Folklore Series – Matinta Perera

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

Hello, everyone! How are you all doing? Well, I hope! As promised, I’m back with another folklore post! I hope you’ll enjoy this one! Without further ado, let us jump right in, shall we?

Name: Matinta Perera

Origin: Unknown

Appearance: See picture above

About her: Matinta Perera is a character in the Brazilian folklore, more precisely in the Northern region of the country. She’s an old witch who, at night, transforms into a bad omen bird (suindara or rasga-mortalha – tears-the-shroud, a name given to the bird because it’s sound mimicks fabric being ripped apart. It’s said the bird carries a death omen.) . She then rests on the walls and roofs of houses and starts singing until someone in the house, annoyed by the unpleasant song (it sounds like a shrill whistle), promises her something to stop, usually tobacco, but it can be coffee, cachaça (alcoholic beverage made out of sugar cane), or fish. This will make her stop and fly away, to come back the next day, in her human form, to ask for what was promised. In case the promise is not kept, something bad will befall the family.

The actual origin of the legend is unknown, as is the origin of Matinta Perera. Many say she’s a sorceress who uses magic to change into the bird. Others used to say it’s an hereditary curse, passing down from mother to daughter and so on. In case there was no daughter to inherit the curse, the woman who carries it would hide in the woods and wait for any woman to walk by. She’d then ask “who wants it?”, and, if the woman answers “I do!” she would then start carrying the curse and turn into the bird that same night.

Well, that’s it for today! If you have any questions about Matinta Perera, I’ll do my best to answer them!

See you on the next!

Writing Prompt May 04, 2022

Hello, everyone! Hope you’re all doing well!

While I’m working on the next Folklore post (plannin on having it out on Saturday, tops), I thought I’d share a little writing prompt that came to mind. I should probably write something for it as well, but… well, maybe I will, some day.

Without further ado, here goes nothing:

Your mom was one of those controlling mothers. She warned you all the time to never leave the house, as there were monsters outside. One day, you got sick of her nonsense, pushed her out of the way and left the house anyway. Turns out she wasn’t lying.

If you write a post based on this prompt, I’d love to read it! Take care, and see you soon!

Folklore series – Anhangá

Hello, everyone! How are you all doing? Well, I hope! I’ll start off with an apology for the long time between posts! The reasons for that are still the fact that I’m moving – I’ll be staying with my parents until we decide what to do about my living situation – on a more permanent basis, work has been pretty busy, and I’ve been doing some blogging in Portuguese as well, so let’s say I’m sort of stretched thin. I’ll try to do better, though!

Apologies and excuses aside, we’re here to talk about folklore, right? So let’s get started with it!

I’ll start off by saying I don’t really have a picture for this one, as I haven’t found a copyright-free one, but this one is pretty easy to have a mental image for, so I don’t think it’ll be a big problem!

Name: Anhangá

Origin: Tupi, Ahiag̃ (spirit)

Appearance: Since the Anhangá is a spirit, it doesn’t have a set corporeal form, but it often takes the form of a large white deer with red eyes.

About him: The Anhangá is the deity associated with the underground/hell, and enemy of Tupã (the indigenous version of God). He’s a wandering spirit, being able to take whatever form he chooses. He is another of the wildlife protectors, but associated with evil in the native cultures. Seeing him is a bad omen, and it means something bad is about to happen.

Despite the evil conotations, the Anhangá is said to protect animals from hunting, especially females with their offspring. He usually does it by presenting as more attractive game to distract the hunter so the other animal(s) can escape. Like the Curupira, he’s also been known to lead hunters into getting lost in the woods he’s protecting.

If one wanted to be safe, they could: offer an alcoholic beverage or tobacco, asking for his protection. They could also burn cashews, or keep him at bay by carrying a cross made with wood from the forest they were about to enter. Of course, all of that only worked if the hunter behaved…

I guess that’s it. You’ll probably be seeing a common theme for some of the creatures we approach – namely, protecting the forest from predatory hunting. We must keep in mind that most of those legends came from a time when Brazil was being invaded by european settlers, who were hunting everything in sight. With this historical context in mind, it makes sense.

