Muiraquitã
Encyclopedia
Muiraquitã is the name given to various types of old artefacts of Amazonian
Indian
origin, carved in stone (primarily jade
, nephrite
) or wood, and representing animals (especially frogs, but also others such as fish and turtles) or people. Muiraquitãs are often used as pendants, amulets, and in other decorative capacities.
In Brazilian folklore
, there are a number of legends associated with the muiraquitã, to which supernatural qualities are often attributed.
women to prevent disease and avoid infertility. Their popularity spread around the Lower Amazon Basin and through to the Caribbean, where Muiraquitãs from the Amazon state in Brazil were found. "They must have been an object of exchange among elites," says archaeologist Marcondes Lima da Costa, Federal University of Pará. Fashion reached Europe in the eighteenth century when these amulets were taken to the Old Continent. It was believed that they prevented epilepsy and kidney stones. Today they are rare pieces that reach high prices at auctions.
Retrieved from the bottom of the river and shaped by the women, the still soft clay hardened in contact with the elements. These objects were then strung on the strands of hair of their brides and used as amulets by their male warriors. To date, this amulet is considered a sacred object, believed to bring happiness and luck and also to cure almost all diseases. It is also found in Macunaíma, a well-known and internationally renowned literary work by Mario de Andrade
.
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
Indian
Indigenous peoples in Brazil
The Indigenous peoples in Brazil comprise a large number of distinct ethnic groups who inhabited the country prior to the European invasion around 1500...
origin, carved in stone (primarily jade
Jade
Jade is an ornamental stone.The term jade is applied to two different metamorphic rocks that are made up of different silicate minerals:...
, nephrite
Nephrite
Nephrite is a variety of the calcium and magnesium-rich amphibole mineral actinolite . The chemical formula for nephrite is Ca25Si8O222. It is one of two different mineral species called jade. The other mineral species known as jade is jadeite, which is a variety of pyroxene...
) or wood, and representing animals (especially frogs, but also others such as fish and turtles) or people. Muiraquitãs are often used as pendants, amulets, and in other decorative capacities.
In Brazilian folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, there are a number of legends associated with the muiraquitã, to which supernatural qualities are often attributed.
Historical information
The Muiraquitã, a carved green frog-shaped stone, was used as an amulet by the TapajósTapajós
The Tapajós, a Brazilian river running through a humid and hot valley, pours into the Amazon River 500 miles above Pará and is about 1200 miles long.It rises on the lofty Brazilian plateau near Diamantino in 14 degrees 25' south latitude...
women to prevent disease and avoid infertility. Their popularity spread around the Lower Amazon Basin and through to the Caribbean, where Muiraquitãs from the Amazon state in Brazil were found. "They must have been an object of exchange among elites," says archaeologist Marcondes Lima da Costa, Federal University of Pará. Fashion reached Europe in the eighteenth century when these amulets were taken to the Old Continent. It was believed that they prevented epilepsy and kidney stones. Today they are rare pieces that reach high prices at auctions.
Legend
The legend says that the amulet was offered as a gift by the Icamiaba warriors to all those Indians who annually visited their camp at the river Nhamundá. Once a year, during a ceremony dedicated to the moon, the warriors received the Guacaris warriors with whom they mated. At midnight, they dived into the river and brought up a greenish clay in their hands, which they molded into various forms: frogs, turtles or other animals, and presented these to their loved ones. Some versions say that this ritual would take place in an enchanted lake named Jaci uaruá ("mirror moon" in Old Tupi: îasy arugûá).Retrieved from the bottom of the river and shaped by the women, the still soft clay hardened in contact with the elements. These objects were then strung on the strands of hair of their brides and used as amulets by their male warriors. To date, this amulet is considered a sacred object, believed to bring happiness and luck and also to cure almost all diseases. It is also found in Macunaíma, a well-known and internationally renowned literary work by Mario de Andrade
Mário de Andrade
Mário Raul de Morais Andrade was a Brazilian poet, novelist, musicologist, art historian and critic, and photographer. One of the founders of Brazilian modernism, he virtually created modern Brazilian poetry with the publication of his Paulicéia Desvairada in 1922...
.
External links
- Muiraquitã, from ParáParáPará is a state in the north of Brazil. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas and Roraima. To the northwest it also borders Guyana and Suriname, and to the northeast it borders the Atlantic Ocean. The capital is Belém.Pará is the most populous state...
Culture, Fauna and Flora - Folclore: Muiraquitã