Jangada

Jangada, a raft made of lightweight logs secured with wooden pegs or lianas, used for fishing by various indigenous groups in precolonial Brazil. Pero Vaz da Caminha recorded the first description of a jangada, misidentifying it as a pirogue. Tupi names for these vessels were many: itapaba, igapeba, candandu, piperi, and catamarã. The Portuguese adopted and modified the original raft, eventually labeling it jangada, from the Hindustani janga with the augmentative ada, meaning "larger."

The raft was first made of three logs, had no sail, and was guided by a fisherman who sat with legs extended. It was later expanded to five or six logs with a rudder (also used for a paddle). A stone on a woven rope was, and still is, used to anchor the jangada. A mast for a triangular sail was developed by the seventeenth century. There are small (about 10 feet by 2 1/2 feet), medium (about 15 feet by 5 feet), and "classic," or large, jangadas, which measure about 26 to 30 feet by 6 1/2 feet and require six to seven logs. The larger rafts may carry a crew of up to four men, each having a special title and function and receiving a certain portion of the catch according to his station, as recorded by noted authority Luís da Câmara Cascudo.

Jangadas are found primarily along Brazil's Northeastern coast from Bahia to Pernambuco to Ceará, and in each state a distinctive vocabulary exists to label the logs, vessel size, auxiliary equipment, and crew. Used today only by the poorest fishermen, the jangada has become a symbol of the Northeast, immortalized in prose, poetry, and song.

See alsoPrecontact History: Amazonia .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Luís Da Câmara Cascudo, Dicionário do folclore brasileiro, 3d ed. (1972).

Nearco Barroso Guedes Araújo, Jangadas, 2d ed. (1990).

                                Gayle Waggoner Lopes