Myths & Legends

The legend of La Llorona is about a woman who drowns her children and wanders the earth in search of them. The story varies by region, but some common themes include a woman in a white dress, nocturnal wailing, and an association with water. In one version, La Llorona is a beautiful woman who marries a rich man and drowns their children after seeing him with another woman. In another version, she is forced into marriage by her father and kills her children after finding out about an affair.

La Cegua (from Nahuatl, cihuatl, woman), also known as Segua or Tzegua, is a major character in Central American legends, a spectral being who materializes at night on lonely roads, asking for help to take her to a nearby town. The ghost usually appears to womanizing men in the form of a very beautiful woman, which later transforms into a monster with the head of a horse.  

The legend of Los Cadejos is a Central American folklore about supernatural dog-like spirits that roam isolated roads at night. The legend has evolved over time and includes two types of Cadejos, a white one that represents good and a black one that represents evil:

White Cadejo
A spirit of light that protects travelers from harm. It prevents the black Cadejo from stealing the souls of children.
Black Cadejo
An incarnation of the devil that tries to kill travelers. It scares its victims with its glowing red eyes and steals their souls.

Tata Duende is described as a short man, three feet in height, with an ugly old face, wearing a large red hat, sometimes wearing animal skins, often carrying a machete or knotted stick, missing both thumbs, and with feet facing backwards to throw people off his trail.

He is often sighted when it rains, and during Lent, especially around Good Friday. Almost all Tata sightings occur at night. When Tata approaches, a whistling sound can be heard, if the sound is loud and close, have no fear, Tata is a trickster. It is time to worry only when the whistle is distant, because that means he is actually close by.

Tata Duende is the traditional guardian angel of all animals and people of the forest. A kind creature by nature, he is often said to feed, protect, and cure people hurt or lost in the forest. He is a close friend to the animals and punishes hunters that kill more game than they need.

The exact origin of the Legend of La Cuyancúa is unknown, however, it is known that it comes from the legends that the Nahuas (Pipils) brought to El Salvador, as part of their traditions and folklore. Consequently, these legends were adopted by the indigenous people and thus other stories emerged in different places on the American continent, encompassed by the Mayan culture.

Legend has it that, as night fell, north of Izalco, a kind of dark squawk or screech could be heard, followed by strong turbulence under the ground. This phenomenon was attributed to La Cuyancúa, which aroused fear among the locals, causing them to lock themselves in their homes in the early hours. This sound was heard mainly around rivers and streams, where La Cuyancúa crawled in search of food or when it announced that it was going to rain.

The legend of El Sacerdote Sin Cabeza (the headless priest) is a traditional Central American story about a ghostly priest or monk that appears at night, seeking his head and frightening people. The legend is said to have originated during the Spanish colonization of the Americas, when some Catholic missionaries were beheaded by indigenous leaders.
 
The legend of the headless priest is a warning against those who profane the holy, or “touch God with dirty hands”. It may also represent a cultural fear of clerical abuse of authority.
 
Some versions of the legend say that the priest was decapitated as punishment for his improper behavior, while others say he was unjustly beheaded by his enemies. The ghost of the headless priest may appear in churches, ermitas, and other religious places, or in the streets, seeking his head, or as a mute witness demanding justice for his death.

The story goes that in villages that were not Christianized, dead children appeared in the morning, it was attributed to a demonic and vampiric being that appeared at night in non-believing villages.

La Chorca or owl woman was a normal person by day, but at night, thirsty for human blood, she transformed into an indescribable being equipped with wings, to be able to transport herself more agilely and quickly to the villages, and she had a nose with which could smell the fresh vital fluid of newborns.

The chorca killed its victims using a thread or filament that it dropped through the cracks in the roofs of the houses and huts, and proceeded by extracting the blood from the navel or head of the babies, which left them dry, cold and dead.