Oh, and if anyone here hunts, if you happen to come across a beautiful white deer with red eyes… maybe leave it alone and go home? Just a piece of friendly advice!

See you on the next!

Folklore series – Curupira

The Curupira – Image Source

Hello, darlings! How are you all doing? Well, I hope! I’m getting better, and doing my best to get back on the saddle when it comes to blogging! And, to kick things off, I’ve decided to start us of on the folklore series!

Without further ado, let’s jump in!

Name: Curupira.

Origin: Tupi-guarani (indigenous tribe). Curupira comes from “curu”, a shortening of “curumim”, boy or child, and “pira”, body, meaning he has a child’s body.

Appearance: Look at the image on top.

About him: Curupira is a protector of the forest and nature. When he is not riding a wild boar, he walks on foot. His feet are turned the opposite way, so he can mislead people who hunt for sport or harm the forest in any way, such as cutting too many trees instead of only what they need to build their own shelter. He deceives them by running away from the forest while his tracks seem to be going deeper inside, leading the offender to end up lost in the forest. This legend was cited for the first time in 1560 (yup, very old!) by the Portuguese Jesuist priest José de Anchieta (note: I can delve into Brazilian History later on if there is interest!), as a “demon from the forest” who tortures and kills those who walk into the woods with evil intent. It’s customary for people to come into the forest with small gifts to appease the curupira, such as tobacco or cachaça (an alcoholic beverage made out of sugar cane, very popular here in Brazil). It is also said that the curupira kidnaps children to play with him and keeps them until they become too old to be interesting playmates, when he releases them back to their homes.

Well, I guess that’s all we have for today! There is a lot more where that came from, and I’ll do my best to post the next one up soon! If you have any questions, I’ll be more than happy to answer them!

See you on the next!

Brazilian Folklore Series

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Hello, darlings! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m doing well enough, though life’s still a bit rough. Moving is well, moving slowly, and I’m still figuring out what will be done of my apartment. Things will eventually fall into place, I’m sure.

But this is not what I’m here for! I’m here to talk about the new series I have been promising for a while, the Brazilian Folklore Series.

Brazil, as most nations, has a very rich and varied folklore. Our country was inhabited by the Natives (Índios, as they are called here – it is not an offensive term in Portuguese), colonized by white Portuguese people, and those brought in enslaved people from various parts of Africa, with various languages, traditions and religions. Those three were the foundations of the Brazilian people, and their legends and beliefs are what forms our folklore.

I will be bringing up a lot of information and legends, and, whenever the origin of said legend is known, I will list it on the post.

I’m really looking forward to getting it started! Feel free to ask any questions you have, and I’ll answer them in the comments or as a post if it’s a really long answer!

See you on the next!

Small update, March 06, 2022

My old dice and miniatures

Hey, everyone, hope you’re all doing well! Just dropping by to preemptively explain some possible delays on the next posts, as I’m going through a move!

While I don’t come back, I must also very proudly state that my ten year old niece found my old D&D materials in my old bedroom and took possession of it all with my blessing.

We have a new generation of roleplayers in this family.

See you soon, I’m sure!

Just a random picture for Feb 26, 2022

I don’t own this picture. Source.

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m doing well enough, slowly getting better from the plague. I’m also working on researching for my upcoming Brazilian folklore series.

In order to not leave you without anything for too long, though, I thought I’d drop a little random picture for today. If you use it for writing inspiration, I’d love to be tagged so I can read your post!

Without further ado, I’ll love you and leave you for now.

See you on the next!

It’s been a while… life update February 2022 + Dog picture for no reason

This is Leo when he knows you have food

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m… alive, which is sometimes all you can aspire to.

