Cangaço
Encyclopedia
Cangaço is the name given to a form of "social banditry" in the Northeast
of Brazil
in late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hardships, and in a form of reaction against the domination of the land owners and the government, many men and women decided to become nomadic bandits, roaming the hinterlands
seeking money, food and revenge.
"Cangaceiro" was a pejorative expression, meaning a person who could not adapt himself to the coastal lifestyle.
By this time in that region, there were two main groups of loosely organized armed outlaws: the jagunço
s, mercenaries who worked for whoever paid their price, usually land-owners who wanted to protect or expand their territorial limits and also deal with farm workers; and the cangaceiros, "social bandits", who had some level of support from the poorest population: the bandits sustained some beneficial behaviors such as acts of charity, buying of goods for higher prices and giving free parties ("bailes"), and the population provided shelter and information which helped them escape from police forces, known as volantes, sent by the government to stop them.
The most famous cangaceiro of them all, the one who is often associated with the whole history of the cangaço, was a man called Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, also known as "Lampião". He began when he was just a boy, amongst vendetta plots of the Pereira and Nogueira-Carvalho families. When his parents were killed because of these disputes, some of his brothers ran away, but Antônio, Livino, and Ezequiel followed Virgulino into the cangaço.
Seen as a mixture of hero and bandit, Lampião became one of the most representative icons of Brazil.
Wandering around Santa Brígida, in the state of Bahia
, he met Maria Alia da Silva (a.k.a. Maria de Déia), wife of shoemaker Zé de Nenê. Later she would be better known as Mrs. Lampião, Maria Bonita
.
Lampião was killed by the police in 1938, in a region between the state limits of Bahia and Alagoas
, when an informer, Pedro de Cândido gave away their location to the police. A massive offensive led to bloodshed, and the whole band was killed: Lampião, Maria Bonita, Luís Pedro, Caixa de Fósforo, Mergulhão, Cajarana, Differente, Enedina, Ângelo Roque and Elétrico.
s, weapons that the cangaceiros quickly learned to fear – but were always willing to steal for their own use.
They also used leather gloves with coins and other pieces of metal sewn onto them, almost like armour.
Because of the heat and the absence of water some cangaceiros -–especially Lampião
-– wore French perfume. They often stole it from rich people's houses, and used it in large quantities.
-like rifles were called "pára belo" (belo stopper). However, the name seems to be actually a derivation of the Latin expression Parabellum
, which means "prepare for war" and was used to refer to the then official sidearm used by the Brazilian governmental troops and by some of the law enforcement soldiers, the Luger pistol
, which was produced by the German arms maker DWM
.
They also made famous a thin, long, and very sharp knife called a "peixeira", a fish-cleaning knife, used mostly to torture or cut the throats of their victims.
The wasteland, an arid and scorching climate a mystical and feudal surrounding where the might and greed of a few dominated many for martyrized and famishing generations.
An outcry for justice abruptly broke the limits of reason, giving rise to a caste of nomad, strong, warring backwoodsmen; the Leather Men who for decades sustained the meaning of the word: FREEDOM. A ravishing period, yet obscure, in the records of the history of a Nation and its people, seen as an ephemeral episode, but which truyl goes much, much beyond...BRAZIL(Northeast - 1897/1940).
Synopsis of the first story - In the first story we introduce the twenty-one items which describe the life of a common Brazilian citizen by the name of Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, who, by the age of twenty-two, in 1920, became the famous "cangaceiro" known as "Lampião
". Presentation: Map and manuscript, epoch description, baptism/prophecy, childhood, northeastern games, the hunt to the "suçuarana", encounter with the "cangaceiros", faith healers, nickname, "the vaquejada" - (cattle round-up), the persecution to his family, first moving, separation from the family, second moving, mother's death, father's murder and revenge oath: poem written by Lampião (manuscript).
We will also describe the reasons and circumstances which led him to become an undisputed leader who commanded for many years an incredible and real crusade against the "coronéis", - (the landlords), in the most desolated and mystic region of Brazil, the northeast.
Action, suspense, adventure, mysticism, love, treason and death. The narration of the daily life of men and women shaped by the climate, the misery and above all the by the will to lead a free life, the Leather Men.
Northeast Region, Brazil
The Northeast Region of Brazil is composed of the following states: Maranhão, Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Paraíba, Pernambuco, Alagoas, Sergipe and Bahia, and it represents 18.26% of the Brazilian territory....
of Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in late 19th and early 20th centuries. This region of Brazil is known for its aridness and hardships, and in a form of reaction against the domination of the land owners and the government, many men and women decided to become nomadic bandits, roaming the hinterlands
Sertão
In Portuguese, the word sertão first referred to the vast hinterlands of Asia that Lusitanian explorers encountered. In Brazil, the geographical term referred to backlands away from the Atlantic coastal regions where the Portuguese first settled in South America in the early sixteenth century...
seeking money, food and revenge.
