I. 24. The Cucuy Dragon

El Cucuy (Kukuy, Cuco, Coca, Cuca, Coco) is a mystical monster-ghost in Latin American children's folklore. Coco is male, and Coca is female. Cucuy is the head or king.

At various holidays and festivals, El Cucuy is depicted as a snake, a reptile, a female dragon. In Portugal, one of such festivals has survived to this day, which is held in Monção, where Coca fights with St. George the Victorious on the day of the Feast of Corpus Christi.

A snake at the "Festival of Coca" during the celebration of the Feast of Corpus Christi in Monção, Portugal

A reptile at the Festival of Saint Thecla in Tarragona, Spain

The reptile is called Santa Coca or Tailed Coca. It is believed that if Coca wins by scaring the horse, there will be a year of famine and crop failure. If St. George the Victorious wins and cuts off the tongue or earring, there will be a fertile year. Usually, spectators wish the reptile success. In Spain, there are two more Cocas dragons: one in Betanzos, the other in Redondela. According to legend, the dragon came from the sea and devoured young women. He was killed in battle during an attack on the city. In Monção, the reptile is believed to live in the Minho River, and in Redondela - in the Ria Vigo.

In Brazilian folklore, El Cucuy is depicted as a humanoid female alligator. Cucuy also appears as a villain in some children's books by Monteiro Lobato. The artists who illustrated these books depicted Cucuy as an anthropomorphic alligator. She is an allusion to Coca, a dragon from the folklore of Portugal and Spain.

The myth of El Cucuy survives in Portugal and Spain. The Spanish word coco and Portuguese côco are associated with a ghost with a pumpkin head. Children would scoop out the inside of the pumpkin and cut out holes for the mouth and eyes. At night, children would place a candle in the pumpkin, and it would take on the appearance of a head with glowing mouth and eyes. The ancients believed that the King of Serpents was a creature with glowing eyes, and the pumpkin that burned at night was similar to him.

In Portuguese and Spanish, the word coco is used colloquially to refer to the human head, and also means "skull". In Portuguese, the word cocuruto means the crown and the highest point. The word "crouca" in Spanish means "head". It is close to the Cornish word "crogen" which means "skull", and close to the Breton word krogen ar penn, which means "skull". In Irish, clocan means "skull".

In Basque, Gogo means "spirit", and in Lusitanian mythology, Crouga is the name of an obscure god to whom gifts were offered. This means that already at the time of the emergence of the Catholic Church, when these myths began to be written down, these heroes and events belonged to deep antiquity.

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Bogdan Georgievich Lisitsa, 15, Zarichchja str, Kostopol, Rivne region, 35000, Ukraine.