|
Who
Needs
Halloween?
By
Ellen
Zoe
Golden
•
Nature
Landings
Halloween
in
Costa
Rica
is
still
considered
a
pagan
holiday,
a
“gringo”
import
designed
to
seduce
small
children
with
candy
towards
the
greater
sugars
of
consumerism.
To
most,
it’s
not
really
an
acceptable
celebration,
nor
should
it
be
if,
according
to
the
freaky
legends
that
abound
in
this
country,
every
night
is
haunted
with
fierce
specters
and
vengeful
ghouls.
A
better-known
Costa
Rican
legend
originally
spun
by
old
peasant
folk
to
scare
youngsters
away
from
moral
vices
like
drunkenness
is
El
Cadejos.
It
seems
a
long
time
ago,
a
young
man
named
Joaquin
from
Cartago
loved
to
party.
It
irked
his
father
so
much
that
finally,
after
Joaquin
got
wild
drunk
on a
weeklong
binge
at
local
bars,
Pops
cursed
and
transformed
him
into
El
Cadejos,
a
terrifyingly
huge
black
dog
with
fiery
eyes
destined
to
wander
Costa
Rica
forever,
scaring
those
who
don’t
know
when
to
call
a
halt
to
evening
liquor
fiestas.
An
equally
compelling
phantom,
La
Segua
visits
the
roads
and
alleys
around
any
town
that
has
a
young
man
who
needs
to
learn
a
lesson
about
going
directly
home
at
dark.
Also
originally
of
Cartago,
La
Segua
is a
beautiful
woman
with
porcelain,
white-skin
blessed
with
black
eyes
and
long
black
hair.
Yet,
because
a
Spanish
officer
broke
her
heart,
she
became
a
cursed
seductress
who
entices
travelers
into
giving
her
a
ride.
Once
aboard
their
steed
(or
car),
the
man
who
turns
toward
her
sees
the
babe
become
a
beast,
with
the
face
of a
horse
with
large
yellow
teeth
and
bloodshot
eyes.
Throughout
the
countryside,
La
Llorona’s
screaming
an
annoyance.
She’s
María,
who
during
Colonial
times
lived
in a
small
town
by
the
Reventazón
River
on
the
Caribbean
side
of
Costa
Rica.
Unfaithful
to
her
decent,
yet
absent,
husband,
she
gave
birth
to a
lover’s
child
and
went
loca,
screaming
“va
a
venir”
(it’s
coming!)
as
she
tossed
her
new
baby
in
the
river.
Regretting
both
her
infidelity
and
the
disposal
of
her
infant,
María
set
off
around
the
country
searching
every
river
for
her
dead
child,
alarming
other
young
women
who
might
be
considering
making
unwise
decisions
regarding
promiscuous
sex
with
her
loud
sobbing.
La
Mona
–
the
half-monkey,
half
woman
from
Puntarenas
province
that
preys
on
the
minds
of
men
–
was
last
heard
living
in
the
forest
near
the
Gulf
of
Nicoya,
laughing
like
a
child,
hysterical
and
horrifying
in
order
to
entice
curious
hombres
her
way.
Word
has
it,
when
La
Mona
touches
her
male
victim’s
head
he’s
immediately
driven
crazy.
Just
like
that.
Of
course,
there
are
other
Costa
Rican
creatures
that
may
(or
may
not)
go
bump
in
the
night,
including
the
straw-hat
clad
young
girl
La
Tulevieja,
the
Witch
from
Asserí,
the
Oxcart
without
a
Driver,
and
more.
So
take
care:
Men,
women,
children
and
dogs
aren’t
always
what
they
seem
to
be
in
the
dark! |
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