Origin of the word
By 1834, the term cangaceiro was already used to refer to bands of poor peasants who inhabited the northeastern deserts, wearing leather clothing and hats, carrying carbines, revolvers, shotguns, and long narrow knives known as peixeiras."Cangaceiro" was a pejorative expression, meaning a person who could not adapt himself to the coastal lifestyle.
By this time in that region, there were two main groups of loosely organized armed outlaws: the jagunço
Jagunço
Jagunço, from the Portuguese zarguncho was the name applied to armed hands or bodyguards, usually hired by farmers and "colonels" in the backlands of the Northeast of Brazil...
s, mercenaries who worked for whoever paid their price, usually land-owners who wanted to protect or expand their territorial limits and also deal with farm workers; and the cangaceiros, "social bandits", who had some level of support from the poorest population: the bandits sustained some beneficial behaviors such as acts of charity, buying of goods for higher prices and giving free parties ("bailes"), and the population provided shelter and information which helped them escape from police forces, known as volantes, sent by the government to stop them.
Lampião
Seen as a mixture of hero and bandit, Lampião became one of the most representative icons of Brazil.
Wandering around Santa Brígida, in the state of Bahia
Bahia
Bahia is one of the 26 states of Brazil, and is located in the northeastern part of the country on the Atlantic coast. It is the fourth most populous Brazilian state after São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, and the fifth-largest in size...
, he met Maria Alia da Silva (a.k.a. Maria de Déia), wife of shoemaker Zé de Nenê. Later she would be better known as Mrs. Lampião, Maria Bonita
Maria Bonita
Maria Bonita is a romance novel, one of a trilogy, based on the story of Maria, the wife of João Lopes da Costa Pinho. João Lopes da Costa Pinho emigrated to Brazil from Vila Nova de Gaia in Portugal. Some say he arrived barefoot but he went on to be immensely wealthy, owning some 32 cattle and...
.
Lampião was killed by the police in 1938, in a region between the state limits of Bahia and Alagoas
Alagoas
Alagoas is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil and is situated in the eastern part of the Northeast Region. It borders: Pernambuco ; Sergipe ; Bahia ; and the Atlantic Ocean . It occupies an area of 27,767 km², being slightly larger than Haiti...
, when an informer, Pedro de Cândido gave away their location to the police. A massive offensive led to bloodshed, and the whole band was killed: Lampião, Maria Bonita, Luís Pedro, Caixa de Fósforo, Mergulhão, Cajarana, Differente, Enedina, Ângelo Roque and Elétrico.
Coiteiros
Coiteiros were people who helped the cangaceiros, giving them shelter and food. They did this for many reasons – they could be relatives of a cangaceiro, friends, ex-neighbours, or simply had some interest in their power, or they were afraid of them.Volantes and monkeys
The volantes were small and special band of troops – around 20 to 60 – from every state of the Brazilian federation, formed by the government Law Enforcement agencies sent to seek and destroy the cangaceiros. The cangaceiros often referred to them as "monkeys", because of their brown uniforms and their willingness to obey their orders. Some of them carried modern (back then) Hotchkiss machine gunHotchkiss machine gun
Hotchkiss machine gun:*Hotchkiss M1909, light machine gun also known as the "Hotchkiss Mark I" in British service*Hotchkiss M1914, medium machine gun*Hotchkiss M1922, light machine gun*13.2 mm Hotchkiss machine gun, heavy machine gun...
s, weapons that the cangaceiros quickly learned to fear – but were always willing to steal for their own use.
Cangaceiro style
The cangaceiros had very specific notions of how to behave and dress. First of all, most of them knew how to sew quite well. Living in the desert lands of the northeast of Brazil, they had to survive amidst spiky dry bushes. Despite the heat during the day, the cangaceiros preferred to wear leather clothing, embellished with all kinds of coloured ribbons and metal pieces.They also used leather gloves with coins and other pieces of metal sewn onto them, almost like armour.
Because of the heat and the absence of water some cangaceiros -–especially Lampião
Lampião
"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known as Lampião , was the most famous leader of a Cangaço band, marauders and outlaws who terrorized the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s.-Biography:...
-– wore French perfume. They often stole it from rich people's houses, and used it in large quantities.
Cangaceiro weapons
The weapons of the Cangaceiros were mostly revolvers, shotguns, and the famous "pára belo". It is claimed that like 'macaco' (monkey), 'belo' (beautiful) was another slang term for the policemen. Hence, pistols and WinchesterWinchester rifle
In common usage, Winchester rifle usually means any of the lever-action rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company, though the company has also manufactured many rifles of other action types...
