26 Apr 2021
The Little Smoke Podcast - Ep. 43 -Saci-Pererê
Audio Description
A cheerful song is playing in the background
Hello everybody, welcome to The Little Smoke Podcast, episode 43 - “Saci-Pererê” presented by Daniel Bosso and Danilo Gabriel Teixeira. Go grab some popcorn and a cup of tea, because you’re about to witness another fabulous podcast, make sure you’re sitting comfortably on a cozy chair, wearing earphones to have the best experience possible! Enjoy!
Saci-Pererê is a very naughty boy. In addition to hiding people’s objects, he also braids the animals from the forest’s hair and disturbs the cooks messing up with their work, making their food burn. A Saci is always born from bamboo sticks and when he dies, he becomes a venomous mushroom.
It was originated in the south region of Brazil, and it’s estimated that it was created within the XVIII and XIX centuries and the name “Saci-Pererê” comes from the Tupi-guarani word “çaa cy perereg”. The Guarani people used to inhabit some regions of Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Bolivia. They were separated in several groups that were very similar to each other according to their cultural, social and political aspects. Guarani people would live basically from agriculture (especially manioc, potatoes, peanut and beans), hunting and fishing.
In the origin of this legend, Saci was a protector of the forest, that’s why some people consider him as a character derived from the Curupira legend. As a result, it is possible to affirm that Saci being a protector of nature is a value that was built to make us understand the importance of this gesture.
He has only one leg, wears a red beanie cap, and likes smoking a pipe. But, he hasn’t always been like this. He used to walk on two legs, before losing one of them while practicing capoeira (an Afro-Brazilian martial art), and he’s never stopped smoking ever since.
People would always associate whirlwinds with Saci because, according to the legend, Saci always travels using those, and the legend says that you can trap a Saci in a bottle if you first catch him by throwing a sieve right in the whirlwind, then removing his beanie cap so that he loses his supernatural powers, then imprison it inside a bottle with a cork drawn a cross in it.
That’s all folks, thank you so much for having us, I hope you enjoyed it and see you on the next episode of our fantastic production The Little Smoke Podcast. Bye!
