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Colombian folklore are beliefs, customs and cultural traditions in Colombia.
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| Culture of Colombia |
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Colombian folklore are beliefs, customs and cultural traditions in Colombia.
Colombia has traditional folk tales and stories about legendary creatures, which are transmitted orally and passed on to new generations. 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.
These folkloric entities are present in carnivals and festivals countrywide. The “Desfiles de Mitos y Leyendas” (parades of myths and legends) are an important part of these events in most of the Colombian cities and municipalities. Examples of these parades are the Barranquilla Carnival, Cali Fair and Festival of the Flowers, where the legendary creatures parade takes place in Medellín's Pueblito Paisa, at the top of Nutibara hill. Legendary creatures have also been accepted into many facets of popular culture and the collective memory. There are those who believe in their existence, claiming to have heard or even encountered them.
The Tupi-Guarani mythology is the set of narratives about the gods and spirits of the different Tupi-Guarani peoples, ancient and current. Together with the cosmogonies, anthropogonies and rituals, they form part of the religion of these peoples.
The Abenaki people are an indigenous peoples of the Americas located in the Northeastern Woodlands region. Their religious beliefs are part of the Midewiwin tradition, with ceremonies led by medicine keepers, called Medeoulin or Mdawinno.
The Nain Rouge is a legendary creature of the Detroit, Michigan area whose appearance is said to presage misfortune for the white settlers of the area. There are no records that indicate the legend of the Nain Rouge existed prior to the 1880s.
The bogeyman is a mythical creature used by adults to frighten children into good behaviour. Bogeymen have no specific appearances and conceptions vary drastically by household and culture, but they are most commonly depicted as masculine or androgynous monsters that punish children for misbehaviour. The bogeyman, and conceptually similar monsters can be found in many cultures around the world. Bogeymen may target a specific act or general misbehaviour, depending on the purpose of invoking the figure, often on the basis of a warning from an authority figure to a child. The term is sometimes used as a non-specific personification of, or metonym for, terror, and sometimes the Devil.
The Curupira is a mythological creature present in the Tupi-Guarani myths in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil.
Brazilian mythology is the subset of Brazilian folklore with cultural elements of diverse origin found in Brazil, comprising folk tales, traditions, characters and beliefs regarding places, people, and entities. The category was originally restricted to indigenous elements, but has been extended to include:
The Patasola or "single leg" is one of many legends in South American folklore about female monsters from the jungle, appearing to male hunters or loggers in the middle of the wilderness when they think about women. The Patasola appears in the form of a beautiful and seductive woman, often in the likeness of a loved one, who lures a man away from his companions deep into the jungle. There, the Patasola reveals her true, hideous appearance as a one-legged creature with ferocious vampire-like lust for human flesh and blood, attacking and devouring the flesh or sucking the blood of her victims.
The Tunda is a myth of the Pacific coastal region of Colombia and Ecuador, and particularly in the Afro-Colombian community of the Chocó department, about a shapeshifting entity resembling a human woman that lures people into the forests and keeps them there.
The tiyanak is a vampiric creature in Philippine mythology that takes on the form of a toddler or baby. Although there are various types, it typically takes the form of a newborn baby and cries in the jungle to attract unwary travelers. Once it is picked up by an unfortunate passerby, it reverts to its true form and attacks the victim. The tiyanak is also depicted to take malevolent delight in leading travelers astray, or in abducting children.
Mythic humanoids are legendary, folkloric, or mythological creatures that are part human, or that resemble humans through appearance or character. Each culture has different mythical creatures that come from many different origins, and many of these creatures are humanoids. They are often able to talk and in many stories they guide the hero on their journey.
The Muan, Moan or Mohan (moo-ahn), sometimes also known as Poira, is a name applied to several mythological or otherwise supernatural creatures in South and Central American folklore. The most common use of the term is to refer to the souls of the dead and the indigenous ancestors of old. The word is also used for shamans or witch doctors in some Colombian indigenous cultures.
The Raven Mocker, or Kâ'lanû Ahkyeli'skï,, is an evil spirit and the most feared of Cherokee witches. According to Cherokee spiritual beliefs it robs the sick and dying of their heart. Normally appearing as old, withered men and women, or turning completely invisible except to certain medicine men, who work to stop the evil Raven Mockers do, they take to the air in a fiery shape, with the sounds of a raven's cry and a strong wind as they hunt for their next victim. After tormenting and killing their victim by slitting the victim's head they consume his heart, and add a year to their life for every year that the slain would have still lived. The sound of a raven mocker means that someone in the area will soon die.
West African mythology is the body of myths of the people of West Africa. It consists of tales of various deities, beings, legendary creatures, heroes and folktales from various ethnic groups. Some of these myths traveled across the Atlantic during the period of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade to become part of Caribbean, African-American and Brazilian mythology.