Acai berry is now popularly known for the many healthy benefits it provides to people. But despite the wealth of knowledge on the Internet these days, it seems few are aware of the compelling legend behind this great discovery.
Legend has it that at the edge of the Para River in the north of Brazil, a little village was starving to death due to heavy drought. Survival became a grave concern for everyone, including the chief king Itaki. The chief thus ordered a decree to sacrifice any newborn to curtail the growing population.
Unknown to Itaki, such a decree would lead to tragedy as his own daughter Iaca would soon give birth to a beautiful baby girl. As the chief king didn’t want to arouse disapproval from the members of the village for being unfair, he ordered the demise of his grandchild, much to his despair.
This event sent Iaca into such depression that she refused to eat or leave the house. Then one evening she heard the cry of a baby from nearby. Thinking it was her beloved child, she rushed to the spot where she heard the sobbing baby and saw a small figure highlighted by the radiance of the full moon. She wrapped her arms around the vision as if cuddling her daughter whom she missed so much. The following day she was found lying lifeless while her arms hugged the trunk of the palm tree bearing bundles of tiny, round purple-colored fruits. Even as the chief king mourned his daughter’s loss, Iaca’s face finally showed happiness.
The king later ordered all the fruits to be picked from the tree, and to their surprise the berry-looking fruit answered their hungry stomach with its delectable taste. As more fruits were discovered they made porridge out of it and it became the start of a new life for the tribes’ people. And as the villagers’ lives go back to normal, the king did not forget to honor his daughter by naming the fruit Acai (Iaca spelled backwards), and likewise, ordered the immediate haltin the sacrifice of newborn babies. Nowadays, the former village is known as Belem, one of theprogressive cities in the state of Para, Brazil.
