Category Archives: general

“La Chupacabra”

1. Text

This narrative, centered on La Chupacabra (literally “the goat-sucker”), was told to me by my godmother RS. I had heard it before, but never its specifics. It is a slightly more modern legend that originated in Puerto Rico in the 1990s but has since spread widely across Latinx communities in the Americas, including Mexico. The core of the legend involves a mysterious creature that attacks livestock, particularly goats, draining their blood and leaving their bodies intact but lifeless. While descriptions vary, La Chupacabra is often portrayed as reptilian or alien-like, sometimes bipedal, with glowing red eyes and sharp spines down its back.

In RS’s version, the story is grounded in her childhood memories of hearing it from relatives during family gatherings. She recalls being warned about La Chupacabra when visiting rural areas, especially at night. The creature was said to lurk around farms and small towns, appearing after dark and vanishing without a trace. According to RS, it was not uncommon to hear of goats, chickens, or even dogs found dead with small puncture wounds on their necks (most likely from wild dogs, RS explained). The explanations were always the same: El Chupacabra had come in the night. 

While some told the story with humor, others—especially elders—spoke of it more seriously. RS emphasized that for many, the fear was real. 

2. Context

RS, my godmother, shared this story with me during our conversation about tales, legends and cultural narratives. She explained that while the Chupacabra legend didn’t exist when her grandparents were young, it became widespread during her own youth and was quickly incorporated into local storytelling practices. Despite its recent origin, the story was passed along orally like older legends, gaining emotional and cultural weight within the community.

RS told the story in English, and her tone carried the kind of suspense typical of oral storytelling. The story was typically told in the dark, often during power outages, camping trips, or moments of communal fear. RS believes the legend gained popularity not only because of fear but because it allowed people to express anxieties about the unknown in a way that was vivid and culturally resonant.

3. Interpretation

The Chupacabra legend is best classified as a contemporary legend or urban legend, though it functions much like traditional folklore in its oral transmission, regional variation, and cultural meaning. It reflects a blend of supernatural elements, social fears, and popular media influence. Though it originated in recent decades, its widespread adoption and retelling demonstrate how new legends can take on the same social roles as much older folk narratives.

At its core, the Chupacabra story reflects deeper anxieties about invasion, loss, and the fragility of rural life. The creature attacks not people, but animals—livelihoods—symbolizing a threat to survival and stability. In this sense, the story can be read as an expression of unease about environmental change, unexplained violence, and distrust in authorities who fail to provide clear explanations. Its monstrous form—a blend of alien, beast, and vampire—mirrors a fear of the unnatural and the unseen, a being outside human control.

RS’s retelling shows how even a newer legend can be deeply integrated into a community’s folk practices. Through tone, repetition, and strategic storytelling moments, she contributes to the continued evolution of the legend. The fact that the Chupacabra is still discussed, speculated about, and feared in some areas speaks to its flexibility and cultural potency.

The telling of the Chupacabra demonstrates how folklore is constantly adapting to reflect new realities while fulfilling enduring social functions. RS’s version affirms that even modern legends can serve as cultural mirrors, expressing fears, shaping identity, and preserving collective memory.

Date of performance: 4/06/25
Language: English
Nationality: Mexican-American
Occupation: Retired
Primary Language: English
Residence: Monterey, CA

Finish your bowl of rice

Age: 46
Occupation: Chemist
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text

“Growing up, my parents would always say that If you leave behind grains of rice or you don’t cleanly finish your bowl of rice, the more marks your spouse will have on their face. The marks can either be scars, pimples, moles or anything that would make them unattractive.” 

Context

My informant’s Taiwanese parents would always say this to her when she was young as a way of scaring her into finishing her food. Not doing something you are supposed to will lead to you having an unattractive future spouse. 

Interpretation

This tale is related to Chinese and East Asian superstitions that associate not finishing a bowl of rice with bad luck. Rice symbolizes prosperity and success in Chinese culture. Additionally, not wasting your food is something that all families try to preach to kids, so this tale is likely told to scare kids into doing what they are supposed to. This story also conveys east Asian beauty standards, as Asian culture tends to value a fair and even complexion with minimal marks. A fair complexion is often associated with greater wealth, so perhaps marrying someone with an unfavorable complexion reflects the fact that not finishing your bowl of rice will lead you to marry someone from a lower class. Not doing what you are supposed to may lead to social repercussions.

The Butterfly Lovers Legend

Age: 22
Occupation: College Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Language: English

Text

Collector: “Can you tell me a legend you heard growing up?” 

Informant: “So the legend takes place in Eastern China during the Jin Dynasty. It is basically a love story. The girl Zhu YingTai is the 9th child and only daughter of a wealthy family and she brought her family pride and joy because she was very disciplined and made beautiful embroidery.Her biggest dream and goal in life was to go to school and take on scholarly pursuits, however women at this time are discouraged from going to school. She convinces her parents to let her go to school so long as she disguises herself as a man and promises to come home after her studies to be a dutiful wife. Along the way, she meets a scholar named Liang Shanbo, and they form a strong friendship. Liang Shanbo does not know Zhu YingTai is a woman. Over the next years, they study together and even share a room.They take an oath of fraternity, become sworn brothers. She starts to fall in love with him and Liang Shanbo feels a strong connection. Liang Shanbo obviously grows suspicious of Zhu YingTai overtime, as she always wears thick robes up her neck. People start noticing her secretive behavior and she is forced to leave school and go home. 

