Saci-Pererê: the One-Legged Trickster of Brazilian Folklore
Published · text produced with AI under human direction and review; quoted passages were checked word for word against the digitized editions cited.
The short answer
The Saci-Pererê is a figure of Brazilian folklore: a small boy with one leg and a red cap who, people said, spun the dust whirlwinds and rode farm horses at night, leaving their manes braided by morning. The oldest written record we checked is from 1876. In 1917 a São Paulo newspaper asked its readers to write in about him, and their letters became a book in 1918. In the sources we read, he is more mischievous than evil.
Quick facts
- Pronounced
- sah-SEE peh-reh-REH.
- Also called
- Saci Cererê (Couto de Magalhães, 1876); Sacy-Perêrê (the 1918 spelling); often just Saci.
- Where it is told
- the book records stories near São Paulo and a childhood recollection from the backlands of Ceará, in northeastern Brazil.
- What he looks like
- one leg, a red cap, eyes of fire, a smell of sulphur, a cheeky air, the look of a young boy.
- Oldest written record we checked
- Couto de Magalhães, O Selvagem (1876).
- Closest English-language relative
- our comparison is the Irish fairy whirlwind, limited to the whirlwind motif. We found no fairy mane-braiding in the Irish books we checked.
- What has no document
- a single, dated origin established by the passages we checked.
- Saci Day
- 31 October in São Paulo state, under state law 11.669 of 13 January 2004.
The legend, retold
This is our retelling, built only from details in the sources.
On a windy day the dust starts to turn. Dry leaves and bits of straw dance around the Saci, spinning on his single leg like a top. The 1918 book says the moving air from that one-legged gyroscope makes the whirlwind.
To catch him, the book gives two methods: lasso him with a rosary made of grass, or throw an upside-down sieve with a cross-shaped frame over the center of the whirlwind.
At night he hops through the dark pastures until he finds a horse. He ties a loop in its mane for a stirrup, climbs onto its neck and gallops it until dawn. One letter tells of a farmer near São Paulo whose horses kept dying, found at dawn with manes braided so well that only a knife could straighten them.
He spills water jars, tangles yarn and hides rolls of tobacco. When a thimble or small pair of scissors disappears, the book gives a way to recover it: tie three knots in a straw taken from a whirlwind and put it under a table leg. The Saci, tied and squeezed, makes the object reappear.
Whirlwinds in Ireland, braids in Brazil
Croker also links a whirlwind with fairies. In his note on Irish fairy words, he gives two names for a whirlwind and explains them through the belief that fairies raise it.
a whirlwind, is so termed because it is said to be raised by the fairies.
Lady Wilde (1887) records the Irish belief that the fairies ride the whirlwind to carry someone off, and that the only help is to fling clay at the passing wind.
the fairies are rushing by in the whirlwind intent on carrying off some mortal victim to the fairy mansions
In her tale The Hurling Match, a cloud of dust stops a game until a fiddler plays dance tunes and the fairies leave.
the whirlwind of dust swept on to the hill of the fairy rath
Lady Wilde calls the hill a fairy rath.
The likeness is narrow. In both books people saw beings in a column of dust, and both describe a response to it: clay in Ireland, a sieve or a grass rosary in Brazil. The Irish fairies carry people off; the Brazilian summary describes the Saci hiding tobacco and making lost objects reappear. Lady Wilde also describes fairies making horses out of straw, while the Saci rides real horses. We found no fairy mane-braiding in Croker or Lady Wilde, and no link of descent in these passages. This is our comparison of motifs.
What the sources say
Couto de Magalhães, O Selvagem (1876)
In O Selvagem, Couto de Magalhães lists the Saci among the beings under the moon, which he calls the mother of all plants.
Our translation
The Saci Cererê is one of those who appear constantly in the traditions of the people of the south of the Empire.Original (Portuguese)
O Saci Cerêrê é um dos que figura continuamente nas tradições do povo do sul do Império.
