Editing Coco (folklore)

{{short description|Mythical ghost-monster}}
{{redirect|El Coco}}
{{lead too short|date=October 2016}}
[[File:Francisco de Goya, Que viene el coco (Here Comes the Bogey-Man), published 1799, NGA 7459.jpg|thumb|right|''Que Viene el Coco'' (1799) by [[Goya]]]]
The '''Coco''' or '''Coca''' (also known as the '''Cucuy''', '''Cuco''', '''Cuca''', '''Cucu''', '''Cucuí''' or '''El-Cucuí''') is a mythical [[ghost]]-like [[monster]], equivalent to the [[bogeyman]], found in [[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]. Those beliefs have also spread in many [[Hispanophone]] and [[Lusophone]] countries. It can also be considered an Iberian version of a [[bugbear]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNY3AAAAIAAJ&q=coco+Bugbear&pg=PA175|title=The Year's Work in Modern|publisher=CUP Archive|via=Google Books}}</ref> as it is a commonly used figure of speech representing an irrational or exaggerated fear. The Cucuy is a male being while Cuca is a female version of the mythical monster. The "monster" will come to the house of disobedient children at night and take them away.

==Names and etymology==
The myth of the ''Coco'', or ''Cucuy'', originated in northern Portugal and [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]. The word ''coco'' is used in colloquial speech to refer to the [[human head]] in Spanish.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pyylwqkVIUoC&q=coco+cabe%C3%A7a++head&pg=PA152|title=A Portuguese-English Dictionary|first=James Lumpkin|last=Taylor|date=29 May 2019|publisher=[[Stanford University Press]]|location=Redwood City, California|via=Google Books|isbn=9780804704809}}</ref> ''Coco'' also means "[[skull]]".<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar0000skea|url-access=registration|page=[https://archive.org/details/concisedictionar0000skea/page/91 91]|quote=coco skull.|title=The Concise Dictionary of English Etymology|first1=Walter W.|last1=Skeat|first2=Walter William|last2=Skeat|date=29 May 1993|publisher=Wordsworth Editions|location=Ware, Hertfordshire, England|via=Internet Archive|isbn=9781853263118}}</ref> The words ''cocuruto'' in Portuguese and ''cocorota'' in Spanish both means "the crown of the head" or "the highest place"<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQktAAAAYAAJ&q=dicionario+coco+cabe%C3%A7a&pg=PT155|title=A Dictionary of the Portuguese and English Languages, in Two Parts: Portuguese and English, and English and Portuguese|first=Antonio|last=Vieyra|date=29 May 2019|publisher=J. Collingwood|via=Google Books}}</ref> and with the same etymology in Galicia, ''crouca'' means "head",<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sli.uvigo.es/ddd/ddd_pescuda.php?pescuda=crouca&tipo_busca=lema|title=Dicionario de dicionarios|website=sli.uvigo.es}}</ref> from [[proto-Celtic language|proto-Celtic]] ''*krowkā-'',<ref>Cf. {{cite book|last=Meyer-Lübke|first=Wilhelm|title=Romanisches etymologisches wörterbuch|url=https://archive.org/details/romanischesetymo00meyeuoft|year=1911|publisher=Carl Winter's Universitätsbuchhandlung|location=Heidelberg, Germany|pages=[https://archive.org/details/romanischesetymo00meyeuoft/page/183 183]}}, s.v. crūca</ref> with variant ''cróca'';<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sli.uvigo.es/ddd/ddd_pescuda.php?pescuda=CR%25D2CA&tipo_busca=lema|title=Dicionario de dicionarios|website=sli.uvigo.es}}</ref> and either ''coco'' or ''cuca'' means "head" in both Portuguese and Galician.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sli.uvigo.es/ddd/ddd_pescuda.php?pescuda=coca&tipo_busca=lema|title=Dicionario de dicionarios|website=sli.uvigo.es}}</ref> It is cognate with [[Cornish language|Cornish]] ''crogen'', meaning "skull",<ref>{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Robert|title=Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: A dictionary of the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall, in which the words are elucidated by copious examples from the Cornish works now remaining; with transl. in English. The synonyms are also given in the cognate dialects of Welsh, Armoric, Irish, Gaelic, and Manx; shewing at one view the connexion between them|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ts5EAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA73|year=1865|publisher=Trubner|page=73}}</ref> and [[Breton language|Breton]] ''krogen ar penn'', also meaning "skull".<ref>{{cite book|last=Diefenbach|first=Lorenz|author-link=Lorenz Diefenbach|title=Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der gotischen Sprache|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5ib5muoYMDIC|year=1851|publisher=J. Baer|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5ib5muoYMDIC/page/n1114 599]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Le Gonidec|first=Jean-François|author-link=Jean-François Le Gonidec|title=Dictionnaire français-breton: Enrichi d'additions et d'un Essai sur l'histoire de la langue bretonne|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Iy0_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA178|year=1847|publisher=L. Prud'homme|page=178}}</ref> In [[Irish language|Irish]], ''clocan'' means "skull".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://digital.nls.uk/dcn6/7628/76284327.6.pdf |title=Compendium of Irish Grammar |first=Ernst |last=Windisch |publisher=M. H. Gill and Son |location=Dublin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181215174843/https://digital.nls.uk/dcn6/7628/76284327.6.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 December 2018}}</ref>

