¡El Cucuy!
Illustration for apparel and various merchandise
The Legend of El Cucuy
El Cucuy is a mysterious shape-shifting creature who’s compared to the American Boogeyman. However, unlike the Boogeyman, El Cucuy was once human. Tales tell of a strict, widowed father who lived on a ranch in Mexico. When his children misbehaved he would lock them in a dark closet for hours.
One night, when the father left to go to town, an oil lamp fell, and the house burned to the ground with the children locked inside. Upon his return he frantically rode into the smoldering wreckage. Both he and the horse were immediately swallowed whole by the area where the closet once stood!
Today, mischievous children are warned to behave or El Cucuy will come to get them. A simple, "Uy Cucuy" is enough to get the naughtiest of children to stop in their tracks.
Children ward off El Cucuy with a chant:
UY CUCUY! UY CUCUY! NO ES MUY-MUY!
SALTE! SALTE! POR DONDE ENTRASTE!
Translation: (Uy Cucuy! Uy Cucuy! You're not so bad! Get out! Get out! By where you entered!)