Origin[]
Boitatá, protector of forests, is a character in Brazilian folklore. The legend was created by the indigenous folklore and is very known in brazil.
The legend of the boitatá was brought by the Portuguese, at the time of colonization. It was the Jezuite priests who described the boitatá as a giant wavy fire snake, with eyes that look like two headlights, transparent leather, which glistens on the nights when it glides in the fields and on the riverside. The legend also says that the boitatá can become a burning log, so that it burns and punishes those who set fire to the woods.
Legend has it, too, that anyone who encounters the boitatá usually goes blind, may die or even go crazy. Thus, when someone meets the boitatá, he must stand still, not breathing and with his eyes closed.
Like most popular legends and beliefs that are passed down from generation to generation through “listening and telling”, the legend of the boitatá has undergone some modifications, and in many parts of Brazil the legend is told differently. In Santa Catarina, for example, the boitatá is described as a bull with a "paw like that of the giants and with a huge eye right in the middle of the forehead, shining like a fire."