
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!