Author Archives: Nadiia Sas

Tale of El Silbón

My subject shared with me a Venezuelan tale of El Silbón. This tale is about a young bratty boy who always want to get things his way. He lives in the shack in the woods with his parents and and a grandfather. One day the boy doesn’t get his way and in a fit of rage and craziness, he kills his parents. When his grandfather finds out, he curses the boy to forever be carrying the bones of his parents with him for what he did. After that. the grandfather whips the boy and puts raw garlic in his wounds and then sends the pack of wild dogs after him. The boy dies and in the afterlife still has to carry the bag of his parents’ bones. This is a tale often used as a cautionary story for the bratty kids to scare them into a good behavior. If they misbehave, the Silbón – the dead bratty boy will come and get you. El Silbón translates to a “whistler” and a legend developed from it. It is said that if you are in a dark and scary place and you hear the whistling, it means that the El Silbón is nearby. However, if a person hears the whistling super close to them, it actually means that El Silbón is far away. And if the whistling sounds distant, it means that El Silbón is nearby and that he will steal and kill you. There are preventative measures however against El Silbón. If you have a dog with you or if you have garlic with you, Silbón will not harm you.

My subject heard this story in their Spanish class in high school in Florida. Being of Latino descent, but not Venezuelan, the subject commented that Latino countries tend to have folklore that is “violent, involves murder and death and people getting ripped apart”.

The Venezuelan tale of El Silbón can be seen as primarily a tale of generations and respect for them. When the boy kills his parents out of rage that they were not able to provide him with what he wanted, he is punished with a worse death and curse from his grandfather – an ancestral figure. This is the explanation of a family dynamic and a warning that committing crimes against the family will not go unpunished. This story further encapsulates the Venezuelan values of family and respect for older generations. The boy being forever burdened to carry the bones of his parents even in the afterlife, enforcing a narrative that a child cannot escape the “sin” of disobeying and murdering his parents, and that it will burden his for the rest of eternity.

However, the cruel violence and punishment that my subject mentioned is present often in the South American folklore points to another interpretation of the tale. El Silbón is about intergenerational trauma and violence that might have been brought on by colonialism. If one is thinking through this prism,the way the boy is cursed to carry the bones of his parents forever can be seen as a metaphor for how people in colonized countries are still carrying the weight of a violent past. It’s not just about personal guilt—it’s about generational trauma and the pain that gets passed down through families and culture, even if the original events happened long ago.The brutal punishments the boy faces reflect the real violence used by colonizers to control and terrorize people. These details feel symbolic of the cruelty that Indigenous and enslaved people endured, and how that trauma became part of the cultural memory.

Even the idea that El Silbón‘s whistle is misleading—sounding far when he’s close and close when he’s far—can reflect how colonial histories mess with our sense of reality. The past can feel distant, but its effects are still very present. And the fact that things like garlic or dogs can protect you ties into how people have held onto traditional knowledge, blending Indigenous, African, and European beliefs to survive and make sense of their world. So while El Silbón works on the surface as a scary story to scare misbehaving kids, it also reflects the lingering pain and complexity of life after colonization. It’s a haunting reminder that the past is never really gone.

Tale of Struwwelpeter

My informant told me a short German children’s tale of Struwwelpeter. It translates to “Straw Peter” and it is about a young boy who refuses to eat the porridge his parents have prepared for him. Peter refuses to eat the porridge as he does not like it, and the parents refuse to feed him anything else. Struwwelpeter gets skinnier and skinner every day, and eventually he becomes the size of a straw. And after that he disappears into thin air because he is so skinny. The first time my informant heard this story was through their German grandmother while she was recounting the “crazy and funny” German folklore she has grown up with. My informant has been in elementary school at the time. The story was also taught to my informant in their German language class in high school. According to my informant, the tale of Struwwelpeter served as a didactic story for children to get them to eat the food that has been prepared to them.

