Curupira
The Curupira, Currupira or Korupira is a forest spirit in the myth of the Tupí-Guaraní speaking areas in the Brazilian and Paraguaian Amazon and Guyanas. It is a guardian of the rainforest that punishes humans for overcutting.
The name Curupira means "covered in wounds or blisters", and derives from an agglutination of
Nheengatu: kuru "grain, rough", etc. and piré "skin", thus "rough or pimply skin". This kurupire may have been passed on perhaps from Nheengatu-speakers in Brazil to the Tupinambá speakers, then to the Guaraní-speaking population in the south.
It is often said to look like a short-statured or caboclo, but also said to be a bald but otherwise shaggy man. Some say it has blue or green teeth. The red-haired image has become fixture, perhaps due to conflation with the caipora.
The Curupira according to early Jesuits was a feared being known to leave gruesomely scarred bodies, to be appeased by offerings. But it underwent a mutation via European influence, and was recast into more of a mischievous trickster type spirit, often bungling and letting humans outsmart it, though it could still cause misfortune and death.
Origins
The Curupira legend spans Venezuela, Guyana, Peru and Paraguay, and appears to have been passed from Karaib-speakers to Guarani-speaking populace.Nomenclature
The lore of the Curupira is not only found in Brazil, but also in Paraguay and Guiana coinciding with the distribution of the Tupi–Guarani languages.The name Curupira means "covered in wounds or blisters", and derives from an agglutination of
Nheengatu: kuru "grain, rough", etc. and piré "skin", thus "rough or pimply skin". This kurupire may have been passed on perhaps from Nheengatu-speakers in Brazil to the Tupinambá speakers, then to the Guaraní-speaking population in the south.
The name is normally styled "Curupira" and spelt "Currupira" in the south. It is also argued that curupira goes by other names depending on region, namely Çacy tapereré, and Maty-taperé in the North. Sometimes transcribed "Korupira".
Some commentators have argued the Curupira and Caipora to be the same, others say they are different. The usage is regional, for example, from Maranhão south to Espírito Santo, its persistent nickname is Caipora.
Legend
The Curupira is a "hominoid spirit" or god, perhaps a "wild man", considered the guardian of the forest. It punishes humans who wantonly harvest lumber by making him lose his way, wander timelessly in the forest, so he becomes unable to reach his home.The Curupira is described as a small-statured ', or a "caboclinho", of similar meaning.
Notably, the Curupira has his feet turned backwards, to mislead trackers with footprints proceeding in the opposite direction, so that one trying to flee the Curupira actually pursues it.
The Curupira allegedly has family, a wife and children living in the hollow of dead trees. The women have long hair. Sometimes they trespass upon a human ' to steal the mandioca. Or else it is said that the wife is some old, ugly evil tapuya woman who plays accomplice to his misdeeds, and among their children, the youngest is the Saci Note that Caipora has been discussed as a variant of Curupira, and its wife is identified as Tatácy and Tatámanha.
Curupira was blamed for causing bad thoughts and nightmares. It is also said to have been a "mischievous wood-sprite" that engages in conversation with humans, foments distrust and dissent among individuals, and enjoy watching them fall into misfortune, but this description, taken to mean a "comical spirit" has been viewed unfavorably. The Curupira is attested as being regarded as a "god of thinking" or of "lies and deception", which may have to do with it being seen as playing with one's mind in general.
The Curupira is fond of tobacco, and rewards hunters for offering it, but they must keep it secret from their wives. Besides tobacco it loves cachaça, and hunters are known to offer these as propitiation to the Curupira.
Curupira can also be regarded as a rider of a deer, rabbit, or pig, or a peccary, variously given to be a white-lipped peccary or a collared peccary. In the lore of the state of Pernambuco, the Curupira or Korupira rides a deer, and is accompanied by his dog named “Papa-mel".
Physical description
The physical appearance is described variously. He is said to have enormous ears and blue or green teeth. It is also said to be balding or bald-headed but hairy-bodied with long body hair. Naturalist Bates remarked that it was like an orangutan with shaggy hair, living in trees, so that in later commentary the curupira was generally attributed with red/orange hair. Others have said it has a bright red face and cloven feet. Other regions held that it was one-eyed, or that it has no anus hence becomes solidly or massively built.Conflation with Caipora
While Bates considered the Curupira and Caipora as distinguishable, they were considered to be the same by German naturalist Martius.Long red body hair seems to have been ascribed originally to the Caipora, said to be similar to Curupira. The Caipora is said to ride a collared peccary, and the Curupira has come to be commonly portrayed riding one also.
