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Kurupi

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For the dinosaur genus, see Kurupi (dinosaur).
Statue of Curupi.

Curupi (Curupí) or Kurupi is a figure in Guaraní mythology, known particularly for an elongated penis that can wind once or several turns around the waist or torso, or wrap around its arms, and feared as the abductor and rapist of women.

He is one of the seven monstrous children of Tau and Kerana, and as such is one of the central legendary figures in the region of Guaraní speaking cultures.[1] He is also one of the few figures still prominent in the modern culture of the region.

Myths

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Pai Tavytera woodcarving of the Kurupí.
―Paraguay

The Kurupi is said to be short or small-bodied[2] (like a child or be agéd[3]), ugly, and hairy.[4] The curupí's backward-pointing feet will confuse anyone following its tracks and lead humans into the thicket or underbrush[5] (which is also characteristic of the curupira).

Early record

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The purported existence of the Curupi was logged in the 1793 diary of the explorer Juan Francisco Aguirre [es].[2] Aguirre received information secondhand from a Friar Henrique Ruano who allegedly witnessed several Curupis who had been captured by the Mbayá people. These curupí were diminutive in size compared to ordinary humans, and had peculiar genitals:

"These [Curupis] are pygmies to the extreme, and their reproductive parts are extraordinary: for the female, her vulva forms a natural T figure, [like] the Roman letter; and for the male his "[male] member is so deformed that on his small body it extends once around the waist".[7]

Father Ruano (not Friar Ruano, the eyewitness) was one of those who considered the existence of the Curupí to be ridiculous, as did Aguirre himself.[a][6]

Elongated phallus

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Curupí's most distinctive feature is that penis could wrap once around the waist, as attested by Aguirre in 1793.[8]

While the long penis feature and identification as a fertility symbol[10] is ubiquitous in written sources,[11] only a small percentage of Guaraní informants elocuted to the Curupí being equipped with such "a long penis which he can twine around his arm", according to a 1977 statistical study by Martha Blache.[3][b]

According to poet Eloy Fariña Nuñez (1926) the Curupí binds (enlazar) or lassos[4] women with his elongated penis, and the women are able to make a getaway by cutting it off.[13] The Curupí loses all his special powers when that happens, because that is where his source of power lies.[14]

On the authority of Fariña Nuñez, it is extrapolated that this penis must be long enough to wrap around the body several times.[15] Thus in the modern exaggerated telling, Kurupi's humongous penis winds several times around his waist like a belt.[16]

Absence of phallic exaggeration

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Not all indigenous peoples ascribe this extraordinary size or length to the phallus of the Curupi. As aforementioned, the 1977 study found only a couple of informants familiar with this stereotype.[3] Anthropologist Alfred Métraux referred to the curupí without any such mention.[17] Nor is the elongated penis part of the profile of the Curupi among the Mbyá Guaraní people.[17]

For the Paï-Cayuä people of the Ypané River basin, Paraguay, the Curupi, often called ipiry, is not a phallic figure either, but is a guardian of wild beasts. For these people, the Curupi counterpart is called Mboguá Vusú,[18] who has such a large penis he can only cohabitate with females of his own kind.[17]

Abductor

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Kurupi, one of seven monstrous siblings (cf. § Children of Tau and Kerana), is the kidnapper of women.[9] The Kurupi is often blamed for unexpected or unwanted pregnancies.[14]

Kurupi's penis is said to be prehensile, and owing to its length he is supposed to be able to extend it through doors, windows, or other openings in a home and impregnate a sleeping woman without even having to enter the house. Kurupi was a scapegoat used by adulterous women to avoid the wrath of their husbands, and by single women to explain their pregnancies, including in cases of rape. Children fathered by the Kurupi were expected to be small, ugly and hairy much like their father, and if male to inherit something of their father's virility. In some cases, Kurupi is blamed with the disappearance of young women, supposedly stealing them away to his home in the forest for use in satiating his libidinous desires (rape).[citation needed]

Nowadays, the legend of Kurupi has faded somewhat, and figures more often as part of old tales. Rarely is he blamed with impregnating women anymore, although he is sometimes used to try and frighten young girls into being chaste.

Protector or prankster

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While for some the curupí is nothing more than a terrible satyr that abducts maidens and teens (guainas) who wander into the jungle in the night, or at noon-tide.[5][19] But according to others, the curupí is a guardian spirit of the love-stricken man and the pregnant woman who blindly follows him. While the pregnant woman is in transit through the forest, the curupí keeps spiders, vipers, and wild beasts at bay.[5]

Still others characterize the curupí as a playful mischievous spirit, along the lines of a Perú Rimá or Pedro Urdemales.[5]

Parallels

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The curupí may just be a sub-class of curupira, as it has been suggested that the name "Curupí" is merely a contraction of "Curú-piré" meaning "pimply-skinned" by Basílio de Magalhães [pt] (1928).[12]

Kurupi is said to be somewhat similar in appearance to another creature, the Pombero, said to be hairy with reversed feet.[20] Pombero is also blamed for impregnating women.

