El Chullachaqui - Quistococha (Iquitos, Peru)

The Chullachaki (

Quechua Quechua may refer to: *Quechua people, several indigenous ethnic groups in South America, especially in Peru *Quechuan languages, a Native South American language family spoken primarily in the Andes, derived from a common ancestral language **So ...

, "one-footed", from ''chulla'' or ''ch'ulla'' = single, odd, unpaired, asymmetric, ''chaki'' = foot; spelling sometimes also used in Spanish)Gustavo Rodríguez. ''El chullachaki en la otra selva.'' Lima: QG editores, 2011. 48 pp. (Colección Sobrenatural del diario Correo, 2011) or Chullachaqui (

hispanicized Hispanicization ( es, hispanización) refers to the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by Hispanic culture or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-Hispanic becomes Hispanic. Hispanicization is il ...

spelling), also known as the Shapishico, is a mythical forest creature of the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian Amazonian

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''jaṅ ...

Description

He is generally described as short and ugly, airies: The Myths, Legends, & Lore Skye Alexander, pg 202 with one leg shorter than the other and one foot either larger than the other,"The Legend of Chullachaqui"
The Iquitos Times pointed backward or in the form of a

hoof The hoof (plural: hooves) is the tip of a toe of an ungulate mammal, which is covered and strengthened with a thick and horny keratin covering. Artiodactyls are even-toed ungulates, species whose feet have an even number of digits, yet the rumin ...

."The Penguin book of world folk tales", Milton Rugoff, page 604 He is said to persuade his victims to follow him deep into the jungle where even experienced trackers cannot find their way back. He does this by taking the form of a family member or a loved one long not seen, or disguising himself as a

prey Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill the ...

animal. His uncanny ability to replicate others makes him impossible to tell apart, except for his mismatched feet. Others say that he appears in the shape of a very short man dressed in rags, waving his closed fists in the air looking for a fight. In this case, the

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

believe a man must accept his challenge and beat him until he uncovers all the richness he has hidden in the jungle. He who declines this challenge is cursed with the inability to hunt and with foul luck: family and friends turn into enemies, wives leave with other men, etc. Chullachaqui is said to have the ability to turn into any animal of the rainforest. He is a kind of forest spirit who guards the lands and the animals and punishes a man if he breaks a

taboo A taboo or tabu is a social group's ban, prohibition, or avoidance of something (usually an utterance or behavior) based on the group's sense that it is excessively repulsive, sacred, or allowed only for certain persons.''Encyclopædia Britannica ...

or otherwise acts unwisely in the forest. According to a local legend, Chullachaqui is a member of an older species, one that lived there long before humans. Most of the time they remain quite uninterested in humans. They inhabit forest spots far from human habitation, where they supposedly have their own gardens and fields to tend. If a human being dwells too close to those gardens, they might attack and put a spell on the unlucky human. Sometimes a Chullachaqui might also steal a human child and raise it as its own, or lure humans into a trap for mating purposes. A human thus stolen by the Chullachaqui becomes one of them.

References

{{reflist Native American demons Shapeshifting Forest spirits Tutelary deities Quechua legendary creatures Peruvian folklore

Description

See also

References