Tag Archives: myth

El Cucuí

Nationality: Puerto Rican
Age: 46

Context

MO is my mother. She grew up in Chicago, Illinois in the 70s. She was born to two Puerto Rican parents who came to America in their teenage years. Her father is from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, and her mother is from Moca, Puerto Rico. They go visit Puerto Rico every summer and have done so for decades. 

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DO (Interviewer): I know you’ve told me lots of stories that Lelo and Lela would tell you growing up, do you have any that you think have stuck with you until now?

MO: El Cucuí. I was also so scared growing up that he was gonna get me. Even when I grew up more, I was always a little scared in the back of my mind but I would never admit that. As a teen, I was like get it together you’re too grown for this. As I got older I asked Lelo and he said Abuela would tell it to him and his brothers.

DO: El Cucuí is basically like the bogeyman in other cultures. 

MO: Mhm. Basically it’s used to scare kids into behaving when they’re acting up. God knows we needed it as kids. 

DO: Can you explain the story a bit? Like more background and context.

MO: He’s like this scary monster that’s supposed to live in the shadows and in the dark. But the story goes, he only eats children who are acting up. Your grandpa would say he was really ugly and had red eyes and claws. Lelo would say “¡Mirar! Si no paras El Cuco – that’s another name for it – te va a venir a buscar.” If you were bad, he’d come get you when you’re sleeping at night. 

DO: Did this work on you?

MO: Of course it did. We lived in an old house so there were a bunch of corners and noises at night so I made sure I was on my best behavior. If one of your Tios acted up, I would think I’d wake up to find them gone the next morning. I would make fun of them and tell them the Cuco was hiding in their closet. Me and your Tias would run to their room the next morning and check. 

Analysis

I believe this myth of the Cucuí would count as children’s lore and Puerto Rican folklore. This story’s main audience is children and is used to ensure good behavior from them. As mentioned, not only do adults tell this story to children, but children tell it to each other. In Puerto Rican culture it’s also a story that is passed down from generation to generation. It was used on my grandfather as a child and even though he knew this wasn’t real as an adult, he continued the tradition and used it on my mother, aunts, and uncles to get them to behave. My mother would try and use it on my brothers and they in turn have used it on my nephew.

Lord Ganesha

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4-4-23
Primary Language: English

Context:

My informant, NT, is my roommate and good friend. She is a junior at USC and she is Hindu. The reason she shared this story with me was actually very random. She has a small statue of a Hindu god in our room, but for most of the semester it was covered by her makeup bag on her desk. When we were cleaning, she said, “OH NO, I’ve accidently had a god hidden, no wonder I’m not thriving,” in a completely humorous and sarcastic manor. This led me to ask why the statue had an elephant head.

Main Piece:

NT’s summary- The Goddess Parvati created her son Ganesha so that he could always guard her chamber, and never let anyone in no matter who they were. One time, Ganesha didn’t allow the Goddess’ husband, Shiva, in the chamber. Shiva freaked out and was so angry that he chopped Ganesha’s head off; this enraged the Goddess so much that she threatened to destroy the world, he was not brought back to life. So, Shiva saw an elephant, cut its head off and gave it to Ganesha. The Goddess was still unforgiving, so Shiva bestowed a great amount of divinity to Ganesha and made it a rule that everyone had to pray to him before any other god.

Interviewer: So why is this the god you choose to have a statue of Ganesha, is there personal significance behind it?

NT- When I was a little girl, my mom took me on my first trip to India. I really didn’t know much about my own culture, which was kind of sad. I would always pray with my parents and repeat what they said but I never really understood what any of it meant. So, when we were in India, my mom decided to buy me a bunch of kid’s books about all the stories of the gods so that I could understand the myths behind each one and why we pray to them. I had probably like 20 of them, but my favorite one was always the one about Ganesha. He’s definitely the most well-known god among people who don’t know anything about Hinduism, mostly because he has an elephant head. But I was always taught (even though I didn’t understand) that we needed to pray to Ganesha first before ANY other god, even if it was a holiday celebrating a different god. I always thought it was so weird, but then i read the story of how ganesha came to be and what happened to him (how his father cut off his head lol) and that was the story that really got me into my culture. so now i even have an idol/statue thing of ganesha in my room because not only is he the remover of obstacles but he also brought me closer to my culture.