Many Latin American countries refer to the monster as El ''Cuco''. In northern [[Hispanics and Latinos in New Mexico|New Mexico]] and southern [[Colorado]], where there is a large Hispanic population, it is referred to by its anglicized name, "the Coco Man".<ref>{{cite book|last=Castro|first=Rafaela|author-link=Rafaela Castro|title=Chicano Folklore: A Guide to the Folktales, Traditions, Rituals and Religious Practices of Mexican Americans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v72wKX9I6lgC&pg=PA57|year=2000|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=978-0-19-514639-4|page=57}}</ref> In Brazilian folklore, the monster is referred to as ''Cuca'' and pictured as a female humanoid [[alligator]], derived from the Portuguese ''coca'',<ref>{{cite news |first=Secundino |last=Cunha |title= Festa da Coca anima Monção |trans-title=Coca party cheers up Monção |newspaper=[[Correio da Manhã (Portugal)|Correio da Manhã]] |date=2009-06-10 |language=pt |url=http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=614462EB-F2A5-498E-A2F6-6BCDC2D63DF6&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307043825/http://www.cmjornal.xl.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=614462EB-F2A5-498E-A2F6-6BCDC2D63DF6&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010 |archive-date=2012-03-07}}</ref> a [[dragon]].

==Legend==
In Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, parents sometimes invoke the Coco or Cuca as a way of discouraging their children from misbehaving; they sing lullabies or tell rhymes warning their children that if they don't obey their parents, ''el Coco'' will come and get them and then eat them.

It is not the way the Coco looks but what it does that scares most. It is a child eater and a kidnapper; it may immediately devour the child, leaving no trace, or it may [[spirit away|spirit the child away]] to a place of no return, but it only does this to disobedient children. It is on the lookout for children's misbehavior from the rooftops; it takes the shape of any dark shadow and stays watching.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Eloy |last=Martos Núñez |url=http://www.alonsoquijano.org/cursos2004/animateca/recursos/Biblioteca%20virtual/C1.%20Tradiciones%20y%20Literatura%20Infantil/17.%20Eloy%20Martos.pdf |title=La imagen del joven a través de las ficciones de terror y sus fuentes folklórico-literarias. El caso iberoamericano |publisher=[[University of Extremadura]] |language=es |trans-title=The image of young people in horror and its folkloric-literary sources: the Ibero-American case |access-date=2011-11-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425141628/http://www.alonsoquijano.org/cursos2004/animateca/recursos/Biblioteca%20virtual/C1.%20Tradiciones%20y%20Literatura%20Infantil/17.%20Eloy%20Martos.pdf |archive-date=2012-04-25 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It represents the opposite of the [[guardian angel]] and is frequently compared to the [[devil]]. Others see the Coco as a representation of the deceased of the local community.<ref>{{cite book|last=Viana|first=Luis Díaz|author-link=Luis Díaz Viana|title=Aproximación antropológica a Castilla y León|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EIerX9EVf58C&pg=PA500|year=1988|publisher=Anthropos Editorial|isbn=978-84-7658-070-7|page=500}}</ref>

The oldest known rhyme about the Coco, which originated in the 17th century, is in the ''Auto de los desposorios de la Virgen'' by Juan Caxés.

The rhyme has evolved over the years, but still retains its original meaning:
{{Verse translation|lang=es|
Duérmete niño, duérmete ya...
Que viene el Coco y te comerá
|
Sleep child, sleep or else...
Coco will come and eat you
}}

The Portuguese lullaby recorded by [[José Leite de Vasconcelos]] tells Coca to go to the top of the roof. In other versions of the same lullaby, the name of Coca is changed to that of "papão negro" (black eater), the name of another bogeyman.<ref>{{cite magazine |lang=pt|url-status=live|archive-date=2014-07-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726012513/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/conhecer/biblioteca-digital-camoes/etnologia-etnografia-tradicoes/199-199/file.html|url=http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/conhecer/biblioteca-digital-camoes/etnologia-etnografia-tradicoes/199-199/file.html|page=38|title=Canções do Berço - 103|via=[[Instituto Camões]]|last=Leite de Vasconcelos|first=José|author-link=José Leite de Vasconcelos|magazine=Revista Lusitana Magazine|volume=X |publisher=National Press|location=Lisbon|date=1907|quote=369 page PDF download.}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|lang=pt|
Vai-te Coca. Vai-te Coca
Para cima do telhado
Deixa o menino dormir
Um soninho descansado
|
Leave Coca. Leave Coca
Go to the top of the roof
Let the child have
A quiet sleep
}}

The traditional Brazilian lullaby is as follows, with the ''Cuca'' as a female humanoid alligator:
{{Verse translation|lang=pt|
Dorme neném
Que a Cuca vem pegar
Papai foi pra roça
Mamãe foi trabalhar
|
Sleep little baby
That Cuca comes to get you
Daddy went to the farm
Mommy went to work
}}

Both Brazilians and Portuguese also have a [[bogeyman]] version, which sometimes acquires regional colors where the bogeyman (the shape-shifting ''Bicho Papão'' is a monster that is shaped by what the child fears most) is a small owl, ''murucututu'', or other birds of prey that could be on the roof of homes at night (in Brazil) or a mysterious old man with a bag who is also waiting on the roof of the house (in Portugal).
{{Verse translation|lang=pt|
Bicho papão
Em cima do telhado
Deixa o meu menino dormir
Um soninho sossegado
|
Bogeyman
Atop the roof
Let my child have
A quiet sleep
}}

