Case file · Folklore / legend
Curupira
A forest guardian of Tupi-Guarani tradition with backward-facing feet, who punishes hunters and loggers who take too much.
1560 CE · -23.97, -46.39 · status: legend
The account
The Jesuit José de Anchieta first mentioned it on 30 May 1560 in São Vicente, writing that Indigenous people feared these 'demons' in the bush. The image later merged with the red-haired caipora.
The sceptical view
A spirit of belief and environmental ethics, now a symbol of forest protection in Brazil.
Connections in the atlas
- Saci
- Curupira
- The Caypór masquerade at Ega
- The Chullachaqui of the Peruvian forest
- Bates and the noises of the Curupira
- El Silbón
- Mapinguari
- Boitatá in Anchieta's letter