Curupira

For this week's episode, we're heading over to beautiful Brazil to look at a protector of the forest, the Curupira! How does this monster use its backwards feet to trick hunters? Why can São Paulo go a whole week without passing a government bill because of them? Find out this week!

Transcript

INTRO:
Hello and welcome to Myth Monsters, my name is Erin and I’ll be your host for these little snack bite size podcasts on folklore and mythical monsters from around the world. 

These podcasts focus on the actual cryptids, folklore and mythic monsters from global mythology, rather than focusing on full stories of heroes and their big adventures.

I’ll also be dropping in some references that they have to recent culture and where you can see these represented in modern day content so you can learn more, and get as obsessed as I am about these absolute legends of the mythological world.

I had the amazing opportunity to go on BBC Radio 2 this week and I had such a blast talking about our beloved Nessie - if you missed it, I’ve posted a clip and a link on my social media. If you’re new and came here from the show, welcome to our little monster hideaway, you’re joining us for a really cool monster this week!

DESCRIPTION:

For this week's monster, we’re heading into the wild forests of beautiful Brazil for a mischievous little nature spirit, the Curupira.

The Curupira are typically described as a short, dark or green skinned man, with wild fiery orange or red hair. They sometimes have glowing red eyes, and wear leafy or bark-covered clothing. They are also sometimes depicted as having sharp teeth and pointed ears, but they are nonetheless humanoid in nature. 

The most recognisable feature of the Curupira however, is their feet, which are backwards, as are their knees meaning their whole lower leg is facing the opposite way. They famously do not wear shoes to allow their feet to scare visitors, but also to leave deceptive footprints for travellers looking to find their way out, but the footprints lead them deeper into the forest in order to kill or eat them, they liked hearts in particular.

In some regions there are different beliefs on their appearance, such as that they have no hair, have super hairy bodies, one eye and no anus - hence a stocky build, but these are all up for argument. You can often find Curupira on the back of a large hog, peccary, deer or rabbit in some stories, as they befriend all animals in the forest but use the hogs most commonly to defend against intruders with ferocity if needed.

The Curupira are considered nature spirits, but also wild men or guardians of the forest. However, there’s no report that they are physically intangible or that they act like spirits in any way. 

The Curupira’s main mission in life is to be a nuisance for those in their forests who intend to do it harm, mostly from the risk of overcutting or over poaching. They punish humans who harvest too much by making them lose their way in the thick Amazonian forest, meaning that they will often die of exposure, falling, drowning or being eaten by a large animal. They do this mostly with their feet, making the person get lost by following the Curupira when they’re trying to find their way out by following the backwards footsteps. 

They also have a few powers, they have the connection to all wildlife in the forest and can ask for assistance from the animals at any point. However, they also have the power to stun people with a massively loud whistle, which leaves them dizzy, headache-y and sluggish. This is meant to mimic a famous Brazilian bird, the Tinamou bird, which looks similar to guinea fowl if that helps visualise them. 

However, they could also mimic human voices to lure people into their traps, as well as having an enchanting voice to some, with a song with the lyrics “I'm walking along my path, behind me come walking, walking”. They were also incredibly strong, enough to be able to carry a grown man, but you’d most likely pass out if around them because they smell so revolting.

They could also make you have intense bad thoughts and nightmares, and could make you believe that your travelling party was against you, or that you were being deceived. He’d do all of this whilst finding it particularly hilarious by the way - they are known for being tricksters, rather than being deadly, but I’d understand if you felt that this was a bit much. 

You could appease them however, the Curupira are very fond of tobacco, sugarcane, cassava and liquor, and it’s said that any hunters or loggers that wish to be undisturbed by the Curupira bring these with them as a gift. But the Curupira, although humans have only seen male ones, have to hide these bad habits from their wives, which is why these gifts are such a treat. 

The Curupira were family monsters, and would often have wives and children. They would all live together in a dead tree hollow whilst the male went out to trick travellers, the females would stay and look after the home and kids. However, there were more malicious stories of female Curupira, that they would join their family in tricking travellers or would trespass on fields to steal cassava from humans. It was said that the females could either be semi-attractive with long luscious hair, or they could be hideous, ugly beings. Their youngest children are considered another mythical beast, the Saci.

The Saci, I will cover in another episode, but here’s a quick summary - they are one-legged, dark skinned tricksters who appear and reappear within dust devils - so you can see where they get it from. 

