Brazilian folklore

thumb|upright|200px|Gaucho from Argentina, photographed in Peru, 1868 A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol mainly in Argentina and Uruguay but also in Paraguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, southern Bolivia, and southern Chile. Gauchos became greatly admired and renowned in legend, folklore, and literature and became an important part of their regional cultural tradition. Beginning late in the 19th century, after the heyday of the gauchos, they were celebrated by South American writers.

"Captain" Virgulino Ferreira da Silva (; 7 June 1897 – 28 July 1938), better known as Lampião (older spelling: Lampeão, , meaning "lantern" or "oil lamp"), was probably the twentieth century's most successful traditional bandit leader. The banditry endemic to the Northeast of Brazil was called Cangaço. Cangaço had origins in the late 19th century but was particularly prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. Lampião led a band of up to 100 cangaceiros, who occasionally took over small towns and who fought a number of successful actions against paramilitary police when heavily outnumbered. Lampião's ex

thumb|225px|Artwork depicting an appearance of the Mapinguari The Mapinguari or mapinguary is a mythological creature from Brazilian folklore. Referred to as the 'Brazilian Bigfoot' in popular media, the Mapinguari is described as extremely foul-smelling and hairy. Other accounts of the creature reference it having hook-shaped nails, a bipedal gait, a gaping mouth in its belly, and a single eye like a cyclops.

220px|thumb|Artistic representation of the curupira The Curupira, Currupira or Korupira () is a forest spirit in the myth of the Tupí-Guaraní speaking areas in the Brazilian and Paraguaian Amazon and Guyanas. It is a guardian of the rainforest that punishes humans for overcutting.

type of festival and music genre

The Caipira people ( in Caipira dialect) are an ethnocultural group originally from the state of São Paulo. They are also distributed mainly among the Brazilian states of Goiás, Minas Gerais, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná, and historically associated with the colonization of the mountainous regions of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. During the colonial period, their main mechanism of communication was the Paulista general language, which was spread to other regions by the Bandeirantes; today they have their own dialect, in which some elements of the Paulista and the Galician

character in Brazilian folklore

type of mythical character said to carry naughty children away in bags

thumb|An artistic depiction of Boitatá capturing a hunter Boitatá (from Tupi language), in Brazilian native folklore, refers to either a will-o'-the-wisp, a mythical fire snake which guards against humans setting fire to the fields or forests, or a bull-like creature.

Brazilian outlaw

Brazilian television series

thumb|upright=1.3|Lampião and his companions with cinematographer Benjamin Abrahão Botto

myths and folklore of Brazil

figure from Brazilian mythology

Festival in Parintins, AM, Brazil

Argentine folk saint and cult image

Brazilian historical figure (1800–1873)

thumb|280px|Aygnan (Anhangá) in the forms of birds and beasts, and other oddities, in Léry ''Histoire d'vn voyage'' (1580 edition). Anhangá or Anhanga (Tupi: <; Sateré-Mawé: or ; , ) is a type of spirit present in the cosmovision of several native groups from Brazil and Indianist literature.

brazilian folklore legend