When she returns home she finds out that her parents have arranged for her to marry a wealthy merchant from the Ma family. At the university, Liang ShanBo feels like his studies are dull and pointless without Zhu YingTai and decides to visit the Zhu family. When he knocks on the door he sees a young woman and asks for her brother before realizing it is Zhu YingTai herself. As soon as their eyes meet, they recognize each other and admit to his love for her, now that he knows she is a woman, proposes to her. However she has already been engaged. He is devastated but understands. Liang Shanbo tries to get her engagement broken off, but the girl’s family says breaking off engagement will bring them great shame. 

Liang Shanbo falls ill. Fearing that he would not be able to see her on the wedding day, he writes her a final letter and dies after completing it. In the letter he tells her, if you love me, you will light incense at my grave on your wedding day. On the day of the funeral, there were thunderstorms.

Zhu YingTai honors his request and lights incense, wishing they could still be together. When she is done, thunder cracks the tomb and she throws herself in the grave to join him. When the thunder clears, two butterflies come out of the grave.”

Context

The informant is both Chinese-American and a violinist. When he was in high school, he was instructed by his violin teacher to learn The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto. The Butterfly Lovers violin concerto that is based on the Butterfly Lovers Tale, which the informant learned from his mother. It is also a relatively popular Chinese tale. His interpretation of the story is that it is a cliche story about love. True love can never be hidden nor broken.

Interpretation

 The story conveys the fact that true love has no bounds and that individuals who are meant to be together will find each other in the end. This tale reinforces the traditional norms and expectations of women during the Jin Dynasty, as women were not allowed to seek an education during and had a duty to marry into a good family and be a dutiful wife. Familial expectations are seen in this story and initially act as a barrier to their love. However, Zhu YingTai sacrifices her life in order to be with her true love and they are brought together in the afterlife, which coincides with Buddhist beliefs of reincarnation. Butterflies in Chinese folklore are often associated with one’s soul, therefore the two butterflies emerging from the grave represent the fact that Zhu YingTai and Liang Shanbo have an unbreakable bond. Across other cultures, butterflies often represent a rebirth or a transformation.

The Lazy Wife

Age: 46
Occupation: Chemist
Residence: Los Angeles
Language: English

Text

“A long time ago there was a man with a really lazy wife. When he had to leave the house for a while, he was afraid she would die of hunger so he made her a necklace made of cookies. And when he came back, she died because she only ate the front of the necklace because she was too lazy. There are also other versions where he made her a blanket and she only ate the front of it also. ”

Context

The informant grew up in Taiwan and first heard this story when she was in elementary school, from her father. Her interpretation of it is the moral is to not be lazy. She notes that she was also told other stories that have a similar theme of a lazy wife.

Interpretation

This is a humorous and bizarre Chinese tale conveying how laziness will kill you, teaching a moral lesson against being excessively lazy. It reveals that self-sufficiency and drive is important, as someone can try to set you up for success but you have to be able to help yourself and put in some effort in order to survive. The tale portrays women in a rather poor light, exaggerating the way in which they depend on their husbands in order to survive. The variations with the food necklace and food blanket serve as an allomotif, and also shows how tales vary depending on who is telling it.


Kaguya – Legend

Nationality: Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Film & TV Production Major Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Orion Housing at the University of Southern California
Language: English

Text:

The popular tale of The Bamboo Cutter features an old man who finds a bamboo stalk with a girl inside the stalk. The girl grows to become one of the most beautiful people in the entire empire, catching even the attention of the emperor. To win her over, she makes her suitors do insane tasks. She eventually reveals that she is extraordinarily beautiful because she is from the moon. After falling in love with the emperor, she realizes she must go back to the moon, and offers the emperor immortality so that he may not forget her. However, the idea of being tortured by an eternity where he lives forever knowing he can never be his lover is too much for the emperor to handle and he burns the immortality token she grants him.
Context:

The performer witnessed this lore in Japanese culture originally before looking into its origins within Korean folktales as many “Kaguya” characters in Japanese media are beautiful women who seem out of the male lead’s league. One of the mediums he watched with involved this type of trope was the movie Princess Kaguya. He felt that while the Kaguya trope has many supernatural elements, the idea of being “banished” somewhere such as the moon, the feeling related to the universal duty one sometimes feels toward their “point of origin” (family).

Analysis:

A common theme within East Asian cultures is the idea of family and societal duty. The moon is representative of “home” or family in which Kaguya must return to and sacrifice her hopes of love for in order to serve a power larger to herself.
Additionally, Korean Buddhist ideas of balance, harmony, and impermanence are represented through this tale as at first, Kaguya resists her role of being a “submissive” beautiful object in society. However she can only resist for so long before nature runs its course and that beauty is taken away and sent back to the moon. While bittersweet, this story serves as a tale to remind Koreans to keep their realities in check. Sometimes it’s okay to dream big and long for more, but at the end of the day, family and loyalty to your origin should be at the forefront of one’s values.