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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 ''Curupira'' notably has feet pointing backwards allowing it to leave a backward trail of footprints, and by this confusion and other supernatural means causes the traveler to lose his way. It is often said to look like a short-statured or ''caboclo'' (civilized ''indigene'' or one of mixed race), but also said to be a bald but otherwise shaggy man (though the women have flowing hair). 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 t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caipora
Caipora () or Caapora (Kaapora) is a forest spirit or humanoid and guardian of wildlife or game in Brazilian folklore. The word "Caipora" comes from Tupi and means "inhabitant of the forest", and perhaps may be traced to Kaagere (also meaning "forest dweller", and an alias of '' anhanga'') of the Tupi- Guaraní mythology, but this is far from definite. Caipora is variously represented as a dark-skinned, small Native American girl ('' caboclinha'') or boy (), a dwarf or large-sized hairy humanoid or beast. It is often said to ride an animal such as the peccary, and armed with a stick or whip made of certain plants. It takes bribes of tobacco and alcohol, and sometimes also has a pipe. Its description varies greatly depending on the region or source. It is sometimes confused with Curupira, which is another mythological creature who protects the forest, but it is also amenable to comparison with other mythical creatures ( Saci, Pé de garrafa) with which it may share certai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saci (Brazilian Folklore)
Saci ( ) is a character in Brazilian folklore. He is a one-legged Black Brazilian, black man, who smokes a smoking pipe (tobacco), pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a dust devil, dirt devil). Considered an annoying trickster, prankster in most parts of Brazil, and a potentially dangerous and malicious creature in others, he nevertheless grants wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap. Legend says that a person can trap a Saci inside a bottle when he is in the form of a dust devil (see Fig. right where he is portrayed in the center of the whirlwind). The Saci legend is seen as a combination of native Tupi lore with African-Brazilian and European myth or superstition combined into it. Also, much of the currently told folklore about the Saci is traceable to what write Monteiro Lobato collected and published in 1917–1918, and the children's book version he created and publis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wild Man
The wild man, wild man of the woods, woodwose or wodewose is a mythical figure and motif that appears in the art and literature of medieval Europe, comparable to the satyr or faun type in classical mythology and to ''Silvanus (mythology), Silvanus'', the Roman god of the woodlands. The defining characteristic of the figure is its "wildness"; from the 12th century, it was consistently depicted as being covered with hair. Images of wild men appear in the carved and painted roof bosses where intersecting ogee Vault (architecture), vaults meet in Canterbury Cathedral, in positions where one is also likely to encounter the vegetal Green Man. The image of the wild man survived to appear as supporter for Heraldry, heraldic Coat of arms, coats-of-arms, especially in Germany, well into the 16th century. Renaissance engravers in Germany and Italy were particularly fond of wild men, wild women, and wild families, with examples from Martin Schongauer (died 1491) and Albrecht Dürer (1471–15 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peccary
Peccaries (also javelinas or skunk pigs) are pig-like ungulates of the family Tayassuidae (New World pigs). They are found throughout Central and South America, Trinidad in the Caribbean, and in the southwestern area of North America. Peccaries usually measure between in length, and a full-grown adult usually weighs about . They represent the closest relatives of the family Suidae, which contains pigs and relatives. Together Tayassuidae and Suidae are grouped in the suborder Suina within the order Artiodactyla ( even-toed ungulates). Peccaries are social creatures that live in herds. They are omnivores and eat roots, grubs, and a variety of other foods. They can identify each other by their strong odors. A group of peccaries that travel and live together is called a squadron. A squadron of peccaries averages between six and nine members. Peccaries first appeared in North America during the Miocene and migrated into South America during the Pliocene–Pleistocene as part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vinasse
Vinasse is a byproduct of the sugar or ethanol industry. Sugarcane or sugar beet is processed to produce crystalline sugar, pulp and molasses. The latter are further processed by fermentation to ethanol, ascorbic acid or other products. Juice sugarcane can also be processed directly by ethanol fermentation. After the removal of the desired product (alcohol, ascorbic acid, etc.) the remaining material is called vinasse. Vinasse is sold after a partial dehydration and usually has a viscosity comparable to molasses. Commercially offered vinasse comes either from sugar cane and is called cane-vinasse or from sugar beet and is called beet-vinasse. Vinasse produced from sugar cane is also called dunder. In the process of distillation of the alcohol and as a result of the heating in the distillation process, in the pulp of the beet reactions of condensation and predominantly molecular ruptures take place. This causes a high fulvic acid concentration in this byproduct. One use of vinasse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Graça Aranha
