Saci (Brazilian folklore) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Saci is considered the most popular character in Brazilian folklore. He is a one-legged black or mulatto

Mulatto

Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...

youngster with holes in the palms of his hands, who smokes a pipe and wears a magical red cap that enables him to disappear and reappear wherever he wishes (usually in the middle of a dust devil

Dust devil

A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small to large . The primary vertical motion is upward...

). Considered an annoying prankster in most parts of Brazil, and a potentially dangerous and malicious creature in others, he will nevertheless grant wishes to anyone who manages to trap him or steal his magic cap. However his cap is often depicted as having a bad smell, most people who claimed to have stolen this cap often say they can never wash the smell away.

There are several variants of the myth, including:

Saci-pererê, black as coal (the best known);
Saci-trique, mulatto and more benign;
Saci-saçurá, with red eyes.

Saci-pererê is also the name of a Brazilian cocktail

Cocktail

A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...

consisting of 1/4 cup of cachaça

Cachaça

Cachaça is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane.It is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil. It is also known as aguardente, pinga, caninha and many other names...

and 3 tablespoon

Tablespoon

A tablespoon is a type of large spoon usually used for serving. A tablespoonful, the capacity of one tablespoon, is commonly used as a measure of volume in cooking...

s of honey

Honey

Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...

, which is said to be good for the common cold

Common cold

The common cold is a viral infectious disease of the upper respiratory system, caused primarily by rhinoviruses and coronaviruses. Common symptoms include a cough, sore throat, runny nose, and fever...

Powers, weaknesses, and habits

An incorrigible prankster, the Saci will not cause major harm, but there is no little harm that he won't do. He will hide children's toys, set farm animals loose, tease dogs, and curse chicken

Chicken

The chicken is a domesticated fowl, a subspecies of the Red Junglefowl. As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals, and with a population of more than 24 billion in 2003, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird...

eggs preventing them from hatching. In the kitchen, the Saci would spill all salt, sour the milk, burn the bean stew, and drop flies into the soup. If a popcorn

Popcorn

Popcorn, or popping corn, is corn which expands from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn is able to pop because, like sorghum, quinoa and millet, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy interior. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive...

kernel fails to pop, it is because the Saci cursed it. Given half a chance, he will dull the seamstress's needles, hide her thimbles, and tangle her sewing threads. If he sees a nail lying on the ground, he will turn it with the point up. In short, anything that goes wrong — in the house, or outside it — may be confidently blamed on the Saci.

Besides disappearing or becoming invisible (often with only his red cap and the red glow of his pipe still showing), the Saci can transform himself into a Matitaperê or Matita Pereira, an elusive bird whose melancholic song seems to come from nowhere. One can escape a pursuing Saci by crossing a water stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

: the Saci will not dare to cross, for then he will lose all his powers. Another way is to drop ropes full of knots; the Saci will then be compelled to stop and undo the knots. One can also try to appease him by leaving behind some cachaça

Cachaça

Cachaça is a liquor made from fermented sugarcane.It is the most popular distilled alcoholic beverage in Brazil. It is also known as aguardente, pinga, caninha and many other names...

, or some tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

for his pipe.

He is fond of juggling ember

Charcoal

Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...

s or other small objects and letting them fall through the holes on his palms. An exceedingly nimble fellow, the lack of his right leg does not prevent him from bareback-riding a horse, and sitting cross-legged while puffing on his pipe (a feat comparable to the Headless Mule

Headless Mule

The Headless Mule is a character in Brazilian folklore. In most tales, it is the ghost of a woman that has been cursed by God for her sins and condemned to turn into a fire-spewing headless mule, galloping through the countryside from Thursday's sundown to Friday's sunrise...

's gushing fire from the nostrils).

Every dust devil

Dust devil

A dust devil is a strong, well-formed, and relatively long-lived whirlwind, ranging from small to large . The primary vertical motion is upward...

, says the legend, is caused by the spin-dance of an invisible Saci. One can capture him by throwing into the dust devil a rosary

Rosary

The rosary or "garland of roses" is a traditional Catholic devotion. The term denotes the prayer beads used to count the series of prayers that make up the rosary...

made of separately blessed

Blessing

A blessing, is the infusion of something with holiness, spiritual redemption, divine will, or one's hope or approval.- Etymology and Germanic paganism :...

prayer beads

Prayer beads

Prayer beads are used by members of various religious traditions such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Anglicanism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Bahá'í Faith to count the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions, such as the rosary of Virgin Mary in Christianity and dhikr ...

