you to have an idea of how he is, Saci, when he goes to farms he causes a real tsunami, spilling the fresh milk just milked from the cows, breaking the eggs in the chicken roost, opening up gates, hiding stuff and even worse: throwing burning coal at people, you see them jumping up and down...and the devil doesn't stop laughing at all.
TUTU
The Tutu is kind of a Bicho-Papao that the slaves brought to the Brazilian folklore. All Tutus are characters out of old lullaby songs the wet-nurses (slaves themselves) used to sing in order to make the madam's children fall asleep.
The worst thing a Tutu does is to kidnap a child who does not want to sleep.
The wet-nurses and mothers used to rock the children saying: "Tutu Tutu get away from the roof already and let this little boy sleep in peace".
BOITATA
A very smart, thin-skin snake.
After staring at the sun for too long, it's eyes turned into beacons, and the body brighter and brighter...
Enviroment guardian, worried about endangered species and air pollution. It's known as the jungle watchdog, protecting fauna and flora. Once, thinking hard about the consequences of environment destruction, the fire existing inside of it increased to a point where it became a huge enchanted serpent...
It travels the Brazilian woods during the day and illuminates them during the night.
IARA
She enchants men, half woman half fish, it's like a mermaid.
Sings beautifully and with her attractive and deceiving sound, attracts fishermen to the bottom of the waters, where she rules...On full moon nights she can be found laying on the rocks by the rivers, showing off her incredible beauty. When coming out of the water, she assumes the shape of a beautiful long haired woman... She does not attract only man, no way! She also attracts children, who are kidnapped and taken over to her underwater domain.
She protects waters and fishery, also known as "Mother Water".
BOIUNA
Here comes the Boiuna.
It is a huge dark and gluttonous viper that lives in the Amazonian rivers. It can swallow entire vessels; the fishermen are fooled thinking it's a boat, they approach and .....nhoc, are devoured .... passing by it leaves a trail that becomes a new stream.
It's body is so smooth it reflects the moon!
LOBISOMEM
It's a man that turns wolf in full moon nights.
It happens when the eighth child born in a family is a boy, after seven girls, he turns lobisomem upon his 13th birthday, He never dies, never grows old and is never ill and ONLY attacks when threatened.
The body is hairy, has snout and fierce teeth, and even a tail...
Walks on hands and feet, like a wolf, but also stands on his two feet, like a man. He is very fast and puts up a fight with anyone crossing his path. When the man is white, he becomes a black wolf, and when he is a black guy, becomes a white wolf....
VITORIA-REGIA
A long time ago, in a small Amazonian village, a shaman (paje) from the Tupi-Guarani tribe explained the origin of the stars and skies.
"Beautiful young women become stars when they fall in love with the moon, meaning, each star in the sky was once a pretty young lady."
The "Vitoria-Regia" is the queen of the water plants.
Our ancestors educated us that the moon is a strong warrior, very bold who enlightens the earth because he wants to have all beautiful women fall in love with him.
The Vitoria-Regia was born when an extraordinarily beautiful Indian girl, fascinated by the will to become a star, began to chase the moon. While everybody else was asleep, she used to get out of her tent and try, using all available means, to have the moon pay attention to her. She would climb mountains and trees hoping to reach it, but to no avail.
The young Indian wouldn't give up. The sky still so distant and the moon never noticing her, until one day, observing a bigh reflection in the water, she believed the moon had come to fetch her. She immediately jumped into the deep waters and swam toward it. Never to be found.
The moon, excited with the youngster's feelings, decided to compensate her.
The Indian girl became a different kind of star - and the "Estrela das Aguas" (Water Star) was born, the "Vitoria-Regia", this beautiful and big plant which graciously floats on the Amazonian rivers. At night, the exquisite plant opens up it's flower petals to welcome the moonlight. It can reach up to two meters diameter, can be found in Botanic Gardens of various countries, with it's beautiful and fragrant white and/or pinkish flowers.
These flowers absolutely hypnotize millions of people when they open up, late in the afternoon.
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Members of CAOBA experienced true Culture & Traditions of Brazil on
a recent visit
to Vitória and Porto Seguro, Brazil, during Carnaval.
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Brazilian (Portuguese) Language:
are part
of the new Portuguese Lessons now being taught at the Nação Capoeira Academy in Bergenfield.
Teacher: Silvia Levi
"I was born and raised in Brazil, in a city called Porto Alegre, near the border of Argentina and Uruguay.
I come from a multicultural background, with fluency in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Hebrew.
I obtained excellent results when teaching English as a second language in Brazil, teaching students "How to think in English".
You are invited to come by the Nação Capoeira Academy where I am now teaching Portuguese and Brazilian Culture.
I have this dream to not only teach you how to speak Portuguese, but to take you into the
Brazilian culture, one of the richest in the world if you are talking great music, fantastic modern arts, refined, sophisticated cuisine, an overwhelming architecture....let me be your guide through the amazing Brazilian way of life, the easy-goingness of the people, the smiles "no matter what", the "let's party just for the sake of it", you will love it!!!
The classes are only an excuse.....I can give you a taste of the lifestyle, the mentality, the peculiar way of life, topped with the incomparable musical "Brazilian language".
A few Portuguese lessons will change your life for the best, forever. VAMOS TENTAR????"
Training Capoeira since June 2009 ( Capoeira Name: Cegonha "Stork" )
CAOBA volunteer since January 2010