Analysis:

NT shared with me a myth from her religion; by her very easy recall of details, it’s obvious that it holds a special and sacred place in her heart. A very common motif amongst religious myths is the creation factor, hence the creation story for the god of obstacles. Using Levi-Strauss’ paradigmatic approach, myths can be analyzed by how they relate to the underlying patterns in life. People can use myths as a guide for what to do on earth, so Ganesha’s perseverance can be translated into one’s own challenges in the real world. Being able to find commonality and comfort in myths is a reason that people hold them so sacred.

Eggs for a Rain-Less Wedding

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Residence: San Gabriel, California
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

M is 50, and was raised in the Caloocan area of metro Manila, Philippines, and currently resides in San Gabriel, California.

M says that “if there is an occasion in which you don’t want it to rain, like a wedding” then you should leave an egg outside. Interestingly, M couldn’t recall where she had heard this belief or the reason why it was so widely held.

Research indicated that this was indeed a common belief held among Filipino people, although there is some discrepancy whether the belief is a myth or a spiritual belief. One variation acts as an urban myth, with eggs being symbolic for new beginnings, while another variation suggests that the egg is an offering to Saint Clara for good weather. Either way, it is still interesting that there can be multiple different origins for one folk belief.

Tabi Tabi Po

Nationality: American
Age: 50
Residence: San Gabriel, CA
Primary Language: English
Language: Tagalog

M is 50, and was raised in the Caloocan area of metro Manila, Philippines and currently resides in San Gabriel, California.

Growing up, she was always told that “when you pass by a mound of dirt in the Philippines” you must say “tabi tabi po”. This translates to something along the lines of “excuse me” or “I’m passing by.” This was to show the “nuno sa punso” that you respected their home. Upon asking why this was done so frequently, M responded that you are “not supposed to kick it or trample it or something bad will happen to you.”

Upon further research, I read that the nuno sa punso was a catch-all term for any folkloric spirit that could be dwelling within the mound. Additionally, “tabi tabi po” is the shorthand term for “tabi, tabi po baka kayo mabunggd” which translates more formally to “excuse me, sir, lest I bump into you”. In addition to this phrase, it appears that there are different variations of the same phrase uttered in similar situations that vary in different regions and dialects, perhaps suggesting that there is a general reverence/fear surrounding the figures of Filipino folklore.

Madame Pele at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Hotel

T is 70 years old. He is a retired teacher. He was born in Southern California and raised in Hawaii. He was 7 years old when his family moved there in 1959. He is very animated and speaks very quickly. He shared this piece with me in conversation.

“The legend of Pele used to frighten me as a child. She was always seen before a volcanic eruption… someone would see her… she was very regal, tall, long flowing black hair, flaming red dress flowing behind her… she was elegant. She would appear walking somewhere… This was in 1960, what happened was the volcano did erupt and we lived on Kailua at the time, the eruption was on the big island, I forget which volcano it was, but the pumice, that’s when the lava flows on the water, anyway the pumice flows onto the beach… people use it to scrub their face, anyways people said they saw her walking through the wall in the Hawaiian Village hotel. She’s not happy about how the island is going, you know… what’s happened to the native Hawaiians and the Polynesian culture… So I was really scared of her and I used to think I would see her walking through my bedroom but I never did. So if you see her walking around, that means a volcano will erupt pretty soon. They call her the goddess, Madame Pele.”

Pele is part of Hawaiian mythology but interestingly endures in contemporary times through many sightings, sometimes as a hitchhiker, sometimes dressed in white with a white dog, and sometimes as a beautiful young woman dressed in red or as a female figure within lava itself. These contemporary iterations of Pele take the form of ghost story figures. The version T told me coincides with accounts documented on websites such as https://www.hauntedrooms.com/hawaii/haunted-places/haunted-hotels & https://frightfind.com/hilton-hawaiian-village/ and does seem to serve as a cautionary tale or lesson particularly in light of the fact that the sighting happens in a tourist hotel and that Pele is not happy about native land dispossession and the display of Polynesian culture as tourist attraction.

For more information about Pele and contemporary sightings see https://www.academia.edu/189854 & https://www.hawaiimagazine.com/people-cant-stop-seeing-pele-in-the-lava/.