Lore

Despite the story of El Cucuy varying between cultures, the general message is the same. A mythological creature comes in the night to take disobedient children. growing up Chicana, I was familiar with El Cucuy. As a child, my great-grandfather would watch me during the summers and after school. He would jokingly say "better be careful or the Cucuy will get you." The Cucuy being a boogeyman like figure, depicted as a large, cloaked, figure with claws, and a sack for carrying children who misbehaved. El Cucuy was known to wait until nightfall, sneak into the house and kidnap children who were disobedient and take them back to his cave. In Brazil, although the creature is a bit different, the same concept applies. A Witch who can take the form  of a crocodile consumes children who do not go to sleep. These tales are typically communicated from generation to generation using oral tradition to establish verbal lore, through stories and lullabies. My great-grandfather learned these stories from his mother, he passed these stories onto my grandmother, my mother, and then to me, his great-grandchild. In Colombia there is El Coco. who again, punishes disobedient children only this time, the being is a ghost. In Portugal, the mythological being comes in the form of a dragon. Despite the name, and form, the message is the same. A cautionary tale for children that if they do not listen to their elders, something bad is going to happen. What happens once El Cucuy gets the child can range, from simply visiting the child to scare them, to kidnapping, to consuming, it is not hard to see why children would feel afraid throughout generations and thus be motivated to listen to their caregivers. El Cucuy can hide in closets, trees, cupboards, await on the roof, or stalk throughout the hallways at night waiting for the opportunity to punish children who do not follow the rules.