-like rifles were called "pára belo" (belo stopper). However, the name seems to be actually a derivation of the Latin expression Parabellum
Parabellum
The word Parabellum is a noun coined by German arms maker Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken and is derived from the Latin saying si vis pacem, para bellum, meaning If you wish for peace, prepare for war...
, which means "prepare for war" and was used to refer to the then official sidearm used by the Brazilian governmental troops and by some of the law enforcement soldiers, the Luger pistol
Luger pistol
The Pistole Parabellum 1908 or Parabellum-Pistole , popularly known as the Luger, is a toggle-locked recoil-operated semi-automatic pistol. The design was patented by Georg J...
, which was produced by the German arms maker DWM
Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken
Deutsche Waffen- und Munitionsfabriken Aktien-Gesellschaft , known as DWM, was an arms company in Imperial Germany created in 1896 when Ludwig Loewe & Company united its weapons and ammunition production facilities within one company...
.
They also made famous a thin, long, and very sharp knife called a "peixeira", a fish-cleaning knife, used mostly to torture or cut the throats of their victims.
Famous cangaceiros
- Adolfo Meia-Noite
- Antônio Silvino
- Cabeleira
- CoriscoCoriscoCorisco, or Mandj, is a small island of Equatorial Guinea, located 29 km southwest of the Rio Muni estuary that defines the border with Gabon...
- Diogo da Rocha Figueira aka "Dioguinho" (in São Paulo)
- Jesuíno Brilhante
- LampiãoLampião"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known as Lampião , was the most famous leader of a Cangaço band, marauders and outlaws who terrorized the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s.-Biography:...
- Lucas da Feira
- Sinhô Pereira
The Cangaço in film
- O Cangaceiro, Lima Barreto 1953 (original score by Riz OrtolaniRiz OrtolaniRiziero "Riz" Ortolani is an Italian film composer.In the early 1950s Ortolani was founder and member of a jazz band of national Italian renown...
) - A Morte Comanda o CangaçoA Morte Comanda o CangaçoA Morte Comanda o Cangaço is a 1961 Brazilian action film directed by Carlos Coimbra and Walter Guimares Motta. It was entered into the 11th Berlin International Film Festival...
, Walter Guimarães Motta 1961 - Deus e o Diabo na Terra do SolDeus e o Diabo na Terra do SolBlack God, White Devil is a 1964 Brazilian film directed and written by Glauber Rocha. The film stars Othon Bastos, Maurício do Valle, Yoná Magalhães, and Geraldo Del Rey. It belongs to the Cinema Novo movement, addressing the socio-political problems of 1960s Brazil...
, English title: "White God, Black Devil" Glauber Rocha 1963 - O Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo GuerreiroO Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo GuerreiroO Dragão da Maldade Contra o Santo Guerreiro is a 1969 Brazilian film directed by Glauber Rocha. This sequel to Black God, White Devil stars Othon Bastos, Odete Lara and Hugo Carvana...
, Glauber Rocha 1968 - Baile Perfumado, Paulo Caldas and Lírio Ferreira 1997
Cangaceiros Comics
Cangaceiros - Leather Men #1 - (Cangaceiros - Homens de Couro #1) - CLUQ-2004 - Brazil - written by Wilson Vieira - designed by Eugenio Colonnese - cover by Mozart Couto.The wasteland, an arid and scorching climate a mystical and feudal surrounding where the might and greed of a few dominated many for martyrized and famishing generations.
An outcry for justice abruptly broke the limits of reason, giving rise to a caste of nomad, strong, warring backwoodsmen; the Leather Men who for decades sustained the meaning of the word: FREEDOM. A ravishing period, yet obscure, in the records of the history of a Nation and its people, seen as an ephemeral episode, but which truyl goes much, much beyond...BRAZIL(Northeast - 1897/1940).
Synopsis of the first story - In the first story we introduce the twenty-one items which describe the life of a common Brazilian citizen by the name of Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, who, by the age of twenty-two, in 1920, became the famous "cangaceiro" known as "Lampião
Lampião
"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva, better known as Lampião , was the most famous leader of a Cangaço band, marauders and outlaws who terrorized the Brazilian Northeast in the 1920s and 1930s.-Biography:...
". Presentation: Map and manuscript, epoch description, baptism/prophecy, childhood, northeastern games, the hunt to the "suçuarana", encounter with the "cangaceiros", faith healers, nickname, "the vaquejada" - (cattle round-up), the persecution to his family, first moving, separation from the family, second moving, mother's death, father's murder and revenge oath: poem written by Lampião (manuscript).
We will also describe the reasons and circumstances which led him to become an undisputed leader who commanded for many years an incredible and real crusade against the "coronéis", - (the landlords), in the most desolated and mystic region of Brazil, the northeast.
Action, suspense, adventure, mysticism, love, treason and death. The narration of the daily life of men and women shaped by the climate, the misery and above all the by the will to lead a free life, the Leather Men.