Headless Mule
Encyclopedia
The Headless Mule is a character in Brazilian folklore
. In most tales, it is the ghost of a woman that has been curse
d by God for her sins (often said to be as concubinate or fornication
with a priest
within a church
) and condemned to turn into a fire-spewing headless mule, galloping
through the countryside from Thursday's sundown to Friday's sunrise. The myth has several variations concerning the sin that turned the cursed woman into the monster: necrophagy, infanticide, sacrilege against the church, fornication, etc.
Portuguese
origin, and to have been brought to Brazil
in the early colonial
era (16th century or later).
The tale is most popular in the states of Goiás
, Minas Gerais
and Mato Grosso
, but is well-known throughout the country. Similar myths
(the Muladona
and the Almamula) occur in the surrounding Hispanic
countries.
Despite being headless, the Mule still neighs (usually very loud), and sometimes it moans like a crying woman. It also has a bridle tied to its non-existing mouth, and spews fire through its non-existing nostril
s (or, in some versions, from its severed neck
).
). By some accounts, its trip begins and ends at the parish where the sin was committed.
Transformation usually occurs at a crossroads
. Depending on the source the headless mule may have placeholder head and mane, made of the fire it spews, to which a red-hot iron bridle is tied.
The curse of the Headless Mule cannot be transmitted (unlike the vampiric
curse), because it is acquired as a result of a sin commited wilfully by the accursed woman.
The transformation can be reversed temporarily by spilling the mule's blood with the prick of a needle
or by tying her to a cross. In the first case, transformation will be prevented while the benefactor is alive and lives in the same parish in which his feat was accomplished. In the second case the woman will remain in human form until the sun dawns, but will transform again the next time.
A more stable removal of the curse can be achieved by removing the bridle, in which case the woman will not shape shift again while the benefactor is alive. Tying the bridle back to the woman's mouth will return the curse.
Removal of the curse is a great relief for the woman because the curse includes many trials, so the grateful woman will usually repent her sins and marry the benefactor. In any case, when the mule changes back to human form the accursed woman will be completely naked, sweated, and smelling of sulfur.
A person who encounters the mule should not cross its path, or the mule will follow the offender and trample him down. Instead, one should either be brave enough to remove the bridle or spill its blood, or else just lay face down on the ground, covering teeth and nails (as well as anything that shines) and the mule will hopefully fail to notice the stranger's presence and trot away (because it does not have good sight).
in Washington Irving
's story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
. Indeed, this variant of the myth may well be just a modern import of that 19th century tale.
Being personified as an animal implies a negative view of the character, which embodies the deepest forces that are part of the human consciousness, namely the libido, whose sexual aspect is traditionally associated with the horse, a symbol of sexual potency and brutal feats.
The absence of a head may be a metaphor
for the lack of reason, or evidence that the curse involved the perdition of the soul. In either case, without the head to give direction, the body is left under the power of violent passions, immediate impulses and selfish desires.
The most frequent cause for the curse
is a woman's unchristian love for a priest
, a vicar
of Christ on Earth. This association shows the lengths the Church went to indoctrinate people (both priests and women) about the importance of celibacy
, including a fierce rejection of anything female.
Brazilian mythology
The term Brazilian mythology is used to describe a series of cultural elements of diverse origin that are found in Brazil, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters and beliefs regarding places, peoples and entities. It is a subset of the Brazilian folklore...
. In most tales, it is the ghost of a woman that has been curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
d by God for her sins (often said to be as concubinate or fornication
Fornication
Fornication typically refers to consensual sexual intercourse between two people not married to each other. For many people, the term carries a moral or religious association, but the significance of sexual acts to which the term is applied varies between religions, societies and cultures. The...
with a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
within a church
Local church
A local church is a Christian congregation of members and clergy.Local church may also refer to:* Local churches , a Christian group based on the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee, and associated with the Living Stream Ministry publishing house.* Parish church, a local church united with...
) and condemned to turn into a fire-spewing headless mule, galloping
Horse gait
Horse gaits are the various ways in which a horse can move, either naturally or as a result of specialized training by humans.-Classification:...
through the countryside from Thursday's sundown to Friday's sunrise. The myth has several variations concerning the sin that turned the cursed woman into the monster: necrophagy, infanticide, sacrilege against the church, fornication, etc.
Origins and Occurrence
The myth is believed to have a mediaevalMiddle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
origin, and to have been brought to Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
in the early colonial
Portuguese colonization of the Americas
Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the Earth, outside Europe, in 1494 into Spanish and Portuguese global territorial hemispheres for exclusive conquest and colonization...
era (16th century or later).
The tale is most popular in the states of Goiás
Goiás
Goiás is a state of Brazil, located in the central part of the country. The name Goiás comes from the name of an indigenous community...
, Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais
Minas Gerais is one of the 26 states of Brazil, of which it is the second most populous, the third richest, and the fourth largest in area. Minas Gerais is the Brazilian state with the largest number of Presidents of Brazil, the current one, Dilma Rousseff, being one of them. The capital is the...
and Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso
Mato Grosso is one of the states of Brazil, the third largest in area, located in the western part of the country.Neighboring states are Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, Tocantins, Goiás and Mato Grosso do Sul. It also borders Bolivia to the southwest...