The Jasy Jatere (var. jasyjateré) is another creature likened to it.[20]

Children of Tau and Kerana

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Main article: Tau (mythology)

According to Guaraní mythology Kurupi was one of seven offspring engendered by the evil spirit Tau who abducted Kerana, daughter of Marangatú and begot seven monstrous sietemesinos, i,e,, children born after only 7 months of gestation: Teju Jagua, Mbói Tu'ĩ, Moñái, most famously Jasy Jatere, then Kurupi, Ao Ao and the dog Luison.[9][21]

Curuzú-yeguá ritual

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The creature Curupí is believed to be closely associated with the Guaraní ritual of the curuzú-yeguá (Guaraní: "adorned cross").[22] The notion that curuzú-yeguá originated as a pre-Christian ancient cult of Curupí was espoused by Goicoechea Menéndez and Natalicio González (1938?)[23] In the ritual, a cross is decorated with manioc flour bread called chipás. Enough is baked to go around to all attendees, who choose to eat breads of various shape like ladders and snakes. Paulo de Carvalho Neto psychoanalyzes these as phallic symbols, i.e., more modest representations of the Curupí which can take on a more overtly sexual form.[22]

Kurupi of the Guianas

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See also: Curupira

There are also spirits called the Kurupi or Kulupi known to the Kaliña people of the Guianas, characterized by a large scrotum. It has a protruding forehead that prevents it from looking upward (cf. Cabeça de Cuia). It is hairy all over, with flowing long hair trailing behind; it has clawed fingers and toes, feet turned backward, and "in the place of buttocks [he] has a fire-hearth with glowing embers". The Kurupi roaming the forests noisily "kicks or knocks the tree buttresses".[24] (cf. curupira § Sounds and smell and sapopema). It can raise strong gusts of wind when angered and is considered the lord of winds by the Kaliña[24] (cf. saci)[c].

Goeje considered this Kurupi to be a cognate of the curupira of the Tupi people of Brazil, etc.[24]

The "Marana ywa" among the Tenetehara is also said to be a cognate, as it is described as a small man with enormous testicles.[26]

Other phallic parallels

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The Hebu spirits of the Warao people of Western Guayana also are said to be gifted with scrotal enormity.[27] The Hebu spirit also possesses, in the place of buttocks, a "fire-hearth with glowing embers", earning them the nickname Huta-kurakura or "Red-back".[28] Hence the "Hebu" and the "Kurupi of the Guyanas are considered completely equivalent.[29]

The Ýoši spirit of the Selknam on Tierra del Fuego also have abnormally large phalluses,[30] while the Kamiri forest spirit of the Apurinã people have an penis only 1 centimeter long.[31]

See also

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Explanatory notes

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kurupí.
  1. ^ Aguirre introduces Curupi as rather like the stories about the "Guayaquiles" Indians, also said to be diminutive with monkey-like habits, which he deems ridiculous.
  2. ^ That is to say, of 26 respondents, only 16 (62%) even knew of the Curupí, and only two (8%) gave the long penis response. It is also noted "most informants who evinced a desire to disown their Indian heritage".[11]
  3. ^ Note that Basílio de Magalhães (1928)'s commentary on Curupí is placed under the section on "Sacy".[12]

