Ciguapa
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The Ciguapa (pronounced see-GWAH-pah)[citation needed] is a mythological creature of Dominican Republic folklore. It is commonly described as having human female form with brown or dark blue skin, backward facing feet,[1] and a very long mane of smooth, glossy hair that covers her body. Its home is the high mountains.
Overview
[edit]The creature is nocturnal. Because of its backward feet, it is hard to be sure which way it has gone by looking at its footprints. Some believe that it brings death, and it is said that one who looks it in the eye risks being bewitched permanently.[2] Its only vocal sound is a kind of whine or chirp.
The ciguapa can appear lovely to some, yet horrendous to others. She is compared to a mermaid: beautiful, yet cruel and deceitful and ready to capture the wayward traveler. She is said to lure men into the forest to make love, only to kill them afterward. On the other hand, some sources have suggested that she can be benevolent and harmless. Even today one can find inhabitants who confirm having sighted the ciguapa.
According to one piece of lore, the only way to capture the ciguapa is by tracking her at night, during a full moon, with a black and white polydactylic cinqueño dog.[3]
Though many believe that the myth of the ciguapa is of Taino origin, it appears that it is probably more recent, because of similarities with European mermaid myths. No known Taino artifacts or lore make reference to any creature remotely similar to it.[4] The legend may also have originated from similar myths, such as the Guaraní Curupí or the Hindu Churel, described by Rudyard Kipling in My Own True Ghost Story. The Hindu hypothesis seems far-fetched because of the lack of early contact between India and the Caribbean.
The first appearance of the ciguapa in writing was in the 1866 story La Ciguapa by Francisco Javier Angulo Guridi.[5]
In popular culture
[edit]A children's picture book was created by Julia Alvarez called The Secret of the Footprints in 2002, that features ciguapas.
A Dominican Republic film called El Mito de la Ciguapa (The Myth of the Ciguapa) was released in 2009.
The short story "Our Language" by Yohanca Delgado is narrated by a ciguapa and follows her life story.
The 2021 short film "La Ciguapa Siempre" written and directed by Monica Moore Suriyage concerns a young woman on a camping trip with her boyfriend in the woods, who discovers her true identity as a ciguapa.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Monique-Marie Cummings (2020-04-29). "Sacred Monsters: The Poetry and Fiction of Elizabeth Acevedo". Smithsonian Folklife. Retrieved 2024-12-11.
- ^ Liza Phoenix (2007-03-05). "Ciguapa". lizaphoenix. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2007-10-20.
- ^ "La Ciguapa". 18 October 2020.
- ^ "La Ciguapa". 18 October 2020.
- ^ "“Where were my monsters?”". A Public Space. Retrieved 2024-09-15.