El Cuco
| El Cuco |
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El Cuco is known as the Portuguese and Latino Bogeyman. It premiered in episode 9, El Cuco a.k.a. Any Comedian Who Comes On Stage
Contents
Description
El Cuco is the bogeyman of the Portuguese and Latino areas. He searches out misbehaving children and takes them from their home, usually killing them. El Cuco is a large part of several festivals, such as All Souls' Day and the Ritual Begging of Pao-por-Deu, which is like trick-or-treating, but for cake and bread.
Etymology
El Cuco is also referred to as Coco, Cuco, Coca, Cuca, Cucuy, and Cucui. El Cuco finds all of them offensive except El Cuco and Coco.
Coco means skull in Spanish, and is also a reference to a ghost with a pumpkin head as well as the 2017 award winning animated Disney film, Coco.
Abilities
El Cuco has the ability to shapeshift, which means to be able to shift their shape. It primarily changes between different human forms, but has been known to switch into different types of animals.
Coco in History
El Cuco has taken many forms in the past, including a large fish, a female alligator, and a tortoise with a horned spine. As the tortoise, it ate three square meals a day, each consisting of one child and one cat.
El Cuco also took the form of a dragon, known as Dragon Coca, in which it would do a yearly battle with Saint George. Dragon Coca would try to scare Saint George and the horse he rode upon away, while Saint George would try to cut off the Dragon Coca's ear and tongue. If Saint George won, it was said that there would be a plentiful harvest that year. Despite this, there are several peasants that still rooted the Dragon Coca. Rumor has it that the Dragon Coca is still alive in Monção.
Appearances in Pop Culture
A list of El Cuco appearing in Pop Culture:
- Wizards of Waverly Place, Season 4 Episode 2 - A Disney children's show featuring Selena Gomez.
- UFC Fighter Tony Ferguson goes by the name "El Cucuy" and may in fact be El Cuco.
- Stephen King's novel The Outsider uses aspects of El Cuco for its story. Adam highly recommends this book, and it served as inspiration for this episode.
Tale
El Cuco shines brightest in that of Children's lullabies, where it can frighten children the easiest. The following is a collection of those in its Portuguese or Brazilian native languages, followed by an English translation.
Auto de los desposorios de la Virgen by Juan Caxes (Oldest known rhyme, originating from 17th Century):
Duérmete niño, duérmete ya...
Que viene el Coco y te comerá.
Sleep child, sleep now...
Here comes the Coco and he will eat you.
A Portuguese lullaby recorded by Jose Leite de Vasconcelos:
Vai-te Coca. Vai-te Coca
Para cima do telhado
Deixa o menino dormir
Um soninho descansado
Leave Coca. Leave Coca
Go to the top of the roof
Let the child have
A quiet sleep
The same lullaby but in its Brazilian Portuguese:
Bicho papão
Em cima do telhado
Deixa meu menino dormir
Sono sossegado
Boogeyman
Atop the roof
Let my child have
A quiet sleep
A Traditional Brazilian lullaby:
Dorme neném
Que a Cuca vem pegar
Papai foi na roça
Mamãe foi passear
Sleep baby
Or the Cuca will catch you
Daddy is in the plantation
Mommy went out
Statistics
Basic human in solid physical and mental form represents about a 3 in the numbered stats.
| Strength (1-10) | 4 |
|---|---|
| Speed (1-10) | 4 |
| Intelligence (1-10) | 3 |
| Durability (1-10) | 5 |
| Vulnerabilities | Misbehaving Child |
| Special | Shapeshifting, Kidnapping/Kidkilling |
Fight Club Results
| Battle | Result | Episode |
|---|---|---|
| vs. 300 Manananggals (with 1000 El Cuco) | Loss | 9 |
