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South America & Caribbean
Explore myths, traditions and legendary beings grouped under South America & Caribbean.
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Chia
Chía is a lunar figure associated with the Muisca, or Muysca, peoples of the highlands of what is now central Colombia. In most modern descriptions, she is identified as a goddess or personification of the Moon, often pl…
Chibchacum
Chibchacum is a deity of the Muisca, an Indigenous people of the Andean highlands of present-day Colombia. In accounts recorded during the Spanish colonial period, he appears as a powerful protector associated with the p…
Chiminigagua
Chiminigagua is a creator figure in the traditional religious worldview of the Muisca, an Indigenous people of the northern Andes whose historical homeland lay mainly on the high plateau of present-day central Colombia. …
Chonchon
Chonchon is a supernatural being associated chiefly with Mapuche and Chilean folklore. It is commonly described as a human head that separates from the body and flies through the night, using enlarged ears as wings. In m…
Colo Colo
Colo Colo is a frightening being associated with the mythology and rural folklore of Chile, especially traditions connected with the Mapuche cultural area. Its description is not uniform: in some accounts it resembles a …
Cuchavira
Cuchavira is a figure associated with the rainbow in the religious traditions of the Muisca, also called the Muysca, an Indigenous people of the Andean highlands of present-day Colombia. She is commonly described as a fe…
El Dorado
El Dorado is one of the most famous legends associated with South America, but it was not originally the name of a golden city. The earliest form of the story concerned a “gilded man” or ruler connected with the Muisca p…
El-lal
El-lal, also written Elal or with other spelling variations, is a major mythic figure in the traditions of the Tehuelche peoples of Patagonia. He is especially associated with the Aónikenk, the southern Tehuelche-speakin…
Epunamun
Epunamun is a figure associated with Mapuche religious tradition in south-central South America, especially the cultural region known as Wallmapu, extending across parts of present-day Chile and Argentina. He is commonly…
Huallepen
Huallepen is a little-known aquatic being associated with the mythology and folklore of southern Chile, especially the island of Chiloé and the wider cultural world of the Mapuche and Huilliche peoples. The name appears …
Guecubu
Guecubu is a name found in older European accounts of Mapuche religious tradition for a malevolent supernatural power or spirit. The term is associated with misfortune, illness, death and other forms of harm. It is often…