References

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  1. ^ "Mitologia". Archived from the original on 2007-05-12.
  2. ^ a b c d Carvalho Neto, Paulo de (1956). Folklore y psicoanálisis (in Spanish). Editorial Psique. p. 268.
  3. ^ a b c d Blache (1977), pp. 84–85.
  4. ^ a b Cardozo, Efraím (2007) [1963]. Apuntes de historia cultural del Paraguay (in Spanish) (8 ed.). Servilibro. pp. 191–195. ISBN 9789995300395.
  5. ^ a b c d Perkins Hidalgo, Guillermo (1963). "Leyendas y Supersticiones del Iberá". Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología (in Spanish). 4: 257–258.
  6. ^ a b Aguirre, Juan Francisco [in Spanish] (1949). "Diario del Capitán de Fragata D. Juan Francisco Aguirre, 1793". Revista de la Biblioteca Nacional (in Spanish). 20. Buenos Aires: Biblioteca Nacional Mariano Moreno (Argentina): 156–157. ISSN 0326-2375. (snippet@google)
  7. ^ Aguirre: "Son pigmeos en estremo y las partes generativas, extraordinarias: en la hembra hace la vulva una figura de T natural, caracter romano; y en el varon el miem-bro es tan disforme q[u]e alcanza en su pequeño cuerpo a dar una vuelta a la cintura".[6] Partly quoted by Carvalho Neto (1956).[2]
  8. ^ Carvalho Neto (1956)[2] citing his own yet unpublished Folklore del Paraguay (1961)
  9. ^ a b c Alvarez, Mario Rubén [in Spanish] (2002). Lo mejor del folklore paraguayo (in Spanish). Editorial El Lector. p. 61. ISBN 9789992560174.
  10. ^ e.g., Alvarez (2002): "Kurupi es el que tiene un falo que se lía por su cuerpo. Símbolo de la fecundidad y secuestrador de mujeres (Kurupi is the one with a phallus that wraps around his body. Symbol of fertility and kidnapper of women)".[9]
  11. ^ a b Blache (1977), p. 92.
  12. ^ a b c Magalhães, Basílio de [in Portuguese] (1928). "IV. Mythos Primarios, suas transformações e sobrevivencias : c) Sacy". O folcore no Brasil: com uma coletânea de 81 contos populares (in Portuguese). Braslia: Imprensa Nacional. p. 77. 1939 edition, p. 81
  13. ^ Fariña Nuñez (1926a) "Los mitos guaraníes". Revista do Instituto historico e geographico brasileiro. Tomo special: Congresso internacional de historia da America (1922), 2: 311–331", quoted by Basílio de Magalhães (1928)[12] reprinted Fariña Nuñez (1926b), p. 215.
  14. ^ a b Ocampo, Mauricio Cardozo (1989). Mundo folklórico paraguayo (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Editorial Cuadernos Republicanos. p. 57.
  15. ^ Montalto, Francisco Américo (1989). Panorama de la Realidad Histórica Del Río de la Plata Y Paraguay (in Spanish). Vol. 2. Asunción, Paraguay: Imprenta Cromos. p. 82. Eloy Fariña Nuñez ([1926b], p. 215ff) lo describe con rasgos dionisíacos, caracterizado por un falo enorme que lo sujeta en varias vueltas al cuerpo y con el cual puede enlazar a las mujeres, especialmente a las niñas que se aventuran a penetrar solas en los montes.
  16. ^ "Personajes Mitológicos". Archived from the original on 2007-05-27.
  17. ^ a b c Cadogan, León (1962a). "Fragmentos del folklore guaireño". Cuadernos del Instituto Nacional de Antropología (in Spanish). 3: 102.
  18. ^ Cadogan, León (6 December 1962b). "Aporte a la etnografia de los Guarani del Amambái, Alto Ypané Revista de antropologia". Revista de antropologia (in Spanish). 10 (1–2): 74. doi:10.11606/2179-0892.ra.1962.110425. (Google version)
  19. ^ Encounters at "noon" elocuted by informants in 1977 study also.[3]
  20. ^ a b Villalba Rojas, Rodrigo Nicolás (2022). "Ñande guarani ha umi ava: literatura paraguaya,"raza"e indígenas desde fines del siglo XIX hasta la Guerra de Chaco" [Ñande guarani ha umi ava:Paraguyan Literature, 'Raza' and indigenous from the end of the 19th century to the Chaco War]. In Peris, Carlos (ed.). Revista Estudios Paraguayos 2018 (in Spanish). Vol. 2. CEADUC. p. 104.
  21. ^ Encina Ramos, Pedro (2005), Tau y Kerana- Escultura del Museo Mitológico (in Spanish), retrieved May 30, 2018
  22. ^ a b Carvalho Neto, Paulo de (1972). Folklore and Psychoanalysis. University of Miami Press. pp. 191–195. ISBN 9780870241673.
  23. ^ Cadogan (1961), p. 40 citing Carvalho Neto (1956), pp. 266–269. Earlier citing Natalicio González (1948) [1938?] Proceso y formación de la cultura paraguaya
  24. ^ a b c Goeje (1943), p. 50.
  25. ^ a b c d Zerries, Otto [in German] (1954). Wild- und Buschgeister in Südamerika: eine Untersuchung jägerzeitlicher Phänomene im Kulturbild südamerikanischer Indianer (in German). A. Schröder. p. 272.
  26. ^ Zerries, citing Wagley-Calvão (1949), p.102.[25]
  27. ^ Zerries, citing Roth (1915), p.173.[25]
  28. ^ Roth, Walter Edmund (1913). An Inquiry Into the Animism and Folk-lore of the Guiana Indians. Annual report of the Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology 2. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 173.
  29. ^ Magaña, Edmundo (1988). Orión y la mujer Pléyades: simbolismo astronómico de los indios kaliña de Surinam (in Spanish). CEDLA. p. 169. ISBN 9789067651783.
  30. ^ Zerries, citing Gusinde (1931), pp. 997–998.[25]
  31. ^ Zerries, citing Ehrenreich (1891 ), pp. 67–68.[25]

Bibliography

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