Does Baetatá really exist?

Abstract

For resarching the Linguistic Atlas of Paraná we used the direct method for collecting data, that is, interviews made in loco with rural informants, exposed to very little formal education or with no education at all, both males and females, in the age range from 30 to 60 years-old. A questionnaire with 325 questions was applied to them. The last six questions covered narratives, legends and popular beliefs, and among these questions we chose number 319, the one about the myth boitatá or baetatá, our object of analysis in this study. The question was made like this: “Do you know any stories concerning the boitatá?” If the answer was affirmative, other questions were asked to verify any other story personally experienced, or told to the informant, such as: “Have you or anyone in your family ever seen the boitatá?”, “how did it happen?”, “how was it?”, or “who is the boitatá?” Based on the theoretical principles of Dialectology and Geolinguistics, we discuss the existence and the diatopic distribution of the myth among the rural inhabitants in the state of Paraná, as well as its characterization in the popular imaginary.