It is interesting how both Struwwelpeter and his parents both refuse to do something. This symbolizes a friction between the two generations. While nothing happens to the parents by refusing to serve anything else to their son, Peter disappears because of his refusal, so in a way the stubbornness is at the center of the moral of the tale. As he wastes away and eventually disappears, the message is clear: kids who don’t listen or refuse to obey might just vanish from existence. It’s a harsh moral, but it reflects how older generations often tried to teach lessons through fear and exaggeration.The fact that nothing happens to the parents is also telling—it kind of shows how adult authority goes unchallenged, and how the burden of change or obedience always falls on the child. The tale ends up reinforcing this idea that kids should accept what they’re given and not question it, even if it seems unfair.

When my informant talked about hearing this story from their grandmother, and then again in school, it made me think about how these stories are passed down—not just for fun, but as part of cultural tradition. And even though Struwwelpeter comes across as bizarre or funny today, it still carries those old values around discipline and behavior. In the end, Struwwelpeter is more than just a weird story about a kid disappearing—it’s about control, about what happens when you push back against expectations. It uses absurdity to make a point, but that point is rooted in something serious: the fear of what happens when you go against the grain.

Legend of Chupacabra

The informant told me the legend of a mythical creature Chupacabra. They have heard about it from a book that their grandmother read to them and learned about it in their elementary school in America. My informant is of Mexican descent and according to them it was taught by a Chilean teacher who taught most popular legends of different Latin countries and the legend of Chupacabra happened to be m most prominent in Chile.

Chupacabra is a legendary creature who is primarily known to attack the livestock at night and suck the blood out of them. It is common in the rural areas and “ranchos” where farming is prominent. According to my subject. Chupacabra is a reptilian-like creature with scales and green eyes. It lurks in forests and wilderness at night and comes out to feed on the blood of the livestock. Children, primarily teens are made most aware of the creature. According to my subject, Chupacabra is often mentioned to the teens that liked to go out at night and sneak out to the secluded spaces. Chupacabra is mainly known to attack the livestock but no one excludes the possibility that it might get the humans too.

One of the ways to keep Chupacabra from attacking the livestock is giving it little animal sacrifices. According to my subject, this practice is rooted in indigenous cultures of South America.

The legend of the Chupacabra is an example of legendary folklore that reflects the fears, cultural beliefs, and social values of Latin American communities. The is known across the Americas, including Mexico and Chile, taking on new meanings in each cultural context. In in the case of my informant of Mexican descent who first heard the legend from their grandmother and later learned about it in elementary school from a Chilean teacher, the Chupacabra is portrayed as a reptilian, scale-covered creature with green eyes that attacks livestock at night to suck their blood. It is said to dwell in forests and remote rural areas, especially near ranchos where farming and livestock are common. The story serves several functions: it acts as a cautionary tale to discourage teenagers from sneaking out at night, warns of the dangers lurking in the wilderness, and offers a mythical explanation for unexplained livestock deaths that so often happens because of unknown causes and diseases. Additionally, the mention of animal sacrifices as a way to appease the creature reflects a deeper connection to indigenous South American spiritual practices, highlighting how ancient belief systems are preserved and adapted through folklore. Symbolically, the Chupacabra represents fear of the unknown and a threat to both livelihood and safety, particularly in rural, agrarian communities. Its ongoing presence in stories shows how folklore can influence behavior, strengthen cultural identity, and help people make sense of things they don’t understand.

Tale of Crab Maga

My informant told me a tale of Crab Maga also known as “Why Mosquitoes Buzz In Our Ears,”. It is a Filipino children’s tale and was read to her my her Filipino grandmother when she was about six years old. The tale goes as follows: The story of “Crab Maga,” evolves around a king crab named Maga who struggles with insomnia. To help him sleep, he calls upon the frogs from the village to sing him a lullaby. However, his loud snoring causes rain, which amuses the frogs. When Maga wakes up and learns that the frogs were laughing at a snail carrying its house, he orders his sheriff, another crab, to arrest the snail.

The snail explains that it was laughing at a firefly, which leads Maga to send the sheriff after the firefly. The firefly, in turn, claims it was trying to find a mosquito that was bothering it. When the mosquito arrives, it is unafraid of Maga and mocks him, leading to a confrontation where Maga kills the mosquito. However, this action provokes a swarm of mosquitoes that attack Maga, targeting his weak spots. In fear, Maga and his sheriff dig a hole to hide and are never seen again. The story concludes with the explanation that the buzzing of mosquitoes in our ears is a reminder of this tale, as they are attracted to holes, similar to the one where Maga and his sheriff took refuge.

