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 an 'Inspetor Peinha' (inspector) character. Carved from wood and painted. He has light pink-beige skin, wide brown eyes, pointed nose, thin "pencil" moustache, and thin red lips around a slightly open and down turned mouth. He wears a dark teal cap over short black hair that is adhered to the head. He wears a khaki brown collared shirt that is belted below his large stomach, and dark teal pants. The fabric is adhered to the hands. The hands are carved to define the fingers, and the boots are painted black. He holds a small wooden club in his right hand.