Culture Bag, Volume One: Monsters!

In addition to recounting my personal experiences here in Paraguay, I thought it would be nifty to dedicate a series of posts solely to the culture.

Who among us never heard a monster in the closet, saw that face outside the window, sensed that claw beneath the bed? I think for most Americans, these fears originate from scary movies, campfire stories, and older siblings just messing with you. I always convinced myself that I saw that monster that Dan Aykroyd turns into in The Twilight Zone movie. In the US, beyond the somewhat vague myth of a boogeyman, there aren’t really any monsters that large numbers of people have a shared belief in, (although the Tooth Fairy is a bit off-putting when you think about it). Most of our shared myths are for little kids, and are meant to be benevolent, like Santa. Since the people of this country have no cult classics or cruel camp counselors who are interested in scaring their campers, the original Guarani peoples seemed to have made up for this by inventing their own monsters.

Pombero – The most famous of all monsters here is known as the Pombero. He is a mischievous little fellow who likes to sneak around the neighborhood and commit crimes at night which you normally would blame on the children, like breaking things or leaving the lights on. Pombero manages to sneak around with great stealth because the bottoms of his feet are hairy, so he doesn’t make noise as he walks. When women here have particularly hairy children, it is assumed that she and the Pombero spent some intimate time together. The only way to keep the Pombero from messing up your garden, trashing your kitchen and spawing hairy Pombero Juniors with your wife, is to leave cigars, booze, and honey on a table outside the house. Its just like Santa with his milk and cookies, minus the whole Incubus/impregnation deal. Unless that song about mama kissing Santa has a racier sequel that I don’t know about.

Plata Yvyguy – Clearly the hardest of all Guarani mythology monsters to pronounce, he is their version of a Leprechaun. “Plata” means money in Spanish, and “Yvyguy” means underground or buried in Guarani. Unlike a wisecracking little Irish man whose legend has spawned marshmallow cereals and cheap horror movies, this myth is much more of a monster. It is a headless-dog who wanders the forest. Rather than follow a rainbow, you follow this dog, and he will show you the location of some buried treasure.

Luison – There is a lot of significance placed on the significance of numbers in other mythologies. One number that seems to have widespread significance across many of them is the number seven. Luison was the seventh child of a particular couple named Tau and Kerana, and was born as a hideous monster. I am told that some very rural Paraguayans actually have a subtle fear of their seventh child, because of Luison. His form varies depending on who you ask, but most agree that he is dog-like. Some people tell me that he is this country’s version of a werewolf. He likes to dwell near cemeteries and kill anyone who lingers there after dark. My family in Guarambare lived near a cemetery, and though they didn’t believe in most of these myths, they did believe in Luison. Consequently, I was reminded more than once to walk on the street that doesn’t pass the cemetery if I was going to come home after dark.

Kurupi – One day I saw a picture of a monster with what I thought was a really long belt that he had looped around his waist several times. When I asked a Paraguayan what the deal with that belt was, he laughed, and explained that it was not a belt. He is a spirit of fertility, (guess what that belt thing was). Kurupi is also a child of Tau and Kerana. Like Pombero, he is a short little hairy guy that is often blamed for pregnancies. “Kurupi” is also the name of one of the most popular brands of Yerba Mate here, though this brand does not impregnate anyone as far as I know.

There are several others, but these four are the ones I hear about most frequently. Other notables include Ao Ao, Jasy Jatere, and Teju Jagua. The word “Ao” in Guarani means “fresh” or “cool,” but in this case it only refers to the sound that the monster makes as it chases you through the woods. Jasy Jatere is a siesta-time monster, but I hear very little about that one. “Jagua” in Guarani means dog, and Teju Jagua is a half-lizard half-dog monster.

The extent to which families here believe in these myths varies depending on where they live. Most urban families, such as the family that I am currently living with, view them simply as myths, but those who live out in the campo believe quite strongly in most, if not all, of these monsters. Whether they believe in them or not, every Paraguayan knows these stories because their parents tell them, either for entertainment, or to get them to come home before dark.

Read more about Paraguayan culture in the “Culture Bag” series.