Of Tupi origin and widely known in the state of Piauí, the legend tells the origin of the carnaúba, carnaubeira, or carnaíba (Copernicia prunifera or cerifera), a palm tree native to Brazil’s Caatinga region and common throughout the Northeast, which once saved a people from extinction.
The story goes that this people lived in harmony with Nature. The sun warmed their huts and ripened their fruit; the clouds gave shade; the rain watered the plants and filled the rivers. But over time, the sun began to burn too strongly. So intensely that it dried up the rivers and killed the plants and animals. The people prayed, danced, and begged Tupã (God) to send rain again, but the sun kept burning everything.
People began to die, until only a couple and their child remained from that once-strong people. They were forced to abandon their land in search of better conditions. Chewing on the last roots they had, they walked through the night, and when the scorching sun rose again, the boy saw a lone palm tree swaying its green fronds in what looked like a desert.
Exhausted, they stopped to rest in the shade of that palm, and the parents fell asleep. The boy remained awake, worried, and pleaded with Tupã for help. That’s when he heard a voice and saw, at the top of the palm tree, an Indigenous woman who said to him:
“My name is Carnaubeira. I am here to help you. Many years ago, my village too was struck by drought. I helped them all, and when I died, the moon transformed me into this tree, destined to save the helpless. Do as I say, and you shall know happiness.