Sounds and smell
The Curupira also confuses travelers in the woods by producing high pitched whistling sound mimicking the call of the tinamou bird.The Curupira allegedly beats on the projecting root of the tree to diagnose if it remains sturdy enough to resist storms. Thus when paddlers traveling by canoe in the rivers of Pará hear beating noises in the forest, they will say it is the sound of Curupira performing that chore.
According to the fieldwork of Charles Wagley conducted in the 1950s, the Curupira was known not only to make "long shrill cries" from the depths of the forest, but could mimic human voices to lure rubber tappers or hunters and lead them astray. In an old anecdote of an actual encounter, the child-sized curupira was strong enough to throw the man up in the air and break his legs. The man took out holy wax from his pouch, causing the creature to come no closer, but it had such about him it rendered the hunter unconscious.
Supposedly the Curupira sings a certain enchanting song that attracts humans, and the lyrics literally mean "I'm walking along my path, behind me come walking, walking".
Protection
To counter against the Curupiras effect of losing one's way, the traveler must fashion a cross or a wheel made of liana vine, and while the spirit is engaged trying to unravel it, the traveler gains opportunity to escape. The naturalist Bates also records that the mameluco youth who frequently accompanied him refused to proceed without hanging a charm made of palm-leaf formed into a wheel, in order to ward against the curupira.Narratives
records a story where a Curupira kills a native hunter and brings back the heart to the man's wife and child to eat. The wife realizes the deception at night and flees with the child. She is helped by a frog that spits a gummy substance, which lifts her up to a tree. The Curupira gets stuck on the frog's sticky goo trying to climb, and dies.Another story was given by Charles Frederick Hartt tells of a hunter who was asked to hand over his heart, but outwits the Curupira. The man passes off a monkey heart as his own, persuading Curupira to carve out its own heart, thus committing his own murder. Hartt compared it to the Norwegian folktale "About Askeladden who Stole from the Troll". The hunter later goes to collect the green teeth of the Curupira, and discovers it has revived, giving him a magic bow, but sworn to secrecy. The inquisitive of his wife loosens his tongue and the hunter dies. In a variant version, the hunter breaks the taboo against using the magic bow to hunt birds, and is pecked to death by a flock. The hunter is mended by the Curupira using wax to replace his flesh, but the warning not to eat hot foods thereafter goes unheeded by the hunter, who melts away due to the heat intake.
History
The oldest mention of his name is by the Jesuit José de Anchieta, in São Vicente, on 30 May 1560:Other early mentions were made by Jesuit , and by the Dutchman Johannes de Laet
Acuña is mentioned as an earlier testimony, but he writes on the Mutayu tribe, reputed to have feet facing backwards, known to be a great craftsmen of stone axes, whom Acuña said were a subbranch of the Tupinambá. However, Sérgio Buarque de Holanda argued the "fabulous Mutayu" and the Curupira myth to be a product derived from the rainforest people's tactical practice of wearing shoes to throw enemies off their path.
Corruption to picaresque deity
Cardim records that Curupira is the devil the indigenous people revere and fear above all else, but do not craft any idols of them. De Laet's mentions it, and together with his collaborator Marcgravius wrote in Latin that the names for the Devil among the populace was "Anhanga, Jurupari, Curupari", of which the Curupira was called a, perhaps meaning "spirit of thoughts" as glossed by Father . But this Latin can also be construed as meaning the deity of “lies” and “deceptions” according to Gonçalves Dias. Cascudo does not appear to warm to that interpretation, and writes that Father João Daniel would have disagreed. João Daniel had described a deity that shouted out loud demanding offerings, and the populace got straightforwardly "beaten" for being derelict in their propitiation obligations.As the "god of thoughts", Curupira had been treated as a venerated part of the pantheon, but later got corrupted to a sort of "imp or buffoon" according to Daniel Garrison Brinton. Compare mythographer Hartley Burr Alexander who characterized Curupira as less Satan and more Pan-like.
Martius's characterization as "mischievous wood-sprite", which were taken to mean a "comical spirit" has been cited by other scholars, but they may have taken exception to this view. Martius's point that Curupira as less sinister than the Jurupari seems lost to them.
Also, there used to be compartmentalization of the different gods' duties where Anhanga protected large game, Caipora/Caapora small game, and the Mboitatá the grasses and shrubbery. But this divide broke down, and Curupira later came to be regarded as the unchallenged ruler over not just the forestry but all the wonders in it, according to the analysis of Cascudo.