, or by pouncing on it with a sieve

Sieve

A sieve, or sifter, separates wanted elements from unwanted material using a woven screen such as a mesh or net. However, in cooking, especially with flour, a sifter is used to aerate the substance, among other things. A strainer is a type of sieve typically used to separate a solid from a liquid...

http://lobato.globo.com/Images/infantil/OSacyilustrVoltolino.jpg. With care, the captured Saci can be coaxed to enter a dark glass bottle, where he can be imprisoned by a cork with a cross marked on it. He can also be enslaved by stealing his cap, which is the source of his power. However, depending on the treatment he gets from his master, an enslaved Saci who regains his freedom may become either a trustworthy guardian and friend, or a devious and terrible enemy.

Origins of the legend

While some claim that the Saci myth originated in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

in the 13th century such as the Monopod (creature)

Monopod (creature)

Monopods are mythological dwarf-like creatures with a single, large foot extending from one thick leg centered in the middle of their body...

, it probably derives from the Yaci-Yaterê of Tupi-Guarani mythology, a magic one-legged child with fire-red hair who would spell-bind people and break the forest's silence with his loud shouts and whistles. He was originally a creature of the night, and indeed the Yaci (jaˈsi) means "Moon" in Old Tupi.

This indigenous character was appropriated and transformed in the 18th century by the Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n slaves who had been brought in large numbers to Brazil. Farm slaves would tell Saci stories to amuse and frighten the children, black and white. In this process the creature became black, his red hair metamorphosed into a red cap, and — like the African elders who usually told the tales — he came to be always smoking his clay-and-reed pipe. His name mutated into various forms, such as Saci Taperê and Sá Pereira (a common Portuguese name), and eventually Saci Pererê.

His red cap may have been inspired on the Phrygian cap

Phrygian cap

The Phrygian cap is a soft conical cap with the top pulled forward, associated in antiquity with the inhabitants of Phrygia, a region of central Anatolia. In the western provinces of the Roman Empire it came to signify freedom and the pursuit of liberty, perhaps through a confusion with the pileus,...

which was at one time worn by Portuguese peasants. The Saci-Pererê concept shows some syncretism

Syncretism

Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...

with Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

elements: he bolts away when faced with crosses, leaving behind a sulphurous smell — classical attributes of the Devil

Devil

The Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...

in Christian folklore.

The concepts of imprisoning a supernatural being in a bottle by a magically marked cork, and of forcing him to grant wishes in return of his liberty, have obvious parallels in the story of Aladdin

Aladdin

Aladdin is a Middle Eastern folk tale. It is one of the tales in The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , and one of the most famous, although it was actually added to the collection by Antoine Galland ....

from the Arabian Nights. This may be more than just a coincidence, since many slaves were Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s and thus presumably familiar with the Arabian tales. Moreover, the occupation of parts of the Portuguese territory

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

(namely in the south) by the Muslim Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

, between the years 711 and 1249, provides another possible path for Arabian influence on the Saci legend.

With the purpose of countering the growing trend of adopting the American Halloween

Halloween

Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...

in Brazil, The Day of Saci was created in 2005, and it is likewise commemorated on October 31. A tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek

Tongue-in-cheek is a phrase used as a figure of speech to imply that a statement or other production is humorously intended and it should not be taken at face value. The facial expression typically indicates that one is joking or making a mental effort. In the past, it may also have indicated...

Society of Saci Observers was also created.

Saci in art and entertainment

The character remains quite popular in present-day urban culture, mainly due to the immensely popular children's book O Saci by Monteiro Lobato

Monteiro Lobato

José Bento Renato Monteiro Lobato was one of Brazil's most influential writers, mostly for his children's books set in the fictional Sítio do Picapau Amarelo but he had been previously a prolific writer of fiction, a translator and an art critic...

(1932).

In the 1960s, the one-legged gnome — by now "domesticated" into a prankish but inoffensive and lovable creature — was chosen by premier Brazilian cartoonist Ziraldo as the leading character of his comics magazine, O Saci Pererê. This original publication, the first of its genre to feature entirely "national" characters, was short-lived, but paved the way for other Brazilian cartoonists like Angeli

Angeli (cartoonist)

Arnaldo Angeli Filho, more commonly known as Angeli, born August 31, 1956 in São Paulo, Brazil, is one of the most well-known Brazilian cartoonists....

, Laerte, and Mauricio de Sousa

Mauricio de Sousa

Mauricio de Sousa is a Brazilian cartoonist who has created over 200 characters for his popular series of children's comic books....