Our translation
a small Tapuio, lame in one footOriginal (Portuguese)
um pequeno Tapuio, manco de um pé
Whose story is this: Couto attributes the tradition to the people of the south of the Empire and says he found it mixed with Christian superstitions. His description uses the word Tapuio, adds a red cap and gives the figure a wound on each knee.
O Sacy-Perêrê, organized by Monteiro Lobato (1918)
On 25 January 1917, the evening edition of the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, nicknamed the "Estadinho" (little Estado), opened an inquiry into the Saci. The writer Monteiro Lobato later gathered the answers into a book.
Our translation
The "Estadinho" opens its columns to this investigation and asks its readers for an honest accountOriginal (Portuguese)
O “Estadinho” abre suas columnas para esta investigação e pede aos seus leitores um depoimento honesto
It asked how readers first heard of the Saci, what the belief looked like where they lived, and what stories they knew. The book’s summary presents traits on which it says opinion was almost unanimous.
Our translation
one leg only, eyes of fire, red cap, a cheeky air, a hopping walk, a smell of sulphur, the look of a young boyOriginal (Portuguese)
uma perna só, olhos de fogo, enrapuça vermelha, ar brejeiro, andar pinoteante, cheiro a enxofre, aspecto de meninote
Carlos d'Eça, remembering the stories of his childhood, described the night rides.
Our translation
He comes up to it and braids a loop into its mane, to serve as a stirrupOriginal (Portuguese)
Aproxima-se-lhe, trança-lhe na crina uma laçada á guisa de estribo
The first letter printed came from a woman whose mother looked after her employers' children at night and used the Saci to quiet them.
Our translation
which was the sedative Mama gave the childrenOriginal (Portuguese)
que era o calmante ministrado por mamãe ás crianças
Whose story is this: readers responding to a newspaper inquiry, including a woman recalling her mother’s stories and Carlos d’Eça recalling childhood evenings. The book says each person sees the Saci differently. Its opening essay describes a change from caboclinho to molecote under African influence. Carlos d’Eça describes a Black boy. These are the essayist’s and the letter writer’s accounts, not settled history.
Versions side by side
| Version | Record | How the Saci appears | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saci Cererê | Couto de Magalhães, O Selvagem, 1876 | Small Tapuio, lame in one foot, red cap, a wound on each knee | A being under the moon, linked to plants; no whirlwind in Couto’s paragraph |
| The Saci of the letters | Inquiry opened 25 January 1917; O Sacy-Perêrê, 1918 | One leg, red cap, eyes of fire, cheeky; a Black boy in Carlos d’Eça’s account | Whirlwinds, braided manes, night rides, hidden tobacco |
| The fiction Saci | Monteiro Lobato, O Saci, 1921 | A creature the boy Pedrinho tries to trap with a sieve and a bottle | Belief becomes an adventure novel for children |
| Saci Day | São Paulo state law 11.669, 2004 | A symbol of Brazilian folklore with its own date, 31 October | A commemorative date instituted by a state law |
Why this story exists
The opening essay of the 1918 book reads the Saci as a figure shaped by different peoples. It attributes the name to an Indigenous language, crediting Oliveira Lopes as an authority on Tupi-Guarani, and says the figure changed under African and Portuguese influence, with additions by people of mixed descent. It also says exclusive Black authorship was not proven. That is the essayist’s reading in 1918.
The same essay offers a second reading: the Saci persists because he answers a psychological need, perhaps to explain events whose natural causes escape people without schooling. Elsewhere the book describes a sweaty horse with a tangled mane, a missing thimble and a sudden column of dust. Our interpretation is that these episodes give unexplained events a familiar culprit.
The first letter adds another use: a mother’s story to calm children who began whimpering when their mother went out. In her telling the Saci is a hairy, lively, mischievous little devil who carries disobedient or fretful children to a distant forest.
