Speaker 1: Hello for Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan and this
Speaker 1: is Wamanica. This month, we're talking about folk heroes, women
Speaker 1: whose lives and stories took on mythic proportions. In the
Speaker 1: north of Brazil, legends swirled around a crew of bandits.
Speaker 1: They roamed the back country, at times giving to the poor,
Speaker 1: other times stealing from the rich, but always looking out
Speaker 1: for themselves. Heroes to some villains to others. The most
Speaker 1: famous of them all was Lampiao's Congas rou Crue. Today
Speaker 1: we're talking about Missus Lampiao, the woman who still captures
Speaker 1: imaginations today. Maria Bonita Maria Deya was born in the
Speaker 1: early nineteen hundreds in the northeast Brazilian state of Bahia.
Speaker 1: The daughter of a farming couple, Maria grew up rather poor.
Speaker 1: Her family's ranch was near the Baya Sergipi border, an
Speaker 1: arid bush good for raising livestock and rife with bandits.
Speaker 1: From a young age, Maria and her parents knew of
Speaker 1: the Congaseyrus, bands of roving outlaws spread throughout northern Brazil.
Speaker 1: The bandits often wore colorful kerchiefs and leather hats, chests
Speaker 1: crisscrossed with cartridge belts. They carried their rifles over their
Speaker 1: shoulders like an oxen's yoke or in Portuguese a kanga.
Speaker 1: Their namesake families, like Maria's, feared and admired the Congaserus.
Speaker 1: The bandits were often from similarly poor backgrounds. The backlands
Speaker 1: were no stranger to poverty, especially as rich landowners expanded
Speaker 1: their control over North Brazil. Congaserus stole and attacked the
Speaker 1: rich primarily, and were known to offer charity to the poor,
Speaker 1: but they were rough and often cruel. Growing up, Maria's
Speaker 1: life was fairly quiet. When she was a teenage, she
Speaker 1: married a local cobbler, but their marriage was bitter and loveless.
Speaker 1: Maria spent most of her time back on her parents ranch,
Speaker 1: and that's where she met Lampio. Lampiau had already made
Speaker 1: a name for himself as a bandit king. At twenty
Speaker 1: four years old, he dedicated himself to a life of
Speaker 1: banditry after police killed his father. He was a guerrilla fighter,
Speaker 1: an extortionist, a robber, and a murderer. He was also
Speaker 1: literate and used reading glasses, a signature characteristic among his crew.
Speaker 1: He was feared and respected. Legend has it He got
Speaker 1: his name meaning oil lamp, because he could fire his
Speaker 1: lever action rifles so quickly he never let the light
Speaker 1: of the muzzle go out. One day, around nineteen thirty,
Speaker 1: Lampierre was at Maria's parents ranch when he caught sight
Speaker 1: of her. The next day, she joined his crew as
Speaker 1: its first female member. Her life changed in an instant,
Speaker 1: and Maria Dea became Maria Bonita. Maria Bonita, or Pretty
Speaker 1: Maria was also known as Donna Maria. In the group,
Speaker 1: she rode horses and carried a rifle alongside the other Congasserus.
Speaker 1: The bandits were nomadic. They knew the land well enough
Speaker 1: to devise escape routes and find medicinal herbs and rations,
Speaker 1: and Maria knew how to sew. She stitched the crew
Speaker 1: together between raids and decorated the rucksacks they had their
Speaker 1: spoils in. Maria wasn't exempt from taking part in the
Speaker 1: cruelties of the Congasserus. She participated in raids and likely
Speaker 1: suffered at the hands of the other bandits, but popular
Speaker 1: stories of her time in the group painted her as
Speaker 1: a limiting factor to Lampiav's own ruthlessness. In one particular story,
Speaker 1: a Venezuelan boy scout traveling Brazil on foot, told newspapers
Speaker 1: he and his friends had been taken captive by Lampiao's group.
Speaker 1: Lampia suspected the boys were cops and fed them coffee
Speaker 1: with salt and water with hot peppers in it. It
Speaker 1: was a cruel last meal. The boy had been tied
Speaker 1: to a tree, sure he was about to die when
Speaker 1: a young woman strolled up to him. She hit him
Speaker 1: on the shoulder and playfully observed, boy, you sure are cued. Apparently,
Speaker 1: Maria's fondness for the boy disarmed the bandits enough that
Speaker 1: the scouts were all set breath the next day. The
Speaker 1: boy attributed his survival to Maria's charming nature. In nineteen
Speaker 1: thirty two, Maria gave birth to her and Lampiao's only child,
Speaker 1: a baby girl named Aspegita. But Kangaseru life was no
Speaker 1: place for a baby. They left her with a trusted
Speaker 1: rancher to raise until she was school age. They visited
Speaker 1: now and again, but they'd never see Espegta grow up.
Speaker 1: In the early hours of July twenty eighth, nineteen thirty eight,
Speaker 1: the bandits stirred to the first rays of sunlight and
Speaker 1: Soon after, to the sound of gunshots, Lampiau caught off
Speaker 1: guard fell instantly. Maria called out to the bandits who
Speaker 1: tried to run, reminding them of their loyalty to the Cangaseru.
Speaker 1: When the dust cleared, just twenty minutes later, Maria, Lampiao,
Speaker 1: and nine other bandits were dead. In death, Maria was
Speaker 1: forced to be part of a gruesome spectacle. The preserved
Speaker 1: heads of the eleven congaserus were displayed in public. They
Speaker 1: wouldn't be buried for another thirty years. Even before their demise,
Speaker 1: Maria and Lampiau had already become the stuff of legends.
Speaker 1: Their story was printed in the form of Cordel's folk
Speaker 1: literature pamphlets of Northeast Brazil and retold through oral traditions.
Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty seven, Brazilian musician Volta Seka released a
Speaker 1: collection of songs associated with Lampiao's Congaserus, titled Songs of Lampiao.
Speaker 1: A few years later, folk singer Joan Bias released her
Speaker 1: own version of one of them. Even today, Lampiau and
Speaker 1: Maria are still featured in comics, movies, and soap operas.
Speaker 1: All month we're talking about folk Heroes. For more information,
Speaker 1: find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica Podcast special
Speaker 1: thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator.
Speaker 1: Talk to you tomorrow