My mental health has been shaky at best. My brother or SIL did me the favor of giving me COVID – they came over knowing they both had been exposed and took no precautions at all, fun times. And I’m just burned out at work, with pretty much everything being piled up on me unless one of my coworkers gets bored and decides to get some work done.

I still want to keep the blog, though. It’s something to focus on, it’s a source of joy and I love to connect with my fellow bloggers. I’ve been considering keeping up with the random pictures, and also doing a series here and there. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a series talking about Brazilian folklore and maybe other cultural traits, such as food and habits. I’ll see how that goes.

Oh, and to make things a bit less grim, I have posted a picture of my brother’s pup, Leo, for you all to see. He spent a few weeks here and he’s adorable. I definitely like him better than I like my brother. I may or may note be kidding.

Until then, what have you all been up to?

See you on the next!

A certain dose of healthy neglect

Hello, my pretties! How are you all doing? Well, I hope!

I’m doing alright. Still getting used to the new job realities, but slowly relaxing and making some plans to move forward with life and make things a bit better. You know, the usual stuff.

I debated posting a random picture today, but it felt a bit lazy, and I wanted to approach this theme today, so here we are. We’re going to talk about “healthy neglect” today.

What do I mean by healthy neglect? No, I don’t mean actual neglect. I mean the opposite of being a helicopter parent, that’s all. As a child born in the 80s, I was subjected to that healthy dose of neglect. My mother had a nanny for us until I was 10 and my brother was 12. Once we reached that age and our nanny moved back to her hometown, we became latchkey kids. We’d wake up on our own, take a shower, get ready for school, etc, and then go have breakfast either mom or dad had made while we got dressed. One of our parents would drop us off at school before taking the bus to work. Then, we’d leave school and go home. A friendly neighbor would heat our lunch for us up until a certain age, and then we’d take care of ourselves and each other – we’d have lunch, do homework, do whatever chores we had to do that day, and then go outside and play with other children until our mom came home at around 5 pm. We’d go home around this time and help mom with dinner or just stay out of the way, depending on what she was doing. Then once dad came home at around 8 pm, we’d sit down for dinner, prepare our backpack and uniform (our school had one) for the next day and then go to bed. Rinse and repeat the next day.

Other than if one of us were sick, we didn’t call our parents for anything, as we knew they’d be home at the usual time. We survived that. The fact that we lived a ten-minute walk from our grandparents helped too, though we rarely if ever needed help from them. We still knew their number by heart, just in case (I can still recite it today).

All in all, though, most of the time, we were responsible for each other. I was thinking about how different things are today, seeing my niece who is the age I was when I started having the key to home, and her mother still has to sit by her side and make sure she’s eating, sometimes spoon-feeding her. She’s got a stay at home mom, so maybe it’s a different thing, but still… I don’t really know. I see so many kids who would be old enough to know better behave in some really odd ways – breaking things, bothering the neighbors, things of the sort – when unsupervised, I can’t really explain or understand.

Has the pendulum moved too far in the opposite direction? If so, why? Do you have an opinion on that? If you do, and especially if you have children, I’d love to hear your opinion!

See you on the next!

More changes at work… yay

Hey, everyone, how are you all?

I’m alive and not too bad, all things considered!

It’s been a while, I know. I’m still here, just trying to reorganize my life and all that fun stuff.

And because why not, I’m having yet more changes at work. Changes that mean a bit of extra coin, but also less work-life balance. And I’m not sure how I feel about that.

I’m tired, to be honest. Really tired. But on the other hand, I can’t afford – financially, physically, and mental health wise – to stop working. I guess I’ll have to make lemonade out of those lemons and save up while I figure out what to do next? I guess that’s all I can do now.

As for this space here, I’ll probably spend more time posting short updates and random pics, but I’m not going anywhere.

I think that’s it for today… if you have any suggestions or ideas, or just want to tell me to stop whining, the comments are open!

See you on the next!