Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

La Ciguanaba

Nationality: Salvadorian
Age: 50
Occupation: Registered Nurse/Clinical Administrator
Residence: Pasadena, CA
Performance Date: 4/11/12
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

“There was a woman who was born with the name Sihuehuet, which means beautiful woman, but it changes into Ciguanaba, which means hideous woman. Apparently, she was beaten to death by her husband or boyfriend. She initially appears to be this beautiful woman who gains the attention of every man. She is particular to men who appear to be unfaithful or abusive to their girlfriends and wives. So when she confronts one, she seduces them, takes advantage of them sexually and then turns into this horrible-looking devil. She contorts her body in every direction and scares the men that they too twist their bodies due to the extreme fear that comes with seeing la Ciguanaba. It is also believed that she gave birth to a boy before she died, named El Cipitio. And apparently, this son grew up and preys on virgin girls. People in El Salvador have confessed to seeing her, but whether this is true or not is still unknown.”

My informant heard of the “La Ciguanaba” legend as a little girl in El Salvador. She claims that the story originated in El Salvador; however, other sources indicate a different origin. The story is typically told to teenage girls and boys of Hispanic descent, especially if they come from Central America (e.g. El Salvador, Guatemala, and Costa Rica). It is usually a time where females and males are believed to begin relationships and also develop a sense of ethics. I recall her telling me this story during my teenage years, and asked her to recite the piece again. She found this piece interesting and found some importance in retelling this story, because it creates a sense of fear that simultaneously places an importance on morality. She uses the example that by believing in this legend, men will become more wary about how they act in relationships and in the domestic environment. She believes that as a result of this legend, women should symbolize virtue and purity that is sought for by all people. And if this goal (or woman) is tampered with, then people are moving further from achieving proper moral behavior and leading sinful lives.

I think the “La Ciguanaba” legend can be interpreted in multiple ways. The legend is versatile in this sense. It can act as a way for people to understand the notion of karma. It is usually told to children when they are suspected of doing anything rebellious in order to instill fear. Its reinforcing children to avoid conducting mischievous behavior, because their actions may decide their fate in the future. Alternatively, it can be viewed as a way to tell children to make rational decisions, because, again, their actions may dictate what happens as a result of the decisions they make. For example, Hispanic mothers often tell their daughters this story, because they want them to be wary about the decisions the make, such as the partners they choose.

To note, there are multiple variations to the Salvadorian “La Ciguanaba.” I have a friend who is from Guatemala, and I had her recite the Guatemalan version, spelled “La Siguanaba,” and refers to a female who is initially very beautiful. As she is confronted with men, she turns into a horse-like figure and causes males to be disoriented after she has intercourse with them. The men can no longer recall who they are or identify with what is occurring in the world, and they ultimately kill themselves as a result. I also heard of the Costa Rican version, “Cegua,” which is similar to the Guatemalan legend, but uses a different setting.

Soukouyas

Nationality: Caribbean-American
Age: 50
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: Media, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: 4/7/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Patois, Spanish, French, and German (a little of each)

It’s a witch. A witch that sucks blood, almost like a vampiric witch that flies. They kill cattle, they suck the blood from the cattle. People will wake up and find their sheep, or cattle, or goats or whatever dead. And the soucouyas are typically associated with women, typically not men. And they supposedly remove their skin…and when they turn into the soucouya, then they have the power to fly. But they have certain weird traits, almost like their kryptonite. (laughs). Their krypotonite is stuff like salt. You can stop them in their tracks by putting a pile of salt and they have to stop and count the salt. You know, you hear stories, as my mom said she’s seen people flying, some people who got it by practicing some kind of witchcraft. Or obeah. We call in obeah. But people do believe there are people like this. Also, and there was a person, apparently, and I heard this from my cousin, because her sister was actually a nurse, a major nurse at the general hospital in Dominica. And there was a woman who came in, and they said she was a soucouya. She had removed her skin, right? But what happened was somebody hid her skin – you can hide it or you could put something on it so they can’t get back in it. So after they finish flying around and they try to go back in their skin, either it’s hidden or it’s made unsuitable for them to put on. It’s what they put on it. I’m not sure if it’s salt or pepper or what. And she couldn’t get back in her skin. And they die if they can’t get back in their skin. So she ended up in the hospital, just dying and I think she died in the hospital. So that was a documented case. Now again, I’m taking this from my cousin, and she wouldn’t have a reason to lie, and neither would her sister, but who knows, maybe the women was a burn victim or something, but they said all of her skin was gone, which is a very unusual burn type case, you know? Not like a burn case which is typically where part of your body has some skin off, but your entire body had the skin removed? How is that possible? So it seems like that is a credible documentation on someone who had their skin completely removed which does support the soucouya concept. So sometimes I’m like, well I don’t know, I’ve never seen one, but I can’t say they don’t exist, partly because of people who say that they do exist.

