Caboclo is the designation given in Brazil to the individual who was generated from the miscegenation of an Indian with a white. This name is also used to describe the figure of the man from the Brazilian hinterland, who has a rustic, suspicious or treacherous way.
Also called Mamluk, caiçara, caribóca, curibaca and caboco, the caboclo is the representation of the Brazilian indigenous, with coppery skin and physical characteristics of the white European man. The caboclo is one of the "sub-ethnic groups" that exist in Brazil and that originated from the miscegenation processes that took place in the country during the colonization period.
Currently in Brazil, caboclos represent the largest number of people of the brown ethnicity, counting with the cafuzos, mulattos and other "sub-ethnic groups" that emerged from various processes of miscegenation.
See also about the meaning of Cafuzo.
Etymologically, the name "caboclo" comes from Tupi kari'boka, which means "descendant of white". However, there are some disagreements about the true origin of the term. Some etymologists suggest that the word came from Tupi
kuriboka, which means "son of Indian mother and white father"; others claim that the expression in Tupi huh, meaning "what comes from the forest", has given rise to the name "caboclo".See also:meaning of brown it's the meaning of miscegenation.
Caboclo in Umbanda
Inside the Umbanda, an Afro-Brazilian religion that emerged at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century, the figure of the caboclo is that of a wise and evolved spirit, who it incorporates in the so-called "pais de santo" and presents itself in the form of an indigenous person responsible for guiding people on the earth plane and doing charities.
The caboclos, as well as the eres (children) and pretos-velhos (elderly spirits) are considered the main existing entities within Umbandismo.
Learn more about the meanings of Umbanda.