What is documented, and what is not
Documented: Couto de Magalhães wrote down the Saci Cererê in 1876. A São Paulo newspaper collected readers' memories of the Saci from 25 January 1917. Lobato published those answers as a book in 1918 and wrote a novel, O Saci, in 1921. São Paulo state made 31 October Saci Day by law 11.669 of 13 January 2004; the state assembly presented the date "em contraponto ao Dia das Bruxas" (as a counterpoint to Halloween, literally Witches’ Day), while the bill's author, a state deputy, said it was not about fighting Halloween.
Not documented: a single origin, or a meaning for the name that the sources agree on. We therefore identify each account by its author instead of claiming an original version.
The film: the Saci letters of 1917
Our channel's film on the inquiry, built from the readers' letters, premieres on 25 October 2026 at 8 p.m. Brasília time on YouTube. It is narrated in Portuguese. Chapters, sources and details are on the film page.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Saci-Pererê? A figure of Brazilian folklore: a small one-legged boy with a red cap, eyes of fire and a smell of sulphur, said to spin whirlwinds, ride horses at night and hide rolls of tobacco.
How do you pronounce Saci-Pererê? Roughly sah-SEE peh-reh-REH, with the stress on the last syllable of each part.
What does Saci-Pererê mean? The opening essay traces the name to “Çaa cy perereg”, crediting Oliveira Lopes; it does not translate the phrase there. Carlos d’Eça prefers the spelling sérêrê, describing it as an imitation of the call of a bird that the legend identifies as the Saci in disguise. These passages do not establish one agreed meaning.
Is the Saci evil? The 1918 summary says he leans more to mischief than to malice, and links that character to the mixture of fear and sympathy children feel for him. This is the book’s assessment.
How do you catch a Saci? The 1918 book describes throwing an upside-down sieve with a cross-shaped frame over the center of a whirlwind, or lassoing him with a grass rosary. These are rules of belief, not instructions.
Is Saci Day a Brazilian Halloween? São Paulo state law 11.669 of 13 January 2004 institutes Saci Day on 31 October. An assembly news item presented it as a counterpoint to Halloween, while the bill’s author said the aim was not to fight that celebration.
One account at a time
Further reading
O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito
Monteiro Lobato (org.) (1918)
The readers' letters of 1917, in Portuguese. Start with the opening essay and the first deposition; the 1918 text is public domain, the modern introduction of the digital reprint is not.
O Selvagem
Couto de Magalhães (1876)
The Saci Cererê of 1876, in the part on family and religion: one paragraph, the oldest written record of the Saci we checked.
Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland
Thomas Crofton Croker (1844)
For the Irish side of the whirlwind: read the note at the end of the Shefro section on the fairy words.
Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland
Lady Wilde (1887)
Irish fairy whirlwinds told as stories; the short tale The Hurling Match is the one quoted here.
Cite this page
Vigil Page. "Saci-Pererê: the One-Legged Trickster of Brazilian Folklore." Published 25 October 2026. https://vigilpage.com/legends/saci/
Revision history
- : First publication.
Read next
- The Saci letters of 1917: the film, built from the readers' letters.
- The werewolf in Portugal and Brazil: one werewolf letter comes from the same 1917 inquiry.
- Curupira: Couto de Magalhães lists him beside the Saci in 1876.
- Boitatá: the fire snake, in the same paragraph of Couto.
- The headless mule
- All legends, with sources
- In Portuguese: our longer guide.
Sources
- Couto de Magalhães, O Selvagem (1876), part on family and religion: read free.
- Monteiro Lobato (org.), O Sacy-Perêrê: resultado de um inquérito (1918), opening essay, summary and letters: read free. For this book, only the original 1918 text was used, excluding the reprint’s modern introduction.
- Monteiro Lobato, O Saci (1921): paraphrased only, because the edition we consulted has modernized spelling.
- Thomas Crofton Croker, Fairy Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland (1844 edition), note to the Shefro section: read free.
- Lady Wilde, Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms & Superstitions of Ireland (1887), the passage on whirlwinds and the tale The Hurling Match: read free.
- Legislative Assembly of São Paulo State, Law no. 11,669 of 13 January 2004.