.
Tom Jobim's hit song Águas de Março
Waters of March
"Waters of March" is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics. The lyrics, originally written in Portuguese, do not tell a story, but rather present a series of images that form a collage; nearly every line starts with "É..."...

mentions the Matita Pereira. http://www.learn-portuguese-now.com/brazilian-music-aguas-de-marco.html

Nei Lopes

Nei Lopes

Nei Braz Lopes is a singer, composer, lawyer, writer and historian, working primarily with the Brazilian genre of samba and African-Brazilian studies.-Biography:...

's samba song entitled Fumo de Rolo tells a tale of a fisherman being accosted by the sací while collecting reeds in the forest. The sací demands some tobacco for his pipe, but the poor fellow has lost his.

The Saci in science

A novel species of dinosauromorph, discovered in 2001 at Agudo

Agudo, Rio Grande do Sul

Agudo is a municipality in Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state of Brazil. Its coordinates are 53º14'24" West and the elevation is 83 meters above sealevel...

(southern Brazil), was named Sacisaurus
Sacisaurus
Sacisaurus is a dinosauriform from the Late Triassic Caturrita Formation of southern Brazil...

because the fossil

Fossil

Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...

skeleton

Skeleton

The skeleton is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism. There are two different skeletal types: the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, and the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside the body.In a figurative sense, skeleton can...

was missing one leg.

The names of the Brazilian satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

s SACI-1 and SACI-2

SACI-2

The SACI-2 was a Brazilian experimental satellite, designed and built by the Brazilian Institute for Space Research . It was launched on 11 December 1999 from the INPE base in Alcântara, Maranhão, by the Brazilian VLS-1 V02 rocket...

were backronym

Backronym

A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....

s on the character's name.

Four retrotransposon

Retrotransposon

Retrotransposons are genetic elements that can amplify themselves in a genome and are ubiquitous components of the DNA of many eukaryotic organisms. They are a subclass of transposon. They are particularly abundant in plants, where they are often a principal component of nuclear DNA...

s in the DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

of the fluke

Fluke

Fluke may refer to:* Unlikely, usually positive chance occurrence, esp. a surprising piece of luck.* Fluke, a type of flatfish alternatively called a Summer flounder* Fluke, an alternative name for a whale tail...

Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosoma mansoni is a significant parasite of humans, a trematode that is one of the major agents of the disease schistosomiasis. The schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma mansoni is intestinal schistosomiasis....

were named Saci-1, Saci-2, Saci-3, and Perere, for their ability to jump around in the parasite's genome

Genome

In modern molecular biology and genetics, the genome is the entirety of an organism's hereditary information. It is encoded either in DNA or, for many types of virus, in RNA. The genome includes both the genes and the non-coding sequences of the DNA/RNA....

Since the Saci's one-legged physique reminds us of people with a physical disability

Physical disability

A physical disability is any impairment which limits the physical function of one or more limbs or fine or gross motor ability. Other physical disabilities include impairments which limit other facets of daily living, such as respiratory disorders and epilepsy....

, a social network

Social network

A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...

named SACI (an acronym of Solidariedade, Apoio, Comunicação e Informação, or Solidarity, Support, Communication

Communication

Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...

and Information) was created at the University of São Paulo

University of São Paulo

Universidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...

with the purpose of stimulating these four efforts towards the social and medical rehabilitation

Physical therapy

Physical therapy , often abbreviated PT, is a health care profession. Physical therapy is concerned with identifying and maximizing quality of life and movement potential within the spheres of promotion, prevention, diagnosis, treatment/intervention,and rehabilitation...

of physically disabled people.

The Saci as a Mascot

Despite being a one-leged creature, the Saci is believed to be very agile and powerful, always defeating his enemies. As so, it's a Mascot of some sport clubs in Brazil, like Sport Club Internacional

Sport Club Internacional

Sport Club Internacional is a Brazilian football team and multi-sport club from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, founded on April 4, 1909, and are one of the only five clubs to have never been relegated, along with Santos, São Paulo, Flamengo and Cruzeiro. They play in red shirts, white shorts and...

and Social Futebol Clube

Social Futebol Clube

Social Futebol Clube, usually known simply as Social, is a Brazilian football club from Coronel Fabriciano founded in 1944.Their home stadium is Louis Ensch Stadium, capacity 6,000...

External links

How Pedrinho captured the Saci, from Monteiro Lobato's O Saci (in Portuguese)
The ANCSaci - National Saci Breeders' Association site (A spoof site, in Portuguese)
SOSACI
Picture of Saci
The Ziraldo's version of Saci