Verses and songs were used in pre-Roman Iberia to transmit history to the younger generations, as told by ancient authors. [[Sallust]] said the mothers sang the military feats of the fathers to incite the children to battle.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.attalus.org/latin/sallust2.html#75|title=Sallustius, Historiae 2 - Latin text|website=www.attalus.org}}</ref> He was later quoted by Servius, who emphasised that it was the role of the mothers to remember and teach the young men about the war feats of their fathers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.monumenta.ch/latein/text.php?tabelle=Servius&rumpfid=Servius,+in+Vergilii+Aeneidos+Commentarius,+10,++281&nf=1|title=Servius, in Vergilii Aeneidos Commentarius, 10, 281|website=www.monumenta.ch}}</ref> [[Silius Italicus]] added more; he said that the young warriors sang songs in their native language while hitting their shields in the rhythm of the songs and that they were well versed in magic.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0674%3Abook%3D3|language=la|via=[[Tufts University]]|author=Silius Italicus|author-link=Silius Italicus|title=Punica, book 3|quote=verse 34}}</ref> [[Strabo]], too, commented that history was recorded in verse.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.01.0239:book=3|title=Strabo, Geography, BOOK III.|website=www.perseus.tufts.edu}}</ref>

During the Portuguese and Spanish colonization of Latin America, the legend of the Coco was spread to countries such as [[Mexico]], [[Argentina]], [[Uruguay]] and [[Chile]].

==Physical representations==
[[File:Coca21.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''Festa da Coca'' during the [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] celebration, in [[Monção]], Portugal]]
[[File:Cucaferadetarragona.JPG|thumb|right|230px|Cucafera during the ''Festa Major de Santa Tecla'' in [[Tarragona]], Spain]]
There is no general description of the ''cucuy'', as far as [[Face|facial]] or [[Human body|body]] descriptions; however, it is stated that this [[shapeshifting]] being is extremely horrible to look at. The ''coco'' is variously described as a shapeless figure, sometimes a hairy monster, that hides in closets or under beds and eats children that misbehave when they are told to go to bed.

===Mythical animals===

Coca is also the name of a female [[dragon]] who featured in various medieval celebrations in the Iberian Peninsula. In Portugal one still survives in [[Monção]]; she fights in some sort of medieval tournament with [[Saint George]] during the [[Corpus Christi (feast)|Corpus Christi]] celebrations. She is called ''Santa Coca'' ("Saint Coca"), an allusion to the Irish saint,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kildare.ie/ehistory/2006/09/kilcock_parish_of_comerfords_d.asp|title=Co. Kildare Online Electronic History Journal: KILCOCK, PARISH OF - Comerford's "Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin"|website=www.kildare.ie}}</ref> or ''Coca rabicha'' ("Tailed Coca"). If she defeats [[Saint George]] by scaring the horse, there will be a bad year for the crops and famine; if the horse and Saint George win by cutting off one of her ears with earring and her tongue, the crops will be fertile.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Feast of Santiago in Galicia 1956|first=Violet|last=Alford|date=29 May 2019|journal=Folklore|volume=68|issue=4|pages=489–495|jstor = 1258208|doi = 10.1080/0015587X.1957.9717625}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.correiomanha.pt/noticia.aspx?contentid=614462EB-F2A5-498E-A2F6-6BCDC2D63DF6&channelid=00000010-0000-0000-0000-000000000010|title=Festa da Coca anima Monção. Correio da manhã}}</ref> Oddly enough, the people cheer for Saint Coca. In Galicia there are still two dragon cocas, one in [[Betanzos]] and the other in [[Redondela]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.anuariobrigantino.betanzos.net/Ab1992PDF/1992%20297_306.pdf|title=A coca de Betanzos}}</ref> The legend says that the dragon arrived from the sea and was devouring the young women until she was killed in combat by the young men
of the city. In Monção, the legend says, she lives in the [[Minho (river)|Minho]]; in Redondela she lives in the [[Ria]] of [[Vigo]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rodríguez Adrados|first=Francisco|author-link=Francisco Rodríguez Adrados|title=Festival, Comedy and Tragedy: The Greek Origins of Theatre|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AtcUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA380|year=1975|publisher=Brill Archive|isbn=90-04-04313-6|page=380}}</ref> The dragon shared the same name that was given in Portuguese and Spanish to the [[Cog (ship)|cog]] (a type of ship), and although used mainly for trade, it was also a war vessel common in [[medieval warfare]] and piracy raids on coastal villages.<ref>[http://estudiosmedievales.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosmedievales/article/viewArticle/72 La coca en el intercambio mercante Atlántico-Mediterráneo] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120704023816/http://estudiosmedievales.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosmedievales/article/viewArticle/72 |date=2012-07-04 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref><ref>[http://www.fotevikensmuseum.se/fotenet/koggarna/visby2011 Visbyresan 2011 med koggen Tvekamp av Elbogen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111121750/http://www.fotevikensmuseum.se/fotenet/koggarna/visby2011 |date=2012-11-11 }}. [[Fotevikens Museum]] {{in lang|sv}}.</ref>

The oldest reference to Coca is in the book ''Livro 3 de Doações de D. [[Afonso III of Portugal|Afonso III]]'' from the year 1274, where it is referred to as a big fish that appears on the [[shore]]:<ref>[http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/04/lusitana04_pag_285.pdf d'Azevedo, Pedro. Revista Lusitana.Miscelânia. Volume IV Antiga Casa Bertrand, 1896] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716073740/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/04/lusitana04_pag_285.pdf |date=July 16, 2011 }}</ref> "And if by chance any [[whale]] or [[sperm whale]] or [[mermaid]] or coca or [[dolphin]] or Musaranha or other large fish that resembles some of these die in [[Sesimbra]] or [[Silves Municipality, Portugal|Silves]] or elsewhere[.]"

