Mamulengo hand puppet of a 'Simão' (Simon) character. Carved from wood and painted. He has light orange-beige skin, wide black eyes, rounded eyebrows, large triangular nose, thin moustache, and red lips around a slightly open mouth. He has short black hair made from fake fur that is adhered to the head. He wears a horizontally-striped collared shirt, and royal blue pants. The fabric is adhered to the hands, and head. The hands are carved to define the fingers, and the boots are painted black.

• 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.

---

• Type of Item puppet
• Culture Brazilian
• Material wood, fibre, paint
• Measurements height 36.0 cm, width 20.0 cm, depth 10.8 cm (overall)

---

• Creator Gilberto Souza Lopes da
• 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

---

• Made in Gloria do Goita

---

• Creation Date during 2018
• Ownership Date before July 25, 2019
• Acquisition Date on July 25, 2019

---

• Condition good
• Accession Number 3381/0012