Cobra Norato, the enchanted being

oral tradition and performance in the Amazon encantaria

Abstract

This article addresses some conceptions about oral tradition, highlighting the value of oral culture for the maintenance and dissemination of knowledge in communities governed by the logic of orality. In this regard, the study presented here focuses on the narratives woven about a magical being, Cobra Norato, from the Brazilian Amazon region, specifically those disseminated in the state of Pará, from the oral narrative of a woman, a former resident of the region of Maxirá, in the city of Monte Alegre, in Pará, and the video of the episode 26 of the series “Vou te contar”, by Canal Futura. A comparative analysis was carried out between the narratives, to observe the construction of meanings in each one, addressing some aspects involving orality and performance, having as theoretical support the postulates of Paul Zumthor (1997, 2007), Jan Vansina (2010) and Amadou Hampâté Bá (2010). The analysis showed that different discursive genres, considering their enunciation specificities, produce different meanings; moreover, the performance presented in each narrative is also a significant part of the production of meanings.