15. Cangaceiro Style
Cangaceiros had a sartorial style all their own. Out in the outback, there were no tailors or sewing machines, but fortunately for the bandits, most of them knew how to sew. In Northeastern Brazil’s arid badlands, they were often surrounded by dry and thorny bushes. Despite the soaring daytime heat, cangaceiro went about clad in leather clothes – as a stylistic choice and for protection from the thorns and jagged rocks and stones with which the region abounded – that were decorated with colored ribbons and metal pieces. They typically wore leather hats, with a wide folded brim. Cangaceiros also wore leather gloves with coins and other metal pieces sewn into them, almost like armor. They carried daggers, rifles such as Winchester 44s, and up to forty pounds of ammunitions. Their canteens contained water, but often were filled with cachaça, a sugarcane liquor.
Their knapsacks or bags usually contained medicines, tobacco, and often, hair gels. A scarf to protect against dust was standard, as were sturdy shirts with long sleeves to ward off the sun. Between the heat and dearth of water for regular bathing, the bandits often reeked. So some cangaceiros, such as Lampiao, were quite fond of perfumes, including expensive French ones looted from rich people’s homes. They were often armed with revolvers, shotguns and the parabelo, a Portuguese corruption of the Latin parabellum, the official name of the Luger P08 pistol. Cangaceiros were also notorious for their use of a thin, long and very sharp knife called a peixeira. Originally designed and intended to clean and fillet fish, the bandits put it to use as an all-purpose knife, often used to torture and kill their enemies.
