Federico Stories

The Arbolarios were the genies of the storms (figure 1). Some people saw them as lake thieves, where they committed their misdeeds.

Figure 1. An Arbolario being called. ¹
Long ago, one of the most powerful Arbolarios stole a lagoon from the north of Central America. No one was sure from where, how and when he stole it, the people only saw him flying with an eggshell. While he was flying around the Tecapa volcano, he lost some balance and the eggshell fell down aside, which is why the lagoon that was born nearby is tilted. Many years later, the same Arbolario tried to steal the Lake Güija, but this time, it was impossible and only gave up.

They can be seen, when the storms roar and emit sparks, in that moment, you will see a pair of baroque eyes. The salvadorean believe these eyes are from bad women best known as the Arbolarios and are going to leave destruction on their way.

If there was a thud in the stormy afternoons, it was that they were mounted on dry, small and terrible sticks. T…

The Maya and the Kekchi called this genie: “Mam” and the indigenous Pipil people named him “Man-Agua” (Man-water). The Pipil people believed that it was not only one but that it multiplied to do more damage. They described them as old dwarfs with big heads and big faces.
However, not all Pipil people agreed on that, some described them as very beautiful and white women that the storm lowered them to the Earth but who rose again to the place, where they had come from (through the thunders, which release them). It was said that the Managuas always appeared, in the eye of the storms (figure 1) and that's why they were feared by all civilizations around Central America.
Figure 1. A Managua in the eye of a storm. ¹
My dad told me that the elders from Guazapa said to him that the Managuas were actually evil and roguish angels, who were under the orders of the owners or goblins of the lagoons, although others said that the Managuas were actually the owners of the lagoons.
Something was c…

Many moons ago, the Cipitio finally met a girl who wasn't afraid of him, her name is: Tenancín. This  little girl became his girlfriend because she saw something in the Cipitio that no one had ever seen, he wasn't a bad guy, he was just a mischievous and liked to crack jokes and give flowers to all pretty girls in El Salvador, just to make them smile.
People in the villages from San Vicente describe Tenancin as a very small and pretty girl with brown eyes and a long hair, who is always smiling (figure 1).
Figure 1. Tenancín. ¹
One day, Tenáncin was cutting flowers for her grandmother's birthday. She went into the forest La Joya, but she forgot how to come back, and started to scream and run lousily, through the forest, when she reached the corolla where the Cipitio was sleeping.
She saw it and was confused in the beginning because she always thought the Cipitio was only a legend that was used to discourage the girls to don't stay longer washing the clothes in the Lempa…

It is said that this place at the time when the Spaniards arrived to El Salvador, was called “Ucelucla” which in indigenous language means “The Place of Tigers”. The inhabitants say that the Spaniards founded a town there and built a church so that the villagers could congregate.
The gossips say that one day when a mass was being celebrated, the church suddenly sank completely into the earth.
Many people wondered why this had happened. Some believe that the cause of the disaster had been because the church was very close to the sea and due to this the land of this place was very loose and as the church weighed heavily, the land had ceded to that the structure was sinking.
After they lost their church, the people decided to move since many attacks started by pirates from the Meanguera island who destroyed everything in their path and stole all their treasures. Somehow, the lost of their church created a lot of fear in their lives, they believe the church gave them some protection from…

The history of the coyote woman (figure 1) is a bit confusing. Some people say she was a maid who became a coyote woman at night, others believe she was a single mother who at night became coyote woman to find food for her children, because she was experiencing a very serious crisis, that is, she had no financial resources.
Figure 1. The coyote woman
What everyone agrees is that this woman was engaged in witchcraft, and all her victims emptied their souls in a magical huacal.
Mr. Juan, a man from the El Carrizal says that one night, he was walking in the forest, he found a huacal with a thick liquid. He didn't understand it in the beginning and took it home.
A couple of nights later during a blood moon; the thick liquid transformed into the coyote woman! And from that day, there was a new woman in his town that look extremely beautiful, but at night she became a coyote woman and performed a lot witchcraft.
That woman, needed to to return to every early morning to drink from the hu…

Some people in the villages of El Salvador said, that by falling three drops of water in a row, in a special pool, they can hear a sound that sounds like: “cu-kin-ka” and that has given its name. And this is the place, where many strange events have happened over the last 200 years.
Another phenomenon that attracts attention on that site, and is that at the bottom of the pool is a pile of well-ordered stones, people disarm it, but when they turn around, they are again piled up, as if nothing had happened.
There are people who are afraid of approaching the Cukinka cave (figure 1), not because of these small phenomena, but because of events such as the death of a man, who one day wanted to dry the pool and after digging a small ditch, died that same night due to a severe fever.
Figure 1. The Cukinca cave
Others say that men who “pact” with the devil in this cave, they are guided to the bottom of the place by a companion who "delivers" them to a voice that nods from the depths.
…

In many villages around El Salvador, the Amate tree (figure 1) is highly respected. Its structure is curious and full of mysteries. Its branches have a wailing appearance and the thickness of its foliage. The tree can be described as piece of art, but it is also a symbol of fear.
Figure 1. The Amate tree.
Many old people say that you can't sleep at night under the Amates, because they throw bones. There is also the legend that they throw a flower that can only be seen by deaf and young children. Inhabitants of Morazán evade the tree at night, because they say that it is the moment when the trees scare the most.
Some people throw bones to scare it, but if they don't do it on time, the devil appears and offers them whatever they want. It's advisable not to pass near them, when the sun has set in the sky.
Amates abound in warm places, especially in Central America and Mexico. In El Salvador, the place where the Amates are more prevalent is Morazán. At certain distance, you ca…