Boiúna (translated as "Black Snake") is a mythological creature in
Brazilian mythology
Brazilian mythology is the subset of Brazilian folklore with cultural elements of diverse origin found in Brazil, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters and beliefs regarding places, people, and entities. The category was originally restr ...
. It is also known as the Cobra-Grande (translated as "Large Serpent") and the Mboiaçu.
Mythology
The Boiúna is a nocturnal black
snake
Snakes are elongated, Limbless vertebrate, limbless, carnivore, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other Squamata, squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping Scale (zoology), scales. Ma ...
creature which is the most powerful creature of the rivers within the
Amazon rainforest
The Amazon rainforest, Amazon jungle or ; es, Selva amazónica, , or usually ; french: Forêt amazonienne; nl, Amazoneregenwoud. In English, the names are sometimes capitalized further, as Amazon Rainforest, Amazon Forest, or Amazon Jungle. ...
. It can take on various shapes in order to frighten away any
fishermen
A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish.
Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or recreat ...
that enter its territory. Some of the forms the Boiúna can take on are a canoe, a sailboat, a transatlantic, and a woman.
In popular culture
* The Boiúna appears in ''
The River''. Initially, it was portrayed as an uncharted stretch of the Amazon river that curves through the jungle like a snake's coils, and it's home to all manners of paranormal occurrences: “The further we go up the Boiúna, the further the laws of physics breaks down” as one character states. Later, it is revealed that the Boiúna is actually
the evil life force of the river itself, and the series ends with the very river changing shape to prevent the characters from leaving, trapping them in the jungle for all eternity.
* The Boiúna also appears in ''
AdventureQuest Worlds
''AdventureQuest Worlds'' (often shortened to ''AQ Worlds'' or simply ''AQW'') is a browser-based massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) released by Artix Entertainment in 2008.
Gameplay
Players are asked to choose from one of f ...
''. This version of the Boiúna is a recolored version of Snake. It is among the creatures that attack Terra da Festa before the
Carnaval Party.
External links
Boiúnaat Itanheim Virtual
at Blogspot
Brazilian legendary creatures
Fictional snakes
Legendary serpents
Indigenous Amazonian legendary creatures
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