 

My mother has told me about this legend several times. The soucouya, as my mother calls it, is also known as a soucouyant, soucriant, soukonian, a true Loogaroo, and Ole-Higue in different parts of the Caribbean and in some cases, the south of the United States. I’ve heard variations on the tale where the soucouya is always an old woman who lives on the edge of a village and exchanges blood she collects from people and animals for magic powers with a demon, sometimes the devil. In some tales she specifically sucks blood from babies, an example of the monstrous mother archetype that Warner discussed in Six Myths of Our Time. Clearly, not only is the soucouya an explanation for livestock dying from unknown sickness or perhaps starvation, but it also reflects misogyny in Dominican and other West Indian cultures. An autonomous woman who lives on her own is viewed as stepping outside the gender norms; thus she is a labeled a witch, unnatural, a threat, and in this case, a soucouya.

 

The Legend of the One-Eyed Gangster

Nationality: Irish/Italian
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: Los Angeles, from King of Prussia, Pennsylvania
Performance Date: 4/7/2012
Primary Language: English

So this kid lived in my neighborhood – I don’t even think this is worth telling because it’s so ludicrous – he was like, “Yeah, I’m like wanted by this gang member who lives across the train tracks from us.” And he only has one eye and he wears an eye-patch. (laughs) And when he kills people he takes their eyes and makes a stew and eats this eyeball stew. (laughs) So he’s like, “yeah, I started dating his girlfriend and then 15 of his thugs jumped me in an alley and I killed all of them, but then he like, killed my girlfriend and so I had to bring her body back and I left it on the doorstep of her parents house. But they saw me put it there so they thought I did it…so I had to watch her funeral from afar.”

 

This story is indeed ludicrous, and was probably told to my informant just to be an entertaining story that would impress listeners with the tale teller’s character: he tangled with dangerous people, was skilled in battle, and ended up dating the girlfriend of the gang leader – a bold move. They both also lived in the same town that had cultures divided by train tracks, which I’ve only heard of in films and books until this point. So, the gangster coming from the other side of the tracks evokes a sense of otherness.

 

 

How Taoism Saved my Grandfather

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Waitress
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/18/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

So my dad’s grandfather, my great-grandfather, had three wives and they all lived in the same house – yeah, it was fucking messy. And then my grandfather, my dad’s father, was the favorite son, or so he says. And so they had this huge family – you know, cause it was three people’s families, basically, of like twenty kids. And they had like nannies, cause my dad’s side of the family made a lot of money in the timber industry. And so one day my grandfather got super super ill. It was gastrointestinal. And they didn’t know what to do with it. They tried herbal medicine they tried purging and bleeding. And so my grandfather’s mother, as a last resort went to see a Taoist practitioner. And she was like, “what should I do? My son is so so sick. And he’s about to be married off. Like we want to see him get married and start his own family.” So this Taoist drew a picture of this pentagram and then he told my great- grandmother, take this to this specific field on this day in the evening and burn it under the night sky. So she went out and did that and then apparently magically he was better after that. Cured him of his illness.

This is a family story that was passed down in my informant’s family. It attests to the luck and perseverance of a large family as well as to the power of magic. Life works in mysterious ways, so my informant’s grandfather “magically” being cured reveals his fortune. Also, his healing may be related to him being the favorite son within the context of Chinese culture.

How Free Speech Was Saved

Nationality: European mutt
Age: 24
Occupation: filmmaker
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: some Swedish, Spanish, and Farsi

This is pre-co-op early days. The year was 2006, so it was one year before the house was created. This was when certain people who were influential to the house lived at what was called the Phi Omega Tau house, or the green house, and so did Strawberry and Wave, who named the Technicolor Tree Tribe from a brain wave she had. (laughs) They lived at the Phi Omega Tau house and they had participated in a free speech zone protest because USC made up this thing, like, a couple years ago where we only had a free speech zone from 12 to 2pm at Tommy Trojan. So they had made this sign and painted it and stuff. After the protest they took it back to their porch and hung it up on their porch and it’s a really nice porch and that they were hanging out on. And so, they were just hanging out on the porch one day and this girl comes by and starts talking shit and she sort of identified herself as a USC college republican and she had a lighter and like tried to set the banner attached to their porch on fire. So, they like brought out a hose and Strawberry was apparently in the background yelling, “if you’re gonna bring fire, we’re gonna bring water!” And they basically sprayed this girl and her dog with a hose and then she came – well, they don’t if she came back – but someone came to the house that night and set the banner on fire and the smoke alarms went off and like they got up and luckily woke up and sprayed the thing out, but there were burn marks all over the porch. Yeah. So they pretty much knew it was this girl, but they couldn’t like call the cops or anything, because apparently like you don’t really invite the cops over to something called the Phi Omega Tau House…because if you know what those Greek symbols mean (laughs) Phi Omega Tau kind of spells out ‘pot.’ That’s Strawberry’s story. I think the girl knew about the protest during the day and like was against that or just this house.

 

After finishing the tale, my informant went on to say that free speech was ironically practiced by the girl who had thought that the people at Phi Omega Tau shouldn’t have expressed what they believed. This situation is an example of the tension, division, and struggle between people who believe in different ideals and how students opposed to certain USC policies also collide with other students.