View source for Caipiras

{{Short description|Ethnic group native to Brazil}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Caipiras
| image            = Boiadeiros caipiras paulistas.png
| caption          = Caipira [[cowboy]]s in traditional costumes in São Paulo.
| languages        = '''Predominantly spoken:'''
* {{hlist|[[Caipira dialect]]|[[Portuguese language|Portuguese]]}}
'''Historical:'''
* {{hlist|[[Paulista General Language|Paulista]]|[[Italo-Paulista]]}}
| religions        = Predominantly [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]]
| related_groups   = [[Paulistas]], Italians, Jews, [[Spaniards]], [[Portuguese people|Portugueses]], [[Galicians]], [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|Brazilian indigenous]] and others
}}
The '''Caipiras''' ({{IPA|pt|kaiˈpi.ɹa|pron}} in [[Caipira dialect]]) are an [[ethnographic group]] originally from the state of [[São Paulo (state)|São Paulo]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=CANDIDO |first=Antonio |url=https://revistas.usp.br/revusp/article/view/150036/147110 |title=Caipiradas |pages=171 |language=pt |quote=''In fact, the Caipira is of Paulista origin.'' (''Na verdade, o caipira é de origem paulista'')}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |date=2011-08-21 |title=Projeto Agosto Caipira promove cultura popular nas bibliotecas de São Paulo |url=https://www.correiobraziliense.com.br/app/noticia/brasil/2011/08/21/interna-brasil,266407/projeto-agosto-caipira-promove-cultura-popular-nas-bibliotecas-de-sao-paulo.shtml |access-date=2025-06-25 |website=Acervo |language=pt-BR |quote=''The origin of Caipira is Paulista, but later the term spread to other states'' (''A origem do caipira é paulista, mas depois o termo acabou se estendendo a outros estados'')}}</ref> They are also distributed mainly among the [[Brazil|Brazilian]] states of [[Goiás]], [[Minas Gerais]], [[Mato Grosso]], [[Mato Grosso do Sul]] and [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=O território paulistânico: um olhar existencial para além dos mapas antigos |trans-title=The Paulistanic territory: an existential look beyond the old maps |url=https://periodicos.sbu.unicamp.br/ojs/index.php/labore/article/view/8649202 |language=pt}}</ref> and historically associated with the colonization of the mountainous regions of [[Rio Grande do Sul]] and [[Santa Catarina (state)|Santa Catarina]]. During the colonial period, their main mechanism of communication was the [[Paulista General Language|Paulista general language]], which was spread to other regions by the [[Bandeirantes]];<ref>{{Cite book |last=RODRIGUES |first=Aryon D. |title=As línguas gerais sul-americanas |pages=8}}</ref> today they have their [[Caipira dialect|own dialect]], in which some elements of the Paulista and the [[Galician–Portuguese|Galician-Portuguese]] language have been preserved.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1 April 2022 |title=Dialeto caipira do interior paulista está caindo em desuso, aponta pesquisa |url=https://jornal.usp.br/ciencias/ciencias-humanas/dialeto-caipira-do-interior-paulista-esta-caindo-em-desuso-aponta-pesquisa/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Jornal da USP |language=pt-BR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=LEITE |first=Fabiana Raquel |title=A língua geral paulista e o "vocabulário elementar da língua geral brasílica |pages=26}}</ref>

The Caipira people and its culture is considered by intellectuals as an evolution of the old [[Paulistas|Paulista society]] and the Bandeirante culture.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Discussões sobre temas polêmicos marcaram carreira de Lobato |url=https://www.estadao.com.br/sao-paulo/discussoes-sobre-temas-polemicos-marcaram-carreira-de-lobato/ |access-date=2024-11-15 |website=Estadão |language=pt-br}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=PEREIRA DA SILVA |first=Augusto César |title=Na cartilha de Romana e Euzébio: as escolas da comunidade rural de Paraputanga |pages=33}}</ref> The areas where [[Caipira culture]] was introduced are grouped into a single region known as [[Paulistania (region)|Paulistânia]], a cultural and geographical concept that began to gain prominence in the [[20th century]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Victal |first1=Jane |last2=Cordova |first2=Vitor Sartori |date=8 May 2016 |title=Territorialidades Caipiras: o ser e a identidade do lugar |url=https://seer.ufrgs.br/index.php/iluminuras/article/view/64560 |journal=Iluminuras |language=pt |volume=17 |issue=41 |doi=10.22456/1984-1191.64560 |issn=1984-1191 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=CARDOSO |first=Cristina de Lima |url=https://tede2.pucsp.br/bitstream/handle/19001/2/Cristina%20de%20Lima%20Cardoso.pdf |title=Studies of caipira traditions in Itapetininga |page=16}}</ref>

Among its main formers are the descendants of [[Jews]] who emigrated from [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]] during the [[Inquisition]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Folha de S.Paulo - Nova história: Bandeirantes tinham origem judaica - 05/09/2004 |url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/cotidian/ff0509200416.htm |access-date=2025-06-25 |website=www1.folha.uol.com.br}}</ref> constituting a people with a significant presence in São Paulo between the 16th and 17th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=CAMPOS |first=Judas Tadeu de |title=A influência dos marranos no Sertão das Cutias |quote=''The Caipiras have among their ethnic and cultural formers the descendants of the Hebrews, who existed in large numbers in São Paulo in the 16th and 17th centuries'' (''Os caipiras têm entre seus formadores étnicos e culturais os descendentes dos hebreus, que nos séculos XVI e XVII existiam em grande número em São Paulo'')}}</ref>

