‘El Cipitio’

Age: 48


Date of performance: 4/5/25


Language: Spanish


Nationality: Latino/a


Occupation: Caregiver


Primary Language: Spanish


Residence: United States

Text:

  • El Cipitio is a legendary character from Salvadoran folklore portrayed as a 8-10 year old boy with a large conical hat and a pot-belly.

Context:

  • ‘El Cipitio’s’ name is derived from the Salvadoran word for child, “cipote” translating‘El Cipitio’ to ‘The boy’. Cursed by the god Teotl, Cipitio was condemned to live eternity as a small boy with backwards feet. He is known to be a trickster, wandering into farmers fields, throwing pebbles at beautiful ladies, hiding in bushes to scare people, and eating ashes leftover in rural kitchens.

Growing up in the rural parts of El Salvador, my informant has heard various stories about the Cipitio. Considering their family always cooked in lumber fueled stoves, when ashes laid scattered the day after cooking, the fault would always lay to ‘El Cipitio.’ Or whenever foot prints would lead to no suspecting figure, it would be perceived as a trick from ‘El Cipitio’ and his backwards feet.

My informant interpreted these stories from ‘El Cipitio’ to explain some of the oddities of life, or some of the things children would do but would never explicitly take fault for.

Analysis:

I interpret ‘El Cipitio’ as a legendary character who is just meant to be an entertaining factor in life. Made to make light of some oddities and serve as a easy cop out for things we just aren’t able to explain. I find that he is made to represent childish wonder and all that makes up being a kid growing up. In term, I believe that he is meant to represent the literal sense of a child, a boy to be exact as he is described to do some of the ‘stereotypical’ actions of a boy at his age.

‘La Llorona’

Age: 48


Date of performance: 4/5/25


Language: Spanish


Nationality: Latino/a


Occupation: Caregiver


Primary Language: Spanish


Residence: United States

Text:

“La Llorona” is the name of a sad ghost who roams along riverbanks looking for wandering children at night.

Context:

“She is said to have lost her children in a tragic accident along a riverbank to drowning. Mournful for her children, she took her own life and drowned herself. As a result of this, she wasn’t allowed to cross into the afterlife and remains on earth as a vengeful spirit looking to reunite with her children. She cries out loud, wandering around searching for her children, often mistaking living humans for her deceased children and taking them to riverbank to drown them to reunite in the afterlife.”

Growing up in a small village in El Salvador my informant often listened to this story from some of the older people in their community such as their grandparents, specifically Grandma. They’ve never first hand experienced hearing the wails of a lady in the night, but have continued to hear some of the older generations tell their own personal stories encountering such when they were younger.

My informant interprets the myth of “La Llorona” as a folk story told to children to deter them from wandering out in the village at night through the use of fear. It worked for them as these stories they were told growing up all felt like scary stories and not lessons so they were always scared to go against them and question their validity.


Analysis:

I agree with my informants interpretation of this myth. Commonly, most Hispanic folk stories are meant to teach the younger generation to be careful in the vast fields that surround our home. These pose dangerous environments with wild animals out in the wild in the midst, especially at night. I find that it makes sense for the elders to warn children in a more ‘grounded’ format that’d stick to a children’s mind through fear. Considering the location and environment my informant grew up in, the myth is further amplified by the common misinterpretation of the screams or wails of a big cat to that of a woman’s. A factor, that could’ve served as the foundation of the myth itself.

La Mujer Mula

“Érase una vez una joven mujer la cual trabajaba en un restaurante en Caracas. Un día, la madre de la muchacha, una anciana, acudió al restaurante a pedir un plato de comida. Su propia hija le negó el plato y posteriormente la expulsó del local.

Una vez fuera, dolida, la anciana mujer se encontró con un hombre que le regaló una moneda con una cruz de San Andrés. El hombre le dio instrucciones de que volviera al restaurante y comiera con ese dinero, pero que cuando su hija le diera la vuelta le dijera que se quedara al cambio para comprar malojo.

La anciana hizo lo que el hombre le dijo, algo que provocó que la hija que la había expulsada se transformara parcialmente en mula, relinchando y coceando hasta que huyó del lugar. Desde entonces la mujer mula se tapa con un manto blanco y se aparece en las iglesias, rezando”.

Translation;

“Once upon a time, there was a young woman who worked in a restaurant in Caracas. One day, the girl’s mother, an elderly woman, came to the restaurant to ask for a plate of food. Her own daughter refused her the plate and subsequently expelled her from the establishment.

