1 - Souvenir Sheet with 4 Stamps (Legends of Brazilian Folklore: Curupira, Mãe-DoOuro (Mother of Gold), Boto (Dolphin) and Mulasem-cabeça (Headless Mule))

ABOUT THE SOUVENIR SHEET
The characters were arranged by the artist in four stamps forming a set. In the top left, the image of Curupira mounted on a boar, scaring a possible agent of deforestation, represented by a man and a chainsaw that down the tree. In the upper right, the Mãe-do-ouro (Mother-of-gold) emerges from the water with a fireball in hers hands, inspiring a gold prospector. At the bottom left, the figures of Boto (Dolphin) and a young pregnant woman alludes to the legend of seduction of women by an unknown man. In the lower right corner, the Mula-semcabeça (Headless Mule), which would have been a woman, the mistress of a priest, represented by a man in a church. As a background image, nature, green symbolizes the forest with many plants, fruits and animals; the river isolates the characters as an island, inaccessible, reporting to the imagination. Also, the set of four stamps is arranged in a miniature sheet, which discloses, in the upper right, the logo of the National Philatelic Exhibition - BRAPEX 2011. Drawing techniques were used.

 

Stamp issue n. 17 Artist: Jô de Oliveira Print system: Miniature sheet: offset Stamps: offset Miniature sheet with 4 stamps Stamps: sheet with 24 stamps each Paper: Miniature sheet: gummed chalky paper Stamps: gummed chalky paper Face value: Miniature sheet: R$ 4,40 Stamps: Domestic first-class non commercial rate Issue: Miniature sheet: 50.000 Stamps: 300.000 Perforation: Miniature sheet: 11,5 x 11,5 Stamps: 11,5 x 11,5 Design area: Miniature sheet: 35,5mm x 35,5mm Stamps: 35,5mm x 35,5mm Stamp dimensions: Miniature sheet: 38mm x 38mm Stamps: 38mm x 38mm Miniature sheet dimensions: 105mm x 148mm Date of issue: July 23rd, 2011

Legends of Brazilian Folklore
Curupira, Mãe-Do-Ouro (Mother of Gold), Boto (Dolphin) and Mula-sem-cabeça (Headless Mule) What are myths in the collective imagination that gave rise to them? Playing their cultural role, the stamps in this issue are intended to disseminate and record myths of Brazilian folklore that were and are still present in the collective imagination of grandmothers, parents, children and grandchildren. They are popular values and beliefs kept alive from one generation to another. No one knows how they came about and even less if they will cease to exist, if they ever do... Myths can be regarded as open narratives updated in different contexts and stories. Because myths are, very often, orally transmitted, there are many variants of them, as the narratives developed by communities also reflect different ways of perceiving the world and inter-personal relations. This series provides a visual representation of four myths narrated by communities spread across Brazil. The stamps portray one of their many different forms of representation: their most known and disseminated version in our national culture. These are the Curupira, Mãe-do-Ouro (Mother of Gold), Boto (Dolphin) and Mula-sem-cabeça (Headless Mule), which are known from the north to the south of Brazil and, despite being spatially recurrent in some cases, such in the case of the Boto, are quite specific. For example, Curupira is a forest myth; the Boto is a myth of the Amazon waters; the Headless Mule is a myth of small towns; the Mãe-do-Ouro myth, which is more temporal than spatial, refers to places marked by a mining culture or to gold cycles of the past. Curupira The Curupira is a male supernatural being that scares people in forests and even kidnaps children. Its records can be traced back to our colonial era. In one of his 16th-century chronicles, José de Anchieta, a catechist, describes him, as well as Boitata, as one of the demons that haunt indigenous people which, for this reason, was used in the Brazilian catechizing process. Sérgio Buarque de Holanda, a historian, observed in his writings that the Curupira was used by indigenous people as a strategy to resist slavery, as they imprinted inverted footprints in forests to outwit the Portuguese. The Curupira, an allomorphic myth, is regarded as one of the parents of the forest which can be portrayed as a hairy, redhaired monster with inverted feet riding a boar (as shown in the stamp), as a blonde midget clinging to a small gold cane, as an invisible spirit uttering frightening screams, or as an old male or female indigenous person. This last version is also present in the collective imagination of Paraguayans. Stories about the Curupira stress how people should be careful when entering forests and avoid having any contact with what is new, which can be dangerous. Its versions are also similar to those of other forest myths, such as those of the Pomberinho, the Saci and the Mãozão from the Pantanal region. Mãe-do-ouro (Mother of gold) The Mother of gold is a narrative of what the world offers human beings and of their unfettered ambition or lack of courage, which can put everything to lose. Its commonest version is that of a ball of fire falling from the sky to show where a gold field can be found. The Mother of gold is also portrayed as a woman with hair on fire or as a headless woman who protects gold mines and whose guidance must be strictly followed. This myth very often blends into narratives of buried treasures (enterro or botijas, as they are known in Brazil’s northeast), the location of which is revealed in dreams, by lights or by spirits to people of great courage. It should be observed that the Portuguese word for gold (ouro) comes from the Latin word aurum, which means “shining.” This myth combines symbologies applied to human beings. The purity of the metal is reflected in those who are pure in heart and manage to remove it from the mine, while those who are greedy are prevented from finding it. Boto (Dolphin) This is a narrative about women who allow themselves to be seduced by unknown men and end up becoming single mothers or meeting the tragic fate of drowning in a river. However, as all myths, this one has other versions too. The existence of a pink dolphin and of a black one is seen as expressing the malign nature of the former and the benign nature of the latter. Stories about pink dolphins usually narrate that, during the traditional June festivals held in Brazil, they take the form of handsome young men dressed in white wearing a hat (to hide the nostril above their head) who deflower women while dancing with them. Black dolphins aregood dolphins, as they help save people from drowning. The Dolphin narrative warns of the danger of women being seduced by a stranger, which can be effective for riverine communities in remote areas. On the other extreme, there are versions with a similar narrative to that of the Boto, about men who are seduced by Iaras, which are a sort of mermaids that seduce men to drown them. Mula-sem-cabeça (Headless mule) The myth of the headless mule is a story about the lover of a priest who is cursed into an equine (which can be a donkey, a horse or a mule, a cross between a female horse and a male donkey), that breathes fire out of its nostrils or mouth. For this reason, the commonest variants consist in representations of the animal with a jet of fire coming out of its head. Other variants address how the curse can be removed from the animal: it must be bled or have its horseshoe removed through its mouth. Headless mule narratives can be heard throughout Latin America and there are records of this myth in the Iberian Peninsula. The most obvious meaning of this myth is that of securing respect for celibacy, but it is similar to other transmutation myths, such as those of the HomemOnça (Jaguar Man), of the Dolphin, described above, and mainly of the Werewolf, among others. In sum, the four myths are a representation of the four elements: earth, fire, water and air. As Walter Benjamin the philosopher once said: “Storytelling is the art of repeating stories.” Frederico Augusto Garcia Fernandes Professor at the Vernacular and Classical Literature Department of the State University of Londrina