Mamulengo string puppet (marionette) of a 'Morte' or Death character. Head, hands and feet are carved from wood and painted. The right hand is stylized to resemble the blade of a scythe. He wears a long-sleeved white shirt and white pants, both with black cuffs, a black veil, and black painted boots. The white face has two large black eye sockets, a wide toothy grin, missing nose, and streaks of red across the face. Attached by several black strings to a wooden control bar composed of a single long piece of wood with one cross-bar.

• History Of Use

  The puppet represents a character from a form of popular puppet theatre, found in northeastern Brazil, called mamulengo. This type of theatre is prevalent in disenfranchised communities with ancestral ties to colonized Indigenous peoples and uprooted, enslaved Africans. Mamulengo performances are entertaining events that can last all night long, with puppeteers (mamulengueiros) using 70 to 100 puppets in one staging. The stages are pop-up stands (empanadas), made of brightly coloured, floral-printed cloth. The shows consist of short sequences (passagens), or skits from popular stories that expose the inequalities and dramas of everyday life, profiling stock characters such as rich landowners and peasant labourers. The whole is spun together with humour, satire, lively music, and audience commentary.

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• Type of Item puppet
• Culture Brazilian
• Material wood, fibre, paint
• Measurements height 75.5 cm, width 34.5 cm, depth 16.8 cm (overall)

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• Creator Jose Edvan Ferreira de
• Previous Owner Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro
• Received from Associacao Cultural de Amigos do Museu de Folclore Edison Carneiro, Museum of Anthropology Exhibitions Budget

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• Made in Gloria do Goita

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• Creation Date during 2018
• Ownership Date before May 28, 2019
• Acquisition Date on May 28, 2019

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• Condition good
• Accession Number 3352/0008