== Origin and etymology ==
The first Caipiras were the [[Bandeirantes]], a group of explorers who set out from [[São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga|São Paulo]], exploring the backlands in search of metals and precious stones. When they came into contact with the Guaianás, an [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil|indigenous people]] who inhabited the Medio Tietê region, in the [[interior of São Paulo]], they received the name "Caipiras,"<ref>{{Cite book |last=CARDOSO |first=Cristina de Lima |url=https://tede2.pucsp.br/bitstream/handle/19001/2/Cristina%20de%20Lima%20Cardoso.pdf |title=Studies of caipira traditions in Itapetininga |pages=39–40 |language=pt-br}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Zuliani de Macedo |first=Tairone |url=https://files.cercomp.ufg.br/weby/up/113/o/Tairone_Zuliani_de_Macedo_-_AS_ORIGENS_E_EVOLU%C3%87%C3%95ES_ETIMOL%C3%93GICAS_DOS_TERMOS_SERT%C3%83O_E_SERTANEJO.pdf |title=The origins and etymological evolution of the terms sertão and sertanejo |page=5 |language=pt-br}}</ref> which became a synonym for [[Paulistas|Paulista]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=CAMPOS |first= |title=Festas juninas nas escolas: lições de preconceitos |pages=595}}</ref> a similar case to that of the [[gaucho]], which in Brazil became a synonym for [[Rio Grande do Sul|''Rio-grandense'']].  

There are various theories as to the true meaning of 'Caipira.' The oldest definition was made by Baptista Caetano d'Almeida in the 19th century, describing it as a combination of the terms "''cai''" (burnt) + "''pira''" (skin), which in [[Tupi language|Tupi]] perhaps describes the tanned or dark skin of the Caipira colonizers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=BERNARDINO |first=José de |title=Dicionário da Terra e da Gente do Brasil |year=1910}}</ref>

For [[Câmara Cascudo|Luís de Câmara Cascudo]], in his book ''Dictionary of Brazilian Folklore'', published since 1954, the origin may lie in "''caá''" (jungle) + "''pora''" (inhabitant), which means "inhabitant of the jungle" in Tupi; the same work, however, describes the Caipira in a stereotyped way, as a "poorly educated man or woman," and erroneously compares him or her with other peoples, such as the [[Caiçaras]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=CARVALHO |first=Flávia Medeiros de |url=https://fontesdealencar.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Flavia-M.-de-Carvalho-O-Dic.-do-Folc.-Brasileiro.pdf |title=O Dicionário do Folclore Brasileiro: Um estudo de caso da etnoterminologia e tradução etnográfica |pages=115}}</ref>

==Stereotypes==
The term "caipira" is often used in Brazil in a pejorative, [[Ethnocentrism|ethnocentric]] and [[Ethnic stereotype|stereotyped]] way for populations of the rural areas (mainly in the central and southern regions of the country), as in the book ''Urupês'' by [[Monteiro Lobato]], where the caipira is portrayed as an "''old plague''", "''parasite [[caboclo]]''", "''parasite of the earth''", "''unimportant people''", "[[Nomad|''seminomadic'']]", "''unadaptable to civilization''", "''urumbeba''", a term used in the State of São Paulo, to designate a naive and gullible person, easy to be deceived (akin to "rube", "[[yokel]]", "[[hillbilly]]" and "country bumpkin", in the English language), with synonyms like ''matuto'' and ''jeca'', but it can also be used as a self-identifier without negative connotations (akin to "[[melungeon]]"). In the traditional June Festivals ([[Festa Junina|Festas Juninas]]), people are dressed in simple countryside attire, generally stereotyped as representing the Caipira people.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.uol.com.br/nossa/noticias/bbc/2021/06/19/festa-junina-a-origem-da-celebracao-paga-que-virou-religiosa-e-caipira-no-brasil.htm| trans-title=|url-status=| title=Festa Junina: a origem da celebração pagã que virou religiosa e 'caipira' no Brasil| access-date=2022-04-24| language=pt-br| website=www.uol.com.br}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Caipira culture]]
* [[Caipira dialect]]
* [[Viola caipira|Caipira guitar]]
* [[Música caipira|Caipira music]]
* [[Caipirinha]], alcoholic drink whose name is a diminutive of ''caipira''.
* [[Caiçaras]]
* [[Caboclo]]s
* [[Gaucho]]s
* [[Sertanejo people]]

* [[Ribeirinhos]]

== Citations ==
<references/>

== General and cited references ==
* [[António Cândido|Cândido, Antônio]]. ''Os parceiros do Rio Bonito''  Sp, José Olympio, 1957.
* Monteiro Lobato, José Bento de. ''Urupês'', Editora Monteiro Lobato e Cia., 1923.
* Nepomuceno, Rosa. ''Música Caipira, da roça ao rodeio'', Editora 34, 1999.
* Queiróz, Renato da Silva. ''Caipiras Negros no Vale do Ribeira'', Editora da USP, 1983.
* Pires, Cornélio. ''Conversas ao pé do fogo'' – IMESP, edição fac-similar, 1984.

[[Category:Brazilian folklore]]
[[Category:Traditional peoples in Brazil]]


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