Lampião: Difference between revisions

|birth_place = [[Serra Talhada]], [[Pernambuco]], Brazil

|death_place = [[Angicos]] farm, [[SergipePoço Redondo]], Sergipe, Brazil

"Captain"<ref>Chandler, p. 71 - As reported in ''O Nordeste'', 20 March 1926. Through the offices of Padre Cicero "Captain Virgulino Ferreira da Silva" was commissioned as a captain in the '[[Patriotic Battalions]]'.</ref> '''Virgulino Ferreira da Silva''' ({{IPA-|pt-BR|viʁɡulĩnu feˈʁejɾɐ da ˈsiwvɐ|brlang}}; 7 June 1897 – 28 July 1938), better known as '''Lampião''' (older spelling: ''Lampeão'', {{IPA-|pt|lɐ̃piˈɐ̃w}}, meaning "lantern" or "oil lamp"), was probably the twentieth century's most successful traditional bandit leader.<ref>Chandler, preface, p. xi</ref> The banditry endemic to the [[Brazil]]ian Northeast was called ''[[Cangaço]]''. ''Cangaço'' had origins in the late 19th century but was particularly prevalent in the 1920s and 1930s. Lampião led a band of up to 100 ''cangaceiros'', who occasionally took over small towns and who fought a number of successful actions against paramilitary police when heavily outnumbered. Lampião's exploits and reputation turned him into a folk hero, the Brazilian equivalent of [[Jesse James]] or [[Pancho Villa]].<ref>Chandler, p. 3</ref> His image, as well as that of his partner Maria Bonita, can be seen across the entirety of the Northeast of Brazil.

[[File:Lampeao2.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Lampião and some of his ''cangaceiros''. Lampião is left of centre, to thehis right of himleft is Maria Bonita. The distinctive leather hats with upturned brims and leather clothes can be seen. The men have Mauser rifles, a great deal of ammunition and several have long ''peixeira'' knives thrust though their waist-belts.]]

[[File:Benjamin Abrahão com Maria Bonita e Lampião.jpg|thumb|250px|right|Cinematographer [[Benjamin Abrahão Botto]], left, with Maria Bonita and Lampião.]]

A typical example of Lampião's activities, and his ambivalent nature, is his descent on the small town of [[Queimadas, Bahia|Queimadas]] in [[Bahia]], which took place in December 1929. His band entered the town, and immediately shut down the telegraph office to stop news from spreading. The seven policemen in the town and their sergeant were shut in the jail, whilst the jail's previous occupants were set free. The wealthiest citizens of the town were then levied for a forced monetary contribution. The bandits, however, paid for items, including soap and perfume, taken from the town's shops. The seven policemen were summarily executed by shots to the head, but their sergeant was left unharmed as he was liked by the townspeople. In the evening Lampião organised a ''baile'', a dance for the townspeople and his ''cangaceiros''. He also ordered a cinema show to be presented. The bandits were under strict instructions not to molest the local young women, and such was Lampião's authority that none were. The bandits left the town at 4:00 in the morning; Lampião rode a borrowed mule, which he later duly returned to its owner.<ref>Chandler, pp. 125–128</ref> On one occasion he attacked a large town, [[Mossoró]], in the state of [[Rio Grande do Norte]], in June 1927. The bandits began their assault on the town to the sound of a bugle; when advancing they shouted ''vivas'' and sang their special song, ''Mulher Rendeira'' (The Lacemaker). However, the inhabitants had time to organise a defence, and 300 armed townsmen drove off Lampião's 60 ''cangaceiros''.<ref>Chandler, pp. 95–99</ref>

