mamulengo (Hand Puppet)

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.

Mamulengo hand puppet of a 'Político' (politician) character. Head and hands are carved from wood and painted. He has pink-beige skin, large oval black eyes, thick rounded black eyebrows, a closed mouth with red lips, and a black moustache with stubble hair on his chin and jaw. His fabric body / tunic is deep orange with sleeves and skirt of a dark blue with red flower and yellow heart fabric. The fabric is adhered to the hands and head, and wrapped with shiny brown-gold ribbon at the wrists and neck. Operated by inserting a hand inside the body of the puppet to control its head and movements.