O pink dolphin is a legend of Brazilian folkloreO, being very influential in North region from the country. It tells of a boto that transforms into a beautiful and seductive man. In human form, the boto seduces women to make them pregnant. These women are abandoned by the being, which returns to the river in its animal form.
Accessalso: Do you know the legend of the dry-body?
Knowing the legend of the boto
The pink dolphin is one of the beings of Brazilian folklore, and its legend is very common in the North region. The pink dolphin is an animal present in the Amazon rivers, and, in his history, he has a negative connotation.
The legend of the pink dolphin says that this animal transforms into a very handsome man and a conqueror, who goes looking for women to seduce them. There are different versions of the legend, some say that it transforms itself during any festival in the riverside communities, and others that the transformation only happens in the
full moon of june, during the festivities of Santo Antônio, Saint John and Saint Peter.The boto, as mentioned, turns into a very handsome man, with good conversation and flirtatiousness. During the transformation, he starts using white clothes and shoes, in addition to a hat that covers the top of your head. This hat would be a disguise, as the transformation is not complete: on top of the head would be the nostrils of the dolphin.
Therefore, the hat hides the great evidence that that man is, in fact, the boto. There are versions of the legend that say that the boto seeks the most beautiful woman of the party to seduce her, and others, that he is not necessarily looking for the prettiest, but rather a Virgin woman.
After seducing the woman, the boto lies down with her and, before the end of the night, he abandons her. This woman becomes pregnant, and her son grows up without a father, once the boto has returned to its waters. This legend was widely used in popular tradition for explain the fatherless children. Thus, every child who grows up not knowing who the father is is known as son (a) of the boto.
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Origin of legend
Anthropologist Luís da Câmara Cascudo points out that the connection of legend of cetaceans with carnal acts it is ancient and dates back to Ancient Greece. Câmara Cascudo points to the fact that the dolphin (a species that resembles the dolphin) was a symbolinlust for greeks and romans, who associated him with the cult of aphrodite (Venus, for the Romans), the goddess of love|1|.
In addition, there was literature that narrated the passion of dolphins for men and showed the animal as part of a ichthyophalic fetish, that is, the view of the fish as a phallus. It can also be emphasized that the dolphin's movements in the water were similar to those of the sexual act.
This association of the dolphin with lust remained and was applied, in Brazil, to the pink dolphin. However, the legend of the pink dolphin was not present in the indigenous culture until the 17th century, and the dolphin seen as a seductive animal it only established itself in popular culture in the mid-19th century..
The Greek view of the boto as an aphrodisiac animal, symbol of lust, had repercussions in certain popular practices in Brazil. Luís da Câmara Cascudo points out that parts of the pink dolphins' bodies were considered to have magical powers|2|. A boto's dry eye, for example, was regarded as a powerful love charm.
Finally, legends similar to the one of the boto are present in other places of the South America, such as Argentina and Chile, and also in certain parts of Europe.
|1| CAMERA CASCUDO, Luís da. Geography of Brazilian Myths. São Paulo: Global, 2012.
|2| CAMERA CASCUDO, Luís da. Brazilian folklore dictionary. São Paulo: Ediouro, s/d, p. 183.
By Daniel Neves Silva
History teacher