Lampião was joined in 1930 by his girlfriend, Maria Déia, nicknamed [[Maria Bonita (female bandit)|Maria Bonita]] ("Pretty Maria").<ref>Chandler, p. 149</ref> His relationship with Maria Bonita gave his reputation some of the 'romance and violence' notoriety enjoyed in the United States by [[Bonnie and Clyde]].<ref>Eakin, p. 74</ref> The women who joined bandit groups, often termed ''cangaceiras'', dressed like their male comrades and participated in many of their actions. Maria and Lampião had a daughter, named Expedita, in 1932. A number of ''cangaceiras'' joined the band over the many years of its existence and Lampião usually attended any births these women had personally. Such children, including Lampião's own, were fostered out to settled relatives or friends of the ''cangaceiros'', or left with priests.<ref>Chandler, pp. 151–152</ref> Expedita, afterMaria theand deathsLampião's ofdaughter, herborn parentsin 1932, was raised by her uncle, João after the deaths of her parents. João Ferreira was the only one of Lampião's brothers not to become an outlaw.<ref>Chandler, p. 152</ref>

[[File:Degola de Lampião MB.jpg|thumb|The severed heads of Lampião's band exposed before the State Forensic Institute. On the lowest level, the head of Lampião, immediately above is that of Maria Bonita, to the right of her head that of Luis Pedro]]

On July 28, 1938, Lampião and his band were betrayed by one of his supporters, Joca Bernardes, and were ambushed in one of his hideouts, the Angicos farm, in the [[Poço Redondo]] area of the state of [[Sergipe]]. Bernardes, after first meeting Lampião in 1928, had dreamed that he would play a part in causing the famous bandit's death. A police troop, led by João Bezerra and armed with [[machine guns]], attacked the encamped bandits at daybreak. In a brief battle, Lampião, Maria Bonita and nine of his troops were killed, some forty other members of the bandit group managed to escape. The heads of those killed were cut off and sent to [[Salvador, Brazil|Salvador]], the capital of [[Bahia]], for examination by specialists at the State Forensic Institute.<ref>Chandler, pp. 220–230</ref> Later they were put on public exhibition in the city of [[Piranhas, Alagoas|Piranhas]]. In 1969, after more than 30 years, the mummified severed heads were removed from display at the Salvador museum and buried in the [[Quintas Cemetery]] in Salvador.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19690210&printsec=frontpage&hl=en "Bandits' Heads Finally Buried"], ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', February 10, 1969, p6. [https://web.archive.org/web/20230328161055/https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=gL9scSG3K_gC&dat=19690210&printsec=frontpage&hl=en Archived] March 28, 2023.</ref><ref>Chandler, p. 239</ref>

The story of Lampião and Maria Bonita became the subject of innumerable folk stories, books, comicscomic books, popular pamphlets ([[cordel literature]]), songs, movies, and a number of TV [[soap opera]]s, with all the elements of [[drama]], passion, and violence typical of "[[Wild West]]" stories.<ref>Curran, p. 105</ref>

For the 2023 edition of the [[Rio Carnival|Carnival]] parade of the [[Rio de Janeiro]] [[samba school|samba schools]] [[Imperatriz Leopoldinense]] dedicated their performance to Lampião’s memory, complete with themes and images from his life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Imperatriz Leopoldinense celebra a vida e a morte de Lampião à moda do cordel |url=https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2023/noticia/2023/02/21/imperatriz-leopoldinense-celebra-a-vida-e-a-morte-de-lampiao-a-moda-do-cordel.ghtml |publisherurl-status=g1live |datearchive-url=February https://web.archive.org/web/20230528134914/https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2023/noticia/2023/02/21,/imperatriz-leopoldinense-celebra-a-vida-e-a-morte-de-lampiao-a-moda-do-cordel.ghtml |archive-date=2023-05-28 |access-date=2023-02-22 |publisher=g1}}</ref> Expedita Ferreira, Lampião and Maria Bonita's only child, participated in the parade being featured on the last float in the procession.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Boeckel |first=Cristina |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Filha de Lampião desfila pela Imperatriz Leopoldinense |url=https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2023/noticia/2023/02/21/filha-de-lampiao-desfila-pela-imperatriz-leopoldinense.ghtml|last=Boeckel |firsturl-status=Cristinalive |publisherarchive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230523145058/https://g1.globo.com/rj/rio-de-janeiro/carnaval/2023/noticia/2023/02/21/filha-de-lampiao-desfila-pela-imperatriz-leopoldinense.ghtml |archive-date=February 21, 2023-05-23 |access-date=2023-02-23 |publisher=g1}}</ref>

[[Category:People from PernambucoSerra Talhada]]