Once outside, hurt, the elderly woman met a man who gave her a coin with a St. Andrew’s cross on it. The man instructed her to return to the restaurant and eat with the money, but when her daughter gave her the change, she was to tell him to keep the change to buy malojo.

The elderly woman did as the man told her, causing the daughter who had expelled her to partially transform into a mule, neighing and kicking until she fled the scene. Since then, the Mule Woman covers herself with a white cloak and appears in churches, praying.”

Analysis: A Venezuelan legend that tells us about the price and punishment of ingratitude, as well as the return of the wrongs done to others. It is difficult to pinpoint the origins of this story, but it became popular in Caracas, where most of the high-end restaurants are. This is the capital of Venezuela, which made the story grow at a faster rate because of the high number of people who live in Caracas who shared the story with their relatives/friends. This legend also reflects the Venezuelan national religion, which is Catholicism. It is represented by how the end of the story plays out, with the mule woman appearing in churches. In Venezuelan culture, heavily influenced by Catholicism, the best thing to do if you have sinned is to go to the church, which is what the women do. 

Layla and Majnun

There are many versions of the story. The story’s influence extended to Western literature, with echoes of its themes in works like Goethe’s “West-östlicher Divan”. The story inspired musical compositions, including the first opera in the Islamic world, “Leyli and Majnun” by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, and the song “Layla” by Eric Clapton. Even in modern pop culture, the story’s themes of forbidden love and longing are evident in songs like Eric Clapton’s “Layla,” which was inspired by the story. The story’s themes of love, loss, and obsession resonate universally, attracting audiences from diverse backgrounds and cultures. 

Analysis: In Persian folklore, the story of Layla and Majnun stands in for the classic “star-crossed lovers” tale. It originated before Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (albeit after the myth of Pyramus and Thisbe), but features many similarities. In the story, Leili and Majnun fall in love, but Leili has been arranged to marry another man. She does and is devastated. She and Majnun clandestinely meet to exchange poetry, until Leili’s husband dies. When Majnun hears of Leili’s husband’s death, he wishes to see her, but custom requires that she stay in her home, isolated from the world, for two years to grieve his death. Knowing this, Leili dies of a broken heart. Upon seeing Leili’s dead body, Majnun dies as well, and they are buried side by side, reunited in their death.

El espíritu de la Laguna de Urao

“La Laguna de Urao, ubicada en el estado Mérida, esconde un antiguo misterio. Se dice que hace siglos, antes de la llegada de los españoles, vivía en la zona una tribu de indígenas Mucuchíes, quienes veneraban a los espíritus de la naturaleza y obtenían su sustento de la laguna.

Un día, los indígenas notaron que el agua de la laguna comenzaba a reducirse misteriosamente. Alarmados, consultaron al chamán de la tribu, quien les dijo que debían hacer una ofrenda para calmar la furia del espíritu de la laguna. Como sacrificio, decidieron entregar a una joven doncella de la comunidad, quien fue arrojada a las aguas para apaciguar a la deidad.

Desde entonces, se dice que el alma de la doncella habita en la laguna, protegiéndola de los extraños y asegurándose de que su nivel de agua nunca baje completamente. Hay quienes afirman haber visto una figura femenina flotando sobre la superficie o escuchado su lamento en las noches de luna llena.”

Translation;

“Urao Lagoon, located in the state of Mérida, hides an ancient mystery. It is said that centuries ago, before the arrival of the Spanish, a tribe of Mucuchí indigenous people lived in the area. They worshipped the spirits of nature and drew their sustenance from the lagoon.

One day, the indigenous people noticed that the lagoon’s water was mysteriously beginning to diminish. Alarmed, they consulted the tribe’s shaman, who told them they should make an offering to calm the fury of the lagoon’s spirit. As a sacrifice, he decided to offer a young maiden from the community, who was thrown into the waters to appease the deity.

Since then, it is said that the maiden’s soul inhabits the lagoon, protecting it from strangers and ensuring that its water level never completely recedes. Some claim to have seen a female figure floating on the surface or heard her lament on nights with a full moon.”

Analysis: This legend blends indigenous beliefs with mystical elements, conveying respect for nature and fear of the hidden powers within. Urao Lagoon remains a place of great spiritual and cultural significance for the region’s inhabitants.