THE LEGEND OF MANI

One of the many Brazilian indigenous legends about the origin of Manioc was reported in 1876 by Couto de Magalhães, a Brazilian writer and folklorist.

 

The indigenous history of the Tupi tribe tells the following fable:

 

"In times gone by, the daughter of an important indigenous chief, who lived in the vicinity of the place where the city of Santarém, in Pará, Brazil, is now located.

 

Dishonored, the indigenous chief wanted to know who was responsible in order to punish the author of the offense and his family had suffered, as his daughter had become pregnant without her consent and that of someone other than a warrior.

 

He employed threats to everyone in the tribe and ultimately harsh punishments on his daughter. Even in the face of punishment, her daughter remained adamant, saying that she had never had a relationship with any man of the tribe and therefore it was impossible to get pregnant.

 

The chief had decided to kill her when, the night before the verdict, the God Tupã appeared to him in a dream and told him not to kill his daughter, because she was actually innocent. She remained pure and told her father the truth.

 

After nine months, she gave birth to a beautiful and completely white girl, this last fact caused the surprise not only of the tribe but of the neighboring nations, who came to visit the child to see that new and unknown race. The child was given the name Mani. She was different not only in color from the other children but from the tribe, because she walked and talked early and was always happy.

 

Unfortunately, one day, the little Indian girl couldn't get up from the hammock. The entire tribe was in an uproar. The shaman ran to help, took herbs and drinks and made many prayers but without success.

 

Even so, neither the prayers of the shaman, nor the secrets of the virgin forest, nor the deep waters, much less the lard of rare animals, could prevent Mani's death.

 

According to her folk tradition, she was buried by her mother inside the house (Oca) where the grave was watered daily until the next full moon. After some time, a plant sprouted from the ground, which, being completely unknown, they failed to uproot. It grew, flourished and bore fruit.

 

The birds that ate the fruits got drunk, and this phenomenon, unknown to the Indians, increased their superstition for the plant. In the end, the earth split, they dug it up and thought they recognized in the roots that they found a transformed Mani's body.

 

The root received the name of Manioca, which means: Mani means home and Oca means house”.

 

They ate it and created dozens of recipes and thus learned to use the now famous Tapioca.