This particular children’s tale has a huge colonial undertone as it talks about a ruler in a position of power whose whims and ego dictate what happens to the creatures that do not have in a sense a freedom to express how they feel. The creatures have to lie and blame others for laughing and pointing out the flaws of Maga. Like many folk tales, it uses animals with human characteristics—crabs, frogs, snails, fireflies, and mosquitoes—to create a world where complex social dynamics and consequences play out in a playful yet instructive way.

The story also reinforce the power of people and what resistance to the injustice and standing for one’s truth can lead to. Mosquito is the lesser of all creatures yet it stands in its truth and even sacrifices its life for it. A group of mosquitos however are able to overturn the king to avenge the mosquito, thus teaching the lesson of the power of the group.

The ending of the story is very interesting, offering the tale as an explanation of why mosquitos get close to humans and why we can hear them. Mosquitos in this context are already established as heroes thus offering a different outlook on insects that are usually perceived as as pests and annoyance. This reinforced the idea of preserving nature and treating things humans annoying with respect, as they might not know the full story of why things happen.

Myth of Pandora

My informant told me of the myth about a greek Goddess Pandora. The myth developed from the belief that men came from a woman, but emerged from Earth and that the first woman who was formed by the Gods, particularly God Hephaestus, was Pandora. Hephaestus was instructed by Zeus to create a mortal woman and to punish another God for introducing fire to humans. Pandora was sent as an evil to the world and Gods gave her a box of sufferings, struggle, and wickedness.Zeus instructed Hephaestus to make Pandora naive enough so that she would open the box, however Pandora was still instructed not to open it. Pandora was curious about the box since it was forbidden to open it, and because of her naivety she opened the box and released al of the bad things in the box into the world. That’s why there’s evil in the world like bad people and pain. This is a myth about how the first woman came to the world and how the evil was brought about. The subject highlighted that they do not think this myth has gotten its own theatrical play, however it is mentioned in many other works.

My subject has heard the myth before in their life as it was frequently mentioned in literature, media, and pop culture, but they really learned it in their ancient dramas class in university.

From a folklore perspective, the myth of Pandora works as an origin story explaining how suffering and evil entered the world. These kinds of stories help people make sense of things that feel unexplainable, like pain, injustice, or why life can be difficult. In Pandora’s case, the story suggests that the troubles of the world began because of one act: her decision to open the box she was told not to. This mirrors the story of origin in Judeo-Christian tradition when Eve ate from the forbidden tree of knowledge.

What stands out is how the myth places a woman at the center of this turning point. Pandora wasn’t just created to exist—she was designed, by the gods, to serve a purpose of punishing humanity, yet still given a free will. She’s made to be beautiful and appealing, yet also naive and curious, which ultimately leads her to open the box. This idea—that a woman’s curiosity brings about chaos is a theme that shows up in many cultures. These stories reflect the belief systems about gender, control, and obedience. In that way, Pandora’s myth doesn’t just explain the origin of evil—it also reflects the ancient anxieties and ideas about women and their role in society.

The box also serves as an interesting power symbol. It represent a boundary—between the known and the unknown, safety and danger. The fact that Pandora opens it, even though she’s told not to, speaks to a very human trait of curiosity. The story seems to warn against this kind of questioning, especially when it comes from someone who wasn’t meant to have power in the first place.

When my informant mentioned that they’d mostly encountered this myth through school and popular media, it reminded me how myths like Pandora’s continue to live on, even outside of their original cultural context. They show up in literature, film, art, and even everyday language . Even if people don’t know the full story, they’ve likely absorbed some part of it just by being part of the culture. That’s how folklore works—it adapts, survives, and keeps finding new ways to be relevant. In the end, Pandora’s myth isn’t just about how evil came into the world. It’s also about how humans try to make sense of suffering, how they tell stories to explain the hard parts of life, and how those stories reflect the values and fears of the people who told them.