Tobacco
Tobacco denotes a major Indigenous American ritual plant used for offerings and consumption; other associations include brief pleasure, forgetfulness, Mars, and diabolism.
Our paraphrase of what the sources say it carries.
At a glance
- Type
- Concept
- Borne by
- 2 figures
- Traditions
- Brazilian folklore (1)Philippine folklore (1)
Figures that bear it
A model judged each figure against its own description, one term at a time. Is: the figure is, or is partly, this thing. Bears: it carries the thing or is marked by it. What a figure does is filed under motifs and powers. Open "why" for the sentence the judgement rests on.
- Kapre bears Philippine folklore
why
It is most often pictured sitting in the tree's branches smoking an oversized cigar or tabako, with the glow of its smoke and the smell of tobacco said to be one of the surest signs that a Kapre has taken up residence nearby.
- Saci-Pererê bears Brazilian folklore
why
Accounts vary as to whether he can be bargained with in exchange for tobacco or cachaça, or whether he must simply be endured and outwitted; either way, the Saci is broadly remembered as an exasperating but not truly dangerous spirit, and by the 20th century, especially through Monteiro Lobato's widely read children's books, he became a beloved national mascot of Brazilian folklore rather than a figure of dread.