Tradition / Region: Portuguese Mythology
Alternative names: Armajonas, Almazonas
Category: Giant
The Myth
The Almajonas are enormous supernatural women from Portuguese folklore believed to be wandering souls of the dead. They appear as gigantic human-like females who roam through remote places carrying children on their backs. According to popular belief, they are almas penadas — restless spirits unable to find peace.
The Almajonas are described as unnaturally tall and powerful, towering over ordinary people. Some traditions portray them almost like female giants wandering silently across hills, forests, and lonely roads. Their appearance was both frightening and strange because despite their monstrous height they still resembled ordinary women.
Folklore says they carried babies or children strapped to their backs while traveling. Some accounts describe them with extremely long breasts which they pulled over their shoulders in order to nurse the children they carried.
In older Portuguese traditions, the word “amazon” was sometimes used as another name for “wild woman,” and the Almajonas seem connected to that idea. Their husbands were sometimes called Alamões, who were also described as very tall supernatural beings.
The Almajonas were not always portrayed as openly violent creatures, but they were feared because they belonged to the world of wandering dead souls and appeared in isolated places far from villages and settlements.
Sources
The Narrator. (2020). Corrilários. In portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com, from https://portuguesecreaturesandlegendsgalore.wordpress.com/2020/01/17/corrilarios/