The universe of a living god of the tropical tropical forests: notes on the jungle lexicon in oral narratives about Curupira

Abstract

This paper presents a brief reflection on the lexicon of the Amazonian universe, based on ten oral stories featuring Curupira, the most vivid god of the tropical forests (Cascudo, 2010), told in a spontaneous, enlightened and enthusiastic way by inhabitants of the Paraense hinterland. Curupira is, according to the cosmovision of the peoples of the forest, the waters and the countryside, the tutelary genius of the forest, father or mother of the bush, who defends the fauna and flora, in his relevant mission of defending life on the planet. The lexicon of the traditional narratives about the myth is closely linked to the culture of the native peoples, such as the caboclo sector (Araújo, 2023), and contains an obvious didactic-educational value. Thus, based on the vocabulary gathered from the oral stories that reflect the entrails of the largest tropical forest on the planet, the aim is to create a small picture of the Amazon, so that the reader can get to know many of the treasures it holds and better understand the reality related in these texts (Biderman, 1984).