In [[Catalonia]], the ''Cuca fera de Tortosa'' was first documented in 1457. It is a [[Zoomorphism|zoomorphic]] figure that looks like a [[tortoise]] with a horned spine, dragon claws and a dragon head.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alemany|first1=Rafael|author-link1=Rafael Alemany|last2=Ferrando i Francés|first2=Antoni|author-link2=Antoni Ferrando i Francés|last3=Meseguer i Pallarés|first3=Lluís|author-link3=Lluís Meseguer i Pallarés|title=Actes del novè Col·loqui Internacional de Llengua i Literatura Catalanes: Alicant-Elx, 9–14 de setembre de 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kOtXqGVbCwC&pg=PA160|year=1993|publisher=L'Abadia de Montserrat|isbn=978-84-7826-465-0|page=160}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Farb Hernandez|first=Jo|author-link=Jo Farb Hernandez|title=Forms of Tradition in Contemporary Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/formsoftradition0000hern|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi|isbn=978-1-57806-750-3|page=[https://archive.org/details/formsoftradition0000hern/page/95 95]}}</ref> The legend says she had to dine every night on three cats and three children. This legend of the Coca can be compared to the one of [[Peluda]] or [[Tarasque]].

In [[Brazil]], the Coco appears as a humanoid female alligator called ''Cuca''. She is dressed like a woman with ugly hair and a sack on her back. Cuca appears as one of the main villains in children's books [[Sítio do Picapau Amarelo (novel series)|Sítio do Picapau Amarelo]] by [[Monteiro Lobato]], but in the books she appears like a powerful witch that attacks innocent children. Artists illustrating these books depicted the Cuca as an anthropomorphic alligator. She is an allusion to ''Coca'', a dragon from the folklore of Portugal and Galicia.

===Heads===
[[File:Jack-o-lantern from sweden Large.jpg|thumb|right|In Portuguese, the skull-like carved vegetable lanterns are called "''coco''" or "''coca''".]]
[[File:Fíbula celtíbera de Lancia (M.A.N. 22925) 01.jpg|thumb|180px|left|Bronze Celtiberian [[Fibula (brooch)|fibula]] representing a warrior carrying a severed head<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KmF4i8PgawwC&q=fibula+celtiberos+cabeza+cortada&pg=PA401|title=El Cantábrico en la Edad del Hierro: medioambiente, economía, territorio y sociedad|first=Jesús Francisco|last=Torres-Martínez|date=29 May 2019|publisher=Real Academia de la Historia|via=Google Books|isbn=9788415069287}}</ref>]]
[[File:Cabeza cortada castrexa.jpg|thumb|left|180px|A [[Gallaeci|Galaico]]-[[Lusitani]]an 'severed head' from [[Castro culture]]]]
[[File:Coconut.jpg|thumb|right|The sailors of [[Vasco da Gama]] called the fruit of the Polynesian palm tree "''coco''". The word "coconut" is derived from their name.]]

In Portugal, however, the ''coco'' is traditionally represented by an iron pan with holes, to represent a face, with a light inside; or by a vegetable lantern carved from a pumpkin with two eyes and a mouth, which is left in dark places with a light inside to scare people.<ref>Figueiredo, Cândido. ''Pequeno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa''. Livraria Bertrand. Lisboa 1940</ref> In the [[Beira (Portugal)|Beiras]], heads carved on pumpkins, called ''coca'', would be carried by the village boys, stuck on top of wooden stakes.

<blockquote>The same name [Coca] is given to the pumpkin perforated with the shape of a face, with a candle burning in the inside—this gives the idea of a skull on fire—that the boys on many lands of our [[Beira Alta Province|Beira]] carry stuck on a stick.<ref>{{cite book|via=[[Google Books]]|language=pt|url=https://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=vela+acesa+no+interior+%E2%80%94+o+que+d%C3%A1+ideia+de+uma+caveira+a+arder&btnG=Search+Books|title=Beira Alta |publisher=Assembleia Distrital de Viseu|quote=Contributors: Junta de Província da Beira Alta, Arquivo Provincial (Beira Alta, Portugal), Junta Distrital de Viseu, Arquivo Distrital (Viseu, Portugal) – Subject: Beira Alta (Portugal)|date=1946|page=296}}</ref></blockquote>

An analogous custom was first mentioned by [[Diodorus Siculus]] (XIII.56.5;57.3), in which [[Pre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] warriors, after the battle of [[Selinunte]], in 469 BC, would hang the heads of the enemies on their [[spear]]s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/la-creencia-en-la-ultratumba-en-la-hispania-romana-a-traves-de-sus-monumentos--0/|title=La creencia en la ultratumba en la Hispania romana a través de sus monumentos|first=José María|last=Blázquez|date=29 May 2019|language=es|via=www.cervantesvirtual.com}}</ref> According to Rafael López Loureiro, this carving representation would be a milenar tradition from the [[Celtiberians|Celtiberian]] region that spread all over the [[Iberian Peninsula]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.andelvirtual.com/tev/catalogo/ver.php?pid=7288|title=Andelvirtual.com – Librería especializada na venda de música e libros galegos|first=Elvis|last=Martínez|website=www.andelvirtual.com|access-date=2009-10-31|archive-date=2012-02-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225114602/http://www.andelvirtual.com/tev/catalogo/ver.php?pid=7288|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.lavozdegalicia.es/noticia/ferrol/2007/11/04/samain-e-tradizon-moi-estendida-pola-peninsula-iberica/0003_6288179.htm|title=O Samaín é una tradizón moi estendida pola Península Ibérica|date=4 November 2007|website=La Voz de Galicia}}</ref>

<blockquote>The autumnal and childish custom of emptying pumpkins and carving on its [[bark (botany)|bark]], eyes, nose and mouth looking for a sombre expression, far from being a tradition imported by a recent Americanizing cultural mimicry, is a cultural trait in ancient Iberian Peninsula.<ref>[http://www.ortegalia.es/pdf/Pasado%20y%20presente%20de%20los%20estudios%20celtas.pdf Pasado y presente de los estudios Celtas. Las calaveras de ánimas en la Península Ibérica p. 449] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723064106/http://ortegalia.es/pdf/Pasado%20y%20presente%20de%20los%20estudios%20celtas.pdf |date=2011-07-23 }}</ref></blockquote>