Can you kill a Curupira? Not that we know of, but they can die of natural causes, which is great I guess. They were also known for reviving themselves, so don’t rely on that?

However, if you’re just trying to get away, you could appease them with all those gifts or fend them off. You could make a cross or wheel out of liana vine or palm leaf from the forest and throw this at them, which forces them to grab it and unravel it, to give you a chance at getting away. 

ORIGIN:

Onto etymology, the word Curupira is from the Tupi-Guarani language, which comes not only from Brazil, but also Guyana and Paraguay, and means covered in wounds and blisters or rough and pimply skin. Interestingly nothing to do with their backwards feet, and them having rough or pimply skin is not massively defined in their description, which is quite odd. 

As well as Brazil, Guyana and Paraguay, this mythical monster is also present in Venezuela and Peru - so is found through a lot of countries within the South American continent - just as a note going forward, but it is most famously a Brazilian monster.

This is also a monster from the Amazon, meaning because of tribal culture, we’re not going to have an exact date of when this monster first came into being, which is common for a lot of our monsters. However, the first ever mention of the Curupira was in 1560 when a missionary, Jose de Anchieta wrote about his experience with one. I’ve got the extract here;

It's a well-known thing and it's rumored by everyone that there are certain demons, which the Brazilians call corupira, that often attack Indians in the bush, wound them with the whip, tormenting and killing them. Our Brothers are witnesses of this, having seen [the dead] killed by them. Therefore, the Indians [in order to appease the demons] traverse the path through the sertão hinterlands, full of rough woodland and steep hills, to reach the highest mountain, leaving bird feathers, fans, arrows and such things [as a kind of oblation], begging [the demons] to do them no harm.

This was followed by a couple more missionaries and traders within the 15 and 1600’s, including in 1640 by the director of the Dutch West India Company, one of the biggest trading companies in history. In 1641, it was claimed that the Mutayu tribe of Brazil had backwards facing feet like this monster, but were just a normal local tribe. This same tribe though was famous for wearing shoes when they could find them to redirect enemies away from their path, which might have created the myth of the monster altogether - but we’re not massively sure on this. 

There have been arguments amongst scholars that the Curupira was treated as either a member of a pantheon of Gods for tribespeople back in the day, or even as a devil figure for them. However, this has been debunked in later studies because of just a cultural change through the centuries, and whilst the Curupira could have once been considered a Pan-like deity, they’re more of that mischievous trickster spirit that does definitely rule the roost of their forests. 

I do have two fun stories of the Curupira though, one in which a Curupira kills a native hunter and brings back the heart to the man’s wife and child to eat. The wife, devastated of course, realises and escapes into the night with the child to escape the Curupira. With the help of a frog and some immensely sticky saliva, they climb a tree and when the Curupira attempts to follow, he gets stuck and eventually dies.

The other is of a hunter who is trapped by a Curupira and asked to give over his heart, but the hunter gives him a monkey heart instead and persuades the Curupira to give over his own, which he does and immediately dies, obviously. The hunter then goes to retrieve the teeth of the Curupira and finds it has been revived and gives him a magic bow, but swears him to secrecy. 

In one version of this, his wife manages to get it out of him and he dies and in another version, he uses it to hunt birds, which breaks the unspoken taboo of not using it to kill animals and again, he dies. However, the Curupira comes back and mends the hunter with wax to replace his flesh, and warns the hunter not to eat hot food. Of course, he ignores this again and melts away during dinner one night - all fun!

Now of course, these types of monsters are created within folklore to scare people away from doing the thing that the monster is protecting, and protecting the forest is very common throughout Amazonian folklore. However, it’s also really common in other mythologies, such as the Leshy in Russian folklore, the king of the forest who eats you alive if you damage it. 

Or there’s the Kapre from Filipino mythology, who guard the mango trees, smoking their massive cigars to ward off hunters and loggers. Both of these have their own episodes if you want to learn more about them separately, by the way.

There are two others from this part of the world, the Pokái from Guyana, who are long-haired urchins who have backward turned feet, and use the heel of it to hit the drums. The Chullachaqui from Peru who have one leg shorter than the other and one foot larger than the other to trick victims into their caves to eat them.

In reality, you can still see the Curupira celebrated in Sao Paulo, as in 1970 it was decreed that the Curupira is their state symbol as guardian of the forest and animals. They have a huge statue of the Curupira in the state capital and during a whole week in August, the government signs no official documents as the Curupira is the only protector during Folklore week to celebrate the power in this ancient spirit. How cool is that?

CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE: 

Now moving onto modern media from modern life, there’s not a lot for this one this week, so I’ve peppered in some of the few bits for the Curupira, but there’s also a bunch of Brazilian mythology bits and some nature spirit bits in here too.

For art, I struggled to find any portrait or historical art for this week’s fixture, however, have a look at all of the amazing independent art for this one because it’s all fantastic and brilliant to see how wide the variations are for this monster.

In movies, we have; The Red Scroll, Avatar, Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, Wendy, Epic, My Neighbour Totoro, Princess Mononoke, The Ugly Duckling, Harry Potter, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, Frozen 2, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, The Hollow Child, Fantasia 2000, The Secret of Kells, FernGully: The Last Rainforest & Mavka: The Forest Song.

For TV, we have; One Piece, Beastmaster, Alem Da Lenda, Castelo Rá-Tim-Bum, Elena of Avalor, Invisible City, Catalendas, Juro Que Vi, Charmed, Once Upon A Time, Power Rangers, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Hilda, Barbie Presents Thumbelina & Harvey Beaks.

In video games, we have ones such as; Wylde Flowers, Street Fighter, Aritana and the Harpy's Feather, Devil Children, The Last Nightmary: A lenda do Cabeça-de-Cuia, Legend Quest, Baldur’s Gate, Guild Wars, The Legend of Zelda, Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, The Witcher, Thief, World of Mana, Touhou Project, Story of Seasons, Quest for Glory, Total War: Warhammer, World of Warcraft, Pokemon, League of Legends, Neverwinter Nights, Warcraft, Terraria, Samurai Shodown, Temtem, Harvest Moon, Kid Icarus, Lusternia, Dragon Quest, Gigantic, Asura’s Wrath & Final Fantasy.

My book recommendation this week is for Brazilian Folktales by Livia Maria M De Almeida or Legends of Brazil: Spirits, Monsters, and Guardians: Introduction to Brazilian Folklore by M. Kraemer for some authentic Brazilian folklore stories.

For our younger listeners, have a look at The Big Book of Brazilian Folklore Stories and Legends by Luanna Jales for some amazing kid friendly stories about this part of the world’s mythology.

DO I THINK THEY EXISTED? 

Now it’s time for, do I think they existed?

I don’t, no - but I do believe that they are a really important folklore figure based on the idea that they were a deterrent to damage the forest in any way, out of risk of being hunted by them.

Do I think a ginger man with backwards feet riding a wild boar is going to come and actually get me if I litter in the rainforest? No, but would I really hesitate if told that it would - yeah probably, although I’d like to stress that I would not litter in the rainforest anyway, just as a clear point there.

I think to be honest, the threat of anacondas, tarantulas and wild boar on their own might persuade me to stay away - but poachers and hunters maybe need a bit more than usual animals as a threat, so long may this one dissuade those nasty types. However, I’m not massively for hearts being eaten or being convinced to give away - so I might keep clear of this one myself.

I first heard of this monster through a game called Wylde Flowers, which I really recommend to any of my farming game fans - there’s a Curupira called Aryel who helps you with the animals on your farm and he’s very mischievous and fun. It’s also made by a fab indie studio, so go play it!

But what do you think? Did the Curupira roam the Brazilian rainforests looking for humans to prank? Let me know on social media!

OUTRO: 

I’ve wanted to cover this monster for a while, it was originally in my lineup for 2024 before I had to call a hiatus, so I’m glad we’ve finally got it on the roster. I wish I could walk backwards whilst looking at the person I was previously speaking to without looking stupid - so I think this monster is pretty neat.

Next week, we’re heading over to the outback for an Australian cryptid, and at the point of writing, I’m not too sure whether there will be enough information for a full episode, but I’ll guess I’ll find out! So hunting through New South Wales with me next week for the Blue Mountains Panther!

For now, thank you so much for listening, it’s been an absolute pleasure. If you enjoyed this podcast, please give it a rating on the service you’re listening on - I’ve got loads of social media for any questions, or suggestions on what monsters to cover next and I’d love to hear from you. The social media handles for Tiktok, YouTube and Instagram are mythmonsterspodcast, and twitter is mythmonsterspod and I’m now also on BlueSky under mythmonsters. But all of our content can be found at mythmonsters.co.uk, and you can also find us on Goodpods, Buymeacoffee and Patreon if you want to help me fund the podcast too.

Come join the fun though and share this with your pals, they might love me as much as you do.

But for now, stay spooky and I’ll see you later babes.