, but is well-known throughout the country. Similar myths
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
(the Muladona
Muladona
In Catalan mythology, a Muladona is a female mule with a human head. It is said that it was a maid who was cursed by the townspeople for being irreverent and non-religious. From that day especially at night, it is said to wander the mountains....
and the Almamula) occur in the surrounding Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
countries.
Appearance
The Mule's appearance varies greatly from region to region. Its color is most commonly given as purple, sometimes as black with a white cross on its chest. It has silver (or iron) horseshoes that produce a hideous trotting, louder than any horse is capable of producing.Despite being headless, the Mule still neighs (usually very loud), and sometimes it moans like a crying woman. It also has a bridle tied to its non-existing mouth, and spews fire through its non-existing nostril
Nostril
A nostril is one of the two channels of the nose, from the point where they bifurcate to the external opening. In birds and mammals, they contain branched bones or cartilages called turbinates, whose function is to warm air on inhalation and remove moisture on exhalation...
s (or, in some versions, from its severed neck
Neck
The neck is the part of the body, on many terrestrial or secondarily aquatic vertebrates, that distinguishes the head from the torso or trunk. The adjective signifying "of the neck" is cervical .-Boner anatomy: The cervical spine:The cervical portion of the human spine comprises seven boney...
).
The curse
According to most reports, the Mule is condemned to gallop over the territory of seven parishes each night (just as the Brazilian version of the werewolfWerewolf
A werewolf, also known as a lycanthrope , is a mythological or folkloric human with the ability to shapeshift into a wolf or an anthropomorphic wolf-like creature, either purposely or after being placed under a curse...
). By some accounts, its trip begins and ends at the parish where the sin was committed.
Transformation usually occurs at a crossroads
Crossroads (culture)
In folk magic and mythology, crossroads may represent a location "between the worlds" and, as such, a site where supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal events can take place...
. Depending on the source the headless mule may have placeholder head and mane, made of the fire it spews, to which a red-hot iron bridle is tied.
The curse of the Headless Mule cannot be transmitted (unlike the vampiric
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
curse), because it is acquired as a result of a sin commited wilfully by the accursed woman.
The transformation can be reversed temporarily by spilling the mule's blood with the prick of a needle
Sewing needle
A sewing needle is a long slender tool with a pointed tip. The first needles were made of bone or wood; modern ones are manufactured from high carbon steel wire, nickel- or 18K gold plated for corrosion resistance. The highest quality embroidery needles are plated with two-thirds platinum and...
or by tying her to a cross. In the first case, transformation will be prevented while the benefactor is alive and lives in the same parish in which his feat was accomplished. In the second case the woman will remain in human form until the sun dawns, but will transform again the next time.
A more stable removal of the curse can be achieved by removing the bridle, in which case the woman will not shape shift again while the benefactor is alive. Tying the bridle back to the woman's mouth will return the curse.
Removal of the curse is a great relief for the woman because the curse includes many trials, so the grateful woman will usually repent her sins and marry the benefactor. In any case, when the mule changes back to human form the accursed woman will be completely naked, sweated, and smelling of sulfur.
A person who encounters the mule should not cross its path, or the mule will follow the offender and trample him down. Instead, one should either be brave enough to remove the bridle or spill its blood, or else just lay face down on the ground, covering teeth and nails (as well as anything that shines) and the mule will hopefully fail to notice the stranger's presence and trot away (because it does not have good sight).
The headless priest
There is also a similar folk tale where the curse fell on the sinning priest. In this story, the priest's headless ghost rides through the night on a normal horse, much like the Headless HorsemanHeadless Horseman
The headless horseman has been a motif of European folklore since at least the Middle ages.The Headless Horseman is a fictional character who appears in a short story called “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” which is in a collection of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon written by Washington Irving...
in Washington Irving
Washington Irving
Washington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
's story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
. Indeed, this variant of the myth may well be just a modern import of that 19th century tale.
Anthropological explanation
The Headless Mule may be a personification of the latent paganism of some popular practices echoing in the collective conscience of a people massively indoctrinated with a simplistic view of Catholicism. It showcases the wild instincts and repressed behaviours that are unacceptable in a Judeo-Christian society. There may be some connection between the Brazilian Headless Mules and the witches which the Church burnt wholesale in Western Europe.Being personified as an animal implies a negative view of the character, which embodies the deepest forces that are part of the human consciousness, namely the libido, whose sexual aspect is traditionally associated with the horse, a symbol of sexual potency and brutal feats.
The absence of a head may be a metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for the lack of reason, or evidence that the curse involved the perdition of the soul. In either case, without the head to give direction, the body is left under the power of violent passions, immediate impulses and selfish desires.
The most frequent cause for the curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
is a woman's unchristian love for a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
, a vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Christ on Earth. This association shows the lengths the Church went to indoctrinate people (both priests and women) about the importance of celibacy
Celibacy
Celibacy is a personal commitment to avoiding sexual relations, in particular a vow from marriage. Typically celibacy involves avoiding all romantic relationships of any kind. An individual may choose celibacy for religious reasons, such as is the case for priests in some religions, for reasons of...
, including a fierce rejection of anything female.
External links
- Picture of Headless Mule
- The Headless Mule in the Brazilian TV program Sítio do Picapau Amarelo
- The Headless Mule is one of the several Brazilian myths describe at this site.
