Embedded Files
Glowing red eyes from under your bed or in your closet.
Mouth full of razor-sharp teeth like a barracuda.
A hairy beast atop the roof.
Long claws like knives.
Some say it is a vaguely female, humanoid alligator.
Or has an empty pumpkin for a head.
Some say it is the dark shadow of someone who recently died.
Whatever the form, the mere sight will paralyze you with terror.
The creature lives in a cave in the hills or mountains and uses one large, bat-like ear to listen for children misbehaving. It comes down from its den to stalk misbehaving children. El Coco snatches them up, tosses them into a bag, and whisks them back to its lair.
In the darkness, El Coco tears into the children, feasting on their flesh and leaving no trace of them behind.
Parents warn their children, "Behave, or El Coco will come and take you away."
It is a tale told to children who want to go into dangerous places, those who do not listen to their parents, and those who don't want to go to bed. You'll notice that there are conflicting descriptions of El Coco and that the warning of "behave" could really take on nearly any meaning based on the parent.
The Coco or Coca (also known as the Cucuy, Cuco, Cuca, Cucu, Cucuí or El-Cucuí) is a mythical ghost-like monster, equivalent to the bogeyman, found in Spain and Portugal. In Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, parents sometimes invoke the Coco or Cuca as a way of discouraging their children from misbehaving; they sing lullabies or tell rhymes warning their children that if they don't obey their parents, el Coco will come and get them and then eat them.
It is not the way the Coco looks but what it does that scares most. It is a child eater and a kidnapper; it may immediately devour the child, leaving no trace, or it may spirit the child away to a place of no return, but it only does this to disobedient children. It is on the lookout for children's misbehavior from the rooftops; it takes the shape of any dark shadow and stays watching. It represents the opposite of the guardian angel and is frequently compared to the devil. Others see the Coco as a representation of the deceased of the local community.
The oldest known rhyme about the Coco, which originated in the 17th century, is in the Auto de los desposorios de la Virgen by Juan Caxés.
The rhyme has evolved over the years, but still retains its original meaning:
Duérmete niño, duérmete ya...
Que viene el Coco y te comerá
Sleep child, sleep or else...
Coco will come and eat you
The Portuguese lullaby recorded by José Leite de Vasconcelos tells Coca to go to the top of the roof. In other versions of the same lullaby, the name of Coca is changed to that of "papão negro" (black eater), the name of another bogeyman.[18]
Vai-te Coca. Vai-te Coca
Para cima do telhado
Deixa o menino dormir
Um soninho descansado
Leave Coca. Leave Coca
Go to the top of the roof
Let the child have
A quiet sleep
The traditional Brazilian lullaby is as follows, with the Cuca as a female humanoid alligator:
Dorme neném
Que a Cuca vem pegar
Papai foi pra roça
Mamãe foi trabalhar
Sleep little baby
That Cuca comes to get you
Daddy went to the farm
Mommy went to work
Both Brazilians and Portuguese also have a bogeyman version, which sometimes acquires regional colors where the bogeyman (the shape-shifting Bicho Papão is a monster that is shaped by what the child fears most) is a small owl, murucututu, or other birds of prey that could be on the roof of homes at night (in Brazil) or a mysterious old man with a bag who is also waiting on the roof of the house (in Portugal).
Bicho papão
Em cima do telhado
Deixa o meu menino dormir
Um soninho sossegado
Bogeyman
Atop the roof
Let my child have
A quiet sleep
Verses and songs were used in pre-Roman Iberia to transmit history to the younger generations, as told by ancient authors. Sallust said the mothers sang the military feats of the fathers to incite the children to battle. He was later quoted by Servius, who emphasised that it was the role of the mothers to remember and teach the young men about the war feats of their fathers. Silius Italicus added more; he said that the young warriors sang songs in their native language while hitting their shields in the rhythm of the songs and that they were well versed in magic. Strabo, too, commented that history was recorded in verse.
During the Portuguese and Spanish colonization of Latin America, the legend of the Coco was spread to countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile.
El cucuy has been featured in many different shows and movies such as Wizards of Waverly Place, Grimm, Stephen King's The Outsider, The Casagrandes,
Page updated
Report abuse