Carranca

:"Carrancas" redirects here. For the city in Minas Gerais, see Carrancas, Minas Gerais."

A carranca (Portuguese, literally "scowl"; pronounced "cah-han-ka") is a talisman attached to river craft which is attributed with power to protect the boatmen from the river's evil spirits. They were once commonly found on the Rio São Francisco in the river's Northeast region of Brazil. The carranca is most commonly a figure of a human or an animal.

Today most authentic carrancas are only found in museums. Modern, more stylized versions are sometimes seen as decorations in restaurants or homes and commonly seen in tourist shops. These range from key chain figures up to very large ones a meter or more in height and made from large tree trunks.

Classic versions were painted, frequently with black hair, gaping red mouths and white fangs. The most common tourist versions follow similar schemes. A more modern, decorative unpainted version is often in natural wood and even polished.

While most of the modern tourist versions are produced quickly in quantity using one of several patterns a few are made by more artistic wood workers and show unique design or interpretations of "functional" carrancas from history. A few of these are "museum quality" art.

External links

* [http://www.dglnet.com.br/users/fmoraes/carranc1.html Arte e História]
* [http://www.maria-brazil.org/carrancas.htm Carrancas do Rio São Francisco]
* [http://www.embramic.com.br/pinguela/2001/02_01/carranca.htm A Carranca do "ESTRELA" (a modern boat application)]
* [http://www.teorletal.oi.com.br/Pages/carrancas01.html A comic book history about the "carrancas" (in Portuguese language)]