José Pereira da Graça Aranha (June 21, 1868 – January 26, 1931) was a Brazilian writer and diplomat, considered to be a forerunner of the Modernism in Brazil. He was also one of the organizers of the Brazilian Modern Art Week of 1922. He founded and occupied the 38th chair of the Brazilian Academy of Letters from 1897 until his death in 1931. However, he would break all his relations with the Academy in 1924, accusing it of being "old-fashioned". Life Graça Aranha was born in São Luís, to a rich and cultured family, son of journalist Temístocles da Silva Maciel Aranha and Maria da Glória da Graça. He was a prodigy, having completed his secondary studies when 13 years old, and went to study Law in Recife. He graduated with honours in 1886 and travelled to the South to work. He became a judge in ''Porto do Cachoeiro'', a village in the backlands of the state of Espírito Santo. This experience was used by him in one of his best known novels, ''Canaã'', a great editori ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cachaça
''Cachaça'' () is a Liquor, distilled spirit made from fermented sugarcane juice. Also known as ''pinga'', ''caninha'', and other names, it is the most popular spirit in Brazil.Cavalcante, Messias Soares. Todos os nomes da cachaça. São Paulo: Sá Editora, 2011. 392p. Outside Brazil, cachaça is used almost exclusively as an ingredient in tropical drinks, with the ''caipirinha'' being the most famous and popular cocktail. In Brazil, caipirinha is often paired with the dish ''feijoada''. History Sugar production was mostly switched from the Madeira, Madeira islands to Brazil by the Portuguese in the 16th century. In Madeira, ''aguardente de cana'' is made by distilling fermented sugar cane juice into liquor, and the pot stills from Madeira were brought to Brazil to make what today is also called ''cachaça''. The process dates from 1532, when one of the Portuguese colonists brought the first cuttings of sugar cane to Brazil from Madeira. The name ''Cachaça'' is legall ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapuya
The Pira-tapuya, or variations like Pira-Tapuia, Piratapuyo, etc., or Tapuya () for short, are an indigenous people of the Amazon regions. They live along the Vaupés River in Colombia and in the state of Amazonas, Brazil. Languages The Pira-tapuya call themselves Waíkana. They speak the Piratapuyo language, one of the Eastern Tucanoan languages. Other ethnic groups in the region also speak Eastern Tucanoan languages apart from the Tariana people, who originally spoke an Arawakan language. The lingua franca of the region is the Tucano language, which has around 20,000 speakers. Locations The Pira-tapuya live along the banks of the Vaupés River and its tributaries such as the Tiquié, Papurí and Querari rivers. The Uaupés River rises in Colombia and flows for to the border with Brazil. For over it forms the border between Colombia and Brazil, then for flows through Brazil to the point where it joins the Rio Negro. The main settlements are the town of Mitú, capi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manioc
''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although a perennial plant, cassava is extensively cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions as an annual crop for its edible starchy tuberous root. Cassava is predominantly consumed in boiled form, but substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes. The Brazilian , and the related ''garri'' of West Africa, is an edible coarse flour obtained by grating cassava roots, pressing moisture off the obtained grated pulp, and finally drying it (and roasting in the case of both and ''garri''). Cassava is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in food in the tropics, after rice and maize, making it an important staple food, staple; more than 500 million pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unibrow
A unibrow (or jacco brow or monobrow; called synophrys in medicine) is a single eyebrow created when the two eyebrows meet in the middle above the bridge of the nose. The hair above the bridge of the nose is of the same color and thickness as the eyebrows, such that they converge to form one uninterrupted line of hair. History The word ''monobrow'' first appeared in print in 1968, and the adjectival form ''monobrowed'' followed in 1973, in Martin Amis' novel ''The Rachel Papers (novel), The Rachel Papers''. The first known use of the word ''unibrow'' was in 1981. Culture and beauty Some nations prize the unibrow. It is a sign of beauty among Baluchi Omanis, whose women sometimes draw a black line joining the brows as a part of their routine makeup to fake a unibrow. A study found the prevalence of synophrys to be at 11.87% in the Omani population. In Tajikistan, where the unibrow is similarly viewed as attractive, some women dry and extract an herb known locally as ''usma'' an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
