COLOMBIAN MYTHS

AND LEGENDS
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

• What do you think are myths and legends?

• What are the most important and famous myths of your culture?
Share with your class.
• Have you read about Colombian myths?
Colombia has many traditional
folk tales and stories about
legendary creatures which are
transmitted orally and kept for
next generations to come. Some
of them are common with other
Latin American countries. The
Colombian folklore has strong
influences from Spanish culture,
with elements of African and
Native American cultures.
 WHAT ARE MYTHS, LEGENDS AND
FOLKTALES?

Myths and legends are

stories that have been told
over a long period of time
that have no proof of
existence.
Hand Down: (v.) to
pass on from one
member of a family to
a younger one
 WHAT ARE LEGENDS?

A legend is a semi-true story,

which has been passed on
from person to person.
WHAT ARE MYTHS?

A myth is a story
based on tradition or
legend, which has a
deep symbolic
meaning.
WHAT ARE FOLKTALES?

A folktale is a
popular story that
was passed on in a
spoken form, from
one generation to
the next.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN LEGENDS,
MYTHS AND FOLKTALES?
Myths, legends and folktales are
hard to classify and often
overlap.
Overlap: (v.)
(of two things) to
extend or lie partly
over (each other)
COLOMBIAN MYTHS AND
LEGENDS
The Colombian
folklore has strong
influences from
Spanish culture, with
elements of African
and native American
cultures.
Folklore: (n.) the body of
stories and legends
attached to a particular
place, group, activity, etc.
THE WEEPING WOMAN

Whereabouts:
(n.) (functioning
as singular or
It is a widespread plural) the place,
legend in central esp. the
approximate
and South place, where a
person or thing
America. is.

Widespread: Doom: (n.) death

(adj.) extending or a terrible fate.
over a wide area.
THE WEEPING WOMAN

La Llorona or The Weeping Woman is a widespread legend in Mexico,

Puerto Rico and Central America. Although several variations exist, the
basic story tells of a beautiful woman by the name of Maria killing her
children by drowning them, in order to be with the man that she loved.
When the man rejects her, she kills herself. Challenged at the gates of
heaven as to the whereabouts of her children, she is not permitted to
enter the afterlife until she has found them. Maria is forced to wander
the Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring,
with her constant weeping giving her the name "La Llorona".
People who claim to see her say she comes out at night or in the late
evenings; some believe that those who hear the wails of La Llorona are
marked for death. She is said to cry "Ay, mis hijos! Ay, mis hijos!"
which translates to "Oh, my children!"
THE SOMBRERON

It's an east-central Colombian folk

tale in which a hellish man, The
Sombreron, wears a big sombrero
that covers his head to his calves.

Calves: (n.) the thick

fleshy part of the back
of the leg between the
ankle and the knee.

Peasant: (n.) a
person who lives in
the country; rustic.
THE SOMBRERON
The Big Hat is one of the oldest apparitions. He is well known
for his black poncho, gargantuan hat and for traveling on his black mule
with his two big black dogs restrained by thick heavy chains. He always
arrives at night in a gallop, frequently on Fridays especially during Lent and
on Good Friday. As the story goes, he makes noisy appearances galloping
and whistling, letting the dog’s chains drag all
Over the ground. It seems that electric light has exiled him as it was in the
penumbrous towns of long ago, where he used to frighten the drunkards with
his dramatic commotion. Amidst his whistling and laughing, he would
proclaim his menacing phrase: “If I manage to reach you, I’ll put this hat
on you!” This myth is a playful one and it seems that the Big Hat’s only
intention was to frighten.
PATASOLA – ONE FOOT

It is one of many myths in South

American folklore.

Flesh: (n.) the soft Wilderness: (n.) a

part of the body of wild, uninhabited,
an animal or and uncultivated
human. region
ONE FOOT
In the midst of the jungle sits a mythical woman who torments any
unfaithful spouses who inhabit the thickness of the Andes. Patasola, or “one
foot”, lures men by crying for help as a seductive and beautiful woman. Once
the man is close, Patasola becomes a horrible one-legged woman with fiery
eyes, a ferocious mouth lined with feline teeth, and a disheveled short strand
of hair that falls over her face to hide her ugliness.
This condemned creature was once a beautiful married woman with three
children. Her husband, who had reason to be jealous after comments from a
close friend, decided to set up a series of outings and kept watch of the house
in order to prove his wife’s intentions. He unfortunately discovered that she
had in fact disrespected their wedding vows; enraged, he struck the man down
with an axe, and in a second swing took his wife’s leg. Both died that night.
The husband then took their three children, set the house on fire, and fled the
town, leaving the spirit of Patasola to do her ghostly bidding. Many claim to
have seen her jumping through the woods on her one leg, moaning and
groaning.