Ahó Ahó is a legend from the South created to convince the Indians to accompany the priests during the Missions, otherwise a monster, the Ahó Ahó, would appear to devour them.
Unlike most Brazilian myths, which present themselves as solitary figures, the Ahó Ahó acted in groups, emitting a sound similar to Ahó Ahó (hence their name), when they attacked indigenous people who strayed from the reductions maintained by the Society of Jesus. That's what the legend says.
Where does a story like that come from? In this case, it seems that the myth of Ahó Ahó was spread by Jesuit priests, during the time of the Missions, to scare the Guarani Indians, demonizing their free journey through the forest, to force them to remain outside their villages, in the territory of the Missions.
The idea that the only solution to save oneself from the wrath of the Ahó Ahó was to climb a sacred palm tree from which palms were taken for the Church's blessings on Palm Sunday (the Sunday before Easter, according to Christianity) reinforces the thesis of diffusion of the myth by the Jesuits of the Southern Missions in Brazil.
However, the myth seems to have gone further and is now known throughout the territory occupied by the nations of the indigenous Guarani people, both in Brazil and in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay.
Source: https://xapuri.info/aho-aho-uma-lenda-do-sul-do-brasil/ and https://www.todamateria.com.br/lendas-e-mitos/
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