The term Brazilian mythology is used to describe a series of cultural elements of diverse origin that are found in Brazil, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters and beliefs regarding places, peoples and entities. It is a subset of the Brazilian folklore. The term was originally restricted to indigenous elements, but has been extended to include:
- Medieval iberic traditions brought by the Portuguese settlers, some of which are forgotten or very disminished in Portugal itself; as well as other European nations folklore, such as Italy, Germany and Poland.
- African traditions brought by Africans to Brazil as slaves during the colonial times—including their religious beliefs;
- Lives of Saints and other devotional elements propagated by the Catholic Church which were appropriated by the folklore;
- Elements originated in Brazil by the contact of the three different traditions;
- Contemporary elements that are re-elaborations of old traditions.
Because Brazil is a melting pot of cultures, many elements of Brazilian mythology are shared by the traditions of other countries, especially its South American neighbors and Portugal.
Read more about Brazilian Mythology: Prominent Figures, Câmara Cascudo
Famous quotes containing the words brazilian and/or mythology:
“If I were a Brazilian without land or money or the means to feed my children, I would be burning the rain forest too.”
—Sting [Gordon Matthew Sumner] (b. 1951)
“Love, love, love—all the wretched cant of it, masking egotism, lust, masochism, fantasy under a mythology of sentimental postures, a welter of self-induced miseries and joys, blinding and masking the essential personalities in the frozen gestures of courtship, in the kissing and the dating and the desire, the compliments and the quarrels which vivify its barrenness.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)