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 'Diabo' or devil character. He has red skin, short black hair, long blunt horns that extend forward, a pointed chin and hooked nose, and large eyes with red and yellow pupils. His fabric body / tunic is shiny red with a dot pattern, and a long black cape.