This representation would be related to the Celtic cult of the severed heads in the [[Iberian peninsula]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccpxaquinlorenzo.es/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=50%3Ao-samain&id=5%3Apropostas-pedagoxicas&Itemid=37&lang=gl|title=As caveiras de colondros e o tempo de Samaín pg 6|access-date=2011-10-26|archive-date=2012-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425092411/http://www.ccpxaquinlorenzo.es/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=category&download=50:o-samain&id=5:propostas-pedagoxicas&Itemid=37&lang=gl|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/GERI/article/download/GERI8787110245A/14828|language=es|via=[[Complutense University of Madrid]]|title=Las "cabezas cortadas" en la Península Ibérica|quote=9 page PDF download.}}</ref> According to [[João de Barros]], the name of the "[[coconut]]" derived from ''coco'' and was given to the fruit by the sailors of [[Vasco da Gama]], c.1498, because it reminded them of this mythical creature.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RxGv6tMX2QcC&q=coco+fantasma+portugueses&pg=PT481|title=La tribuna del idioma|first=Fernando Díez|last=Losada|date=29 May 2019|publisher=Editorial Tecnologica de CR|via=Google Books|isbn=9789977661612}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pg5PhDt9KtoC&q=coco+Bugbear+barros&pg=PA110|title=Portuguese Vocables in Asiatic Languages|first1=Xavier Soares|last1=Anthony|first2=Sebastiao Rodolfo|last2=Dalgado|date=1 March 2007|publisher=Read Books|via=Google Books|isbn=9781406745948}}</ref>

<blockquote>This bark from which the [[pome]] receives its vegetable nourishment, which is through its [[Plant stem|stem]], has an acute way, which wants to resemble a nose placed between two round eyes, from where it throws the [[Sprouting|sprout]], when it wants to be born; by reason of such figure, it was called by our [men] [[coconut|coco]], name imposed by the women on anything they want to put fear to the children, this name thus remained, as no one knows another.<ref>Barros, João de. Da Ásia de [[João de Barros]] e de Diogo do Couto: dos feitos que os portugueses fizeram no descobrimento dos mares e terras do Oriente. Década Terceira. Lisboa: Na Régia Officina Typografica, 1777–1788 (Biblioteca Nacional Digital)</ref></blockquote>

[[Rafael Bluteau]] (1712) observes that the coco and coca were thought to look like skulls, in Portugal:

<blockquote>Coco or Coca. We make use of these words to frighten children, because the inner shell of the Coco has on its outside surface three holes giving it the appearance of a skull.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zOufgbY8TbsC&q=coca|title=Dalgado, Sebastião. Glossário luso-asiático, Volume 1. 291|isbn=9783871184796|last1=Dalgado|first1=Sebastião Rodolfo|last2=Piel|first2=Joseph M.|year=1982|publisher=Buske}}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref></blockquote>

In the first half of the 20th century, the coca was an integral part of festivities like [[All Souls' Day]] and the ritual begging of [[Pão-por-Deus]]. The tradition of Pão-por-Deus, already mentioned in the 15th century,<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/elucidariodaspa00vitegoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/elucidariodaspa00vitegoog/page/n642 265]|quote=dia dos fieis defuntos.|title=Elucidario das palavras, termos e frases, que em Portugal antigamente se usaram|date=29 May 1865|publisher=A. J. Fernandes Lopes|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> is a ritual begging for bread and cakes, done door to door by children, though in the past poor beggars would also take part. Its purpose is to share the bread or treats gathered door to door with the dead of the community, who were eagerly awaited and arrived at night in the shape of butterflies or little animals, during the traditional [[Castanyada|magusto]].<ref>[Ernesto Veiga de Oliveira. Festividades cíclicas em Portugal – Pg 189]</ref><ref>[http://agjsaraiva.ccems.pt/EMRC/comemoraes/Fi%C3%A9isDefuntos.pdf Festas e Tradições Portuguesas. Dia dos Fiéis Defuntos. Jorge Barros, Soledade Martinho Costa (Círculo de Leitores)] {{webarchive |url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20131113020551/http://agjsaraiva.ccems.pt/EMRC/comemoraes/Fi%25C3%25A9isDefuntos.pdf |date=November 13, 2013 }}</ref><ref>[http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/35/lusitana35_pag_140.pdf Leite de Vasconcelos, José. Revista Lusitana] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714154639/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/35/lusitana35_pag_140.pdf |date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/opusculos/vol07/opusculos07_1291_1333.pdf José Leite de Vasconcelos. OPÚSCULOS. Volume VII – Etnologia (Parte II). Lisboa, Imprensa Nacional, 1938.V. Miscelânea etnográfica] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714203854/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/opusculos/vol07/opusculos07_1291_1333.pdf |date=July 14, 2014 }}</ref> In Portugal, depending on the region, the [[Pão-por-Deus]] assumes different names: ''santoro'' or ''santorinho'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gazetadointerior.pt/seccoes/index.asp?idn=1534|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130504034923/http://www.gazetadointerior.pt/seccoes/index.asp?idn=1534|url-status=dead|title=:: GAZETA DO INTERIOR|date=4 May 2013|archive-date=4 May 2013|website=archive.fo}}</ref> ''dia dos bolinhos'' (cookies day), or ''fieis de deus''.<ref>[Pimentel, Alberto. Espelho de portuguezes – Volume 2 – Página 1191]</ref> This same tradition extends to [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], where it is called ''migallo''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://academia.gal/dicionario/|title=Dicionario - Real Academia Galega|website=academia.gal}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sociedadeantropoloxicagalega.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/do-sc3a1monios-ao-magusto.pdf|title=Outeiro, David. Do Sámonios ao Magusto: Uma porta aberta ao Além}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://sli.uvigo.es/ddd/ddd_pescuda.php?pescuda=migallo&tipo_busca=lema|title=Dicionario de dicionarios|website=sli.uvigo.es}}</ref> It has a close resemblance with the traditions of [[Soul cake|souling]] or nowadays [[trick-or-treating]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.matrizpci.dgpc.pt/MatrizPCI.Web/Download/Kit/KIT_Ficha%2002_Tradi%C3%A7%C3%B5es%20Festivas.pdf|title=PATRIMÓNIO IMATERIAL TRADIÇÕES FESTIVAS Kit Ficha 02 Tradições Festivas}}</ref> While the Pão-por-Deus or Santoro is the bread or offering given to the souls of the dead, the Molete or Samagaio is the bread or offering that is given when a child is born.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RG104_03.pdf|title=Vir à luz —práticas e crenças associadas ao nascimento António Amaro das Neves Revista de Guimarães, n.º 104, 1994, pp. 51–81}}</ref><ref>[Actas / International Colloquium on Luso-Brazilian Studies – Volume 1 – Página 162]</ref>

<blockquote>In this same city of [[Coimbra]], where we find ourselves today, it is customary for groups of children to walk on the streets, on the 31st October and 1st and 2nd November, at nightfall, with a hollow pumpkin with holes that were cut out pretending to be eyes, nose and mouth, as if it was a skull, and with a stump of candle lit from within, to give it a more macabre look.<ref>Manuel de Paiva Boléo, Universidade de Coimbra. Instituto de Estudos Românicos. Revista portuguesa de filologia – Volume 12 – Página 745 – 1963 –  {{blockquote|''Nesta mesma cidade de Coimbra, onde hoje nos encontramos, é costume andarem grupos de crianças pelas ruas, nos dias 31 de Outubro e 1 e 2 de Novembro, ao cair da noite, com uma abóbora oca e com buracos recortados a fazer de olhos, nariz e boca, como se fosse uma caveira, e com um coto de vela aceso por dentro, para lhe dar um ar mais macabro.''}}</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>In Coimbra the begging mentions "[[Pão-por-Deus|Bolinhos, bolinhós]]" and the group brings an emptied pumpkin with two holes representing the eyes of a personage and a candle lit in the inside [...] another example of the use of the pumpkin or gourd as a human representation, is in the masks of the muffled young men during the desfolhada, the communal stripping of the maize, in Santo Tirso de Prazins ([[Guimarães]]), which after, they carry hoisted on a stick and with a candle in the inside, and leave them stuck on any deserted place to put fear to who is passing by.<ref>Renato Almeida, Jorge Dias. Estudos e ensaios folclóricos em homenagem a Renato Almeida. Ministério das Relações Exteriores, Seção de Publicações, 1960{{blockquote|''Em Coimbra o peditório menciona «[[Pão-por-Deus|Bolinhos, bolinhós]]», e o grupo traz uma abóbora esvaziada com dois buracos a figurarem os olhos de um personagem e uma vela acesa dentro[...]outro exemplo da utilização da abóbora ou cabaço como figuração humana, nas máscaras dos embuçados das esfolhadas de [[Santo Tirso de Prazins]] (Guimaräes), que depois, estes passeiam, alçadas num pau e com uma vela dentro, e deixam espetados em qualquer sitio mais ermo, para meterem medo a quem passa.''}}</ref></blockquote>

To ensure that the souls found their way back home, the ''Botador de almas'', whose mission was to lay souls (botar almas), would go every night through valleys and mountains and up on trees ringing a little bell, or carrying a lantern and singing a prayer to the souls. Every Portuguese village had one. Calling and singing to the souls is an ancient tradition done either by one person alone or in groups and it has many names: "lançar as almas", "encomendar as almas", "amentar as almas", "deitar as almas", "cantar às almas santas".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://correiodaguarda.blogs.sapo.pt/211413.html|title=Encomendação das Almas|website=correiodaguarda.blogs.sapo.pt}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/revistadeguimar07soci|title=Revista de Guimarães|last=Sociedade Martins Sarmento|year=1884 |publisher=Guimarães|via=Internet Archive}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://geral.jf-svicente.com/jf-svicenteDocs/patrimonio/nichos.pdf|title="ALMINHAS", NICHOS e CRUZEIROS de S.VICENTE - BRAGA|access-date=2015-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124114650/http://geral.jf-svicente.com/jf-svicenteDocs/patrimonio/nichos.pdf|archive-date=2015-11-24|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The ''serandeiros'' are disguised young men, covered with a blanket, a bed sheet or a hooded cloak. They carry a [[Walking stick|staff]] (a stick of [[quince]] or of [[Celtis australis|honeyberry]], about their own height) in one hand, and in the other they carry a small bundle of [[basil]] or apples that they make the girls that take part of the desfolhada smell, or with which they tickle people's cheeks; sometimes, to play a prank, they bring [[Urtica dioica|stinging nettles]]. When a girl recognizes the serandeiro or if she recognizes her boyfriend masked as a serandeiro, she throws him an apple brought from home.<ref>[http://www.oi.acidi.gov.pt/docs/Col_Percursos_Intercultura/1_PI_Cap8.pdf MÚSICA POPULAR E DIFERENÇAS REGIONAIS. Ascetas e serandeiros] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140930184945/http://www.oi.acidi.gov.pt/docs/Col_Percursos_Intercultura/1_PI_Cap8.pdf |date=September 30, 2014 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tradicoespopulares.com/cms/view/id/774 Grupo Etnográfico de Sandim] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130428082911/http://www.tradicoespopulares.com/cms/view/id/774 |date=2013-04-28 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.tradicoespopulares.com/cms/view/id/7262 Grupo de Folclore da Casa do Povo de Válega – Album Fotografico] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130428071809/http://www.tradicoespopulares.com/cms/view/id/7262 |date=2013-04-28 }}</ref> The serandeiros represent the spirits of the dead, the spirits of nature.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uQ88AAAAIAAJ&q=desfolhada&pg=PA232|title=Portugal: A Book of Folk-ways|first=Rodney|last=Gallop|date=29 May 2019|publisher=CUP Archive|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The heads would have protective and healing powers, protecting people and communities. They would also be cherished for their divinatory, prophetic and healing powers.<ref>[http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/luisjordao/almanaque/numero07/Page09.htm O ALENTEJO E O CULTO CÉLTICO DAS CABEÇAS. Almanaque Alentejano.Nº7] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160109081858/http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/luisjordao/almanaque/numero07/Page09.htm |date=January 9, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_6/marco_simon_6_6.html|title=e-Keltoi: Volume 6, Religion and Religious Practices of the Ancient Celts of the Iberian Peninsula, by Francisco Marco Simón|issue=1|journal=E-Keltoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies|volume=6|date=2005-03-10|last1=Simón|first1=Francisco|access-date=2014-06-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150124001851/http://www4.uwm.edu/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_6/marco_simon_6_6.html|archive-date=2015-01-24|url-status=dead}}</ref> The display places for the Iron Age severed heads were in the inside or outside of buildings with a preference for public places, with streets and people passing by and always preferring high places.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Las armas-trofeo en la cultura ibérica: pautas de identificación e interpretación|first1=M.|last1=Rovira Hortalá|first2=M. Carme Rovira|last2=Hortalá|date=30 December 1999|journal=Gladius|volume=19|pages=13–32|doi=10.3989/gladius.1999.12|doi-access=free}}</ref>

===Our Ladies===
In Portugal, rituals among the [[Catholic]] religious order of [[Our Lady of Cabeza]], a [[Black Madonna]], include the offering of heads of wax to the Lady, praying the [[Hail Mary]] while keeping a small statue of Our Lady on top of the head; the [[pilgrims]] pray with their own heads inside a hole in the wall of the chapel.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UW77i2A_xSQC&q=%22senhora+da+cabe%C3%A7a%22+cabe%C3%A7a&pg=PA448|title=Enciclopédia das Festas Populares e Religiosas de Portugal - Volume 1|publisher=Lulu.com|via=Google Books|isbn=9789892013916}}</ref>{{Better source needed|date=May 2019}} The Chapel of Our Lady of the Heads (Nossa Senhora das Cabeças) situated {{convert|50|m|abbr=on}} northwest of the ruins of the Roman era temple of Our Lady of the Heads (Orjais, [[Covilhã]]) evidences a continuity in the use of a sacred space that changed from a pagan worship cult area to a Christian one and continued to be a place of worship for centuries after. According to Pedro Carvalho, the pre-Roman findings and the unusual location of the ruins inside an 8th-century BC [[hillfort]] suggest it was the place of a pre-Roman cult.<ref>{{cite journal|title=O templo romano de Nossa Senhora das Cabeças (Orjais, Covilhã) e a sua integração num território rural|first=Pedro C.|last=Carvalho|journal= Conímbriga |volume=42|pages=153–182|doi=10.14195/1647-8657_42_5|year=2003|doi-access=free|hdl=10316/44605|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ointerior.pt/noticia.asp?idEdicao=319&id=11521&idSeccao=3622&Action=noticia |title=Um tesouro esquecido em Orjais |access-date=2012-09-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140106172636/http://www.ointerior.pt/noticia.asp?idEdicao=319&id=11521&idSeccao=3622&Action=noticia |archive-date=2014-01-06 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>[http://www.igespar.pt/pt/patrimonio/pesquisa/geral/patrimonioimovel/detail/73613/ Castro de Orjais e ruínas de uma construção junto à Capela de Nossa Senhora das Cabeças]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.urbi.ubi.pt/030617/edicao/176reg_orjais.html|title=urbi et orbi|website=www.urbi.ubi.pt}}</ref>

The Lady of the Head and Lady of the Heads are two of the many names given to Our Lady. Several of her names are thought to be of pre-Roman origin. Names like ''Senhora da Noite'' ({{lit|Lady of the Night}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.agencia.ecclesia.pt/noticias/nacional/habitantes-de-aldeia-nova-cumpriram-tradicao-da-senhora-da-noite/|title=Habitantes de Aldeia Nova cumpriram tradição da Senhora da Noite|website=www.agencia.ecclesia.pt|access-date=2015-10-03|archive-date=2015-10-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151004151149/http://www.agencia.ecclesia.pt/noticias/nacional/habitantes-de-aldeia-nova-cumpriram-tradicao-da-senhora-da-noite/|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Senhora da Luz'' ("Lady of the Light"), ''Señora de Carbayo'' ("Lady of the Oak Tree") are spread all over the peninsula. In Portugal alone 972 titles for Our Lady have been found in churches, altars and images, not including the names of villages and places.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ler.letras.up.pt/uploads/ficheiros/2061.pdf|title=A DEVOÇÂO DO POVO PORTUGUÊS A NOSSA SENHORA NOS TEMPOS MODERNOS}}</ref> Spain has a similar proliferation of titles for Our Lady.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo/3278427.pdf|title=Flora y Religiosidad popular: advocaciones vegetales de los Crucificados en España y América}}</ref>

The common element to all these names is the title Lady. But the title ''Senhora'' (Portuguese) or ''Señora'' (Spanish) is of Latin origin, and derives from the Latin ''senior'';<ref>[http://lema.rae.es/drae/srv/search?id=HrhNNZqKHDXX28hPXTEm Diccionario de la lengua española]</ref> thus there had to be another one of pre-Roman origin. In ancient times the titles that were used in Portugal by the ladies of the court were ''Meana'' (me Ana) or ''Miana'' (mi Ana) and ''Meona'' (me Ona); these words meant the same as miLady, that is, ''Ana'' and ''Ona'' were synonyms of ''Senhora'' and ''[[Don (honorific)|Dona]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bIdFAAAAcAAJ&q=miona&pg=PA168|title=Elucidario das palavras, termos ... en Portugal usarão|date=29 May 1799|via=Google Books}}</ref> ''Ana'' is the name of the river [[Guadiana]], thus pre-Roman in origin.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/3B*.html|title=LacusCurtius • Strabo's Geography — Book&nbsp;III Chapter&nbsp;2|website=penelope.uchicago.edu}}</ref> ''[[Anu (deity)|Ana]]'' is also the name of a goddess of Irish mythology.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&q=anu&pg=PA1452|title=Celtic Culture: A-Celti|date=29 May 2019|publisher=ABC-CLIO|via=Google Books|isbn=9781851094400}}</ref>

In the village of Ponte, parish of Mouçós, on a hill that overlooks the River Corgo, there is a chapel called Santo Cabeço which legend says was built by the ''mouros encantados''. On the wall facing south there is a hole, where legend says the ''mouros'' used to put their head to hear the sound of the sea. The local people also have the custom of putting their head inside the hole: some to hear the whisper that is similar to the waves of the sea, others to heal headaches.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lendarium.org/narrative/a-capela-de-n-s-a-de-guadalupe/|title=A Capela de N. S.a de Guadalupe. APL 930. Centro de Estudos Ataíde Oliveira|access-date=2015-11-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151124143338/http://www.lendarium.org/narrative/a-capela-de-n-s-a-de-guadalupe/|archive-date=2015-11-24|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[Alcuéscar]], Spain, a legend says that a princess exhibited a stall of skulls and human bones.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4xMTgUiknn8C&q=la+princesa+%2CAlcu%C3%A9scar%2C+calaveras+y+huesos+humanos&pg=PA164|title=Seres míticos y personajes fantásticos españoles|first=Manuel Martín|last=Sánchez|date=29 May 2019|publisher=EDAF|via=Google Books|isbn=9788441410534}}</ref>

===Hooded cloak===
[[File:Farricocos.JPG|thumb|left|180px|The Farricoco in the procession "Ecce Homo" on [[Maundy Thursday]], in [[Braga]], Portugal.]]
In Portugal, ''coca'' is a name for a hooded [[cloak]]; it was also the name of the traditional hooded black [[wedding gown]] still in use at the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>[http://www.cm-castelo-vide.pt/pdf/PE%C3%87AS%20DO%20M%C3%8AS_%20PDF_/C%C3%94CA%20OU%20MANTILHA%28PDF%29.pdf CÔCA OU MANTILHA – SÉCULO XIX] {{webarchive |url=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20090925164922/http://www.cm-castelo-vide.pt/pdf/PE%C3%87AS%20DO%20M%C3%8AS_%20PDF_/C%C3%94CA%20OU%20MANTILHA(PDF).pdf |date=September 25, 2009 }}</ref> In [[Portimão]] during the holy week celebrations, in the ''procissão dos Passos'' (Spanish: ''Procesión de los Pasos''), a [[procession]] organized by the Catholic brotherhoods, the herald, a man dressed with a black hooded cloak that covered his face and had three holes for the eyes and mouth, led the procession and announced the death of Christ. This man was either named coca, farnicoco, (farricunco, farricoco from Latin ''far, farris''<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sli.uvigo.es/DdD/ddd_pescuda.php?pescuda=farricoco&tipo_busca=lema|title=Dicionario de dicionarios|website=sli.uvigo.es}}</ref> and coco) or death. The name ''coca'' was given to the cloak and to the man who wore the cloak.<ref>[http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/22/lusitana22_pag_200.pdf J. António Guerreiro Gascon. Festas e costumes de Monchique] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006102927/http://cvc.instituto-camoes.pt/bdc/etnologia/revistalusitana/22/lusitana22_pag_200.pdf |date=October 6, 2011 }}</ref>

In 1498, the Portuguese [[Manuel I of Portugal|King Manuel I]] gave permission to the Catholic brotherhood of the Misericórdia to collect the bones and remains from the gallows of those that had been condemned to death and put them in a grave every year on [[All Saints' Day]].<ref>[http://www.scms.pt/index.php/a-irmandade.html Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Santarém] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110703020345/http://www.scms.pt/index.php/a-irmandade.html |date=2011-07-03 }}</ref> The brotherhood in a procession, known as Procissão dos Ossos, were followed by the ''farricocos'', who carried the tombs and collected the bones.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjZAAAAAYAAJ&q=portuguez+farricoco&pg=PA202|title=Novo diccionario portatil das linguas portugueza e ingleza ...|first=Antonio|last=Vieyra|date=29 May 1867|publisher=Va J.P. Aillaud, Guillard e Ca.|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y89FAAAAcAAJ&q=ferricoco&pg=PT485|title=Diccionario|date=29 May 2019|publisher=Tip. Rollandiana|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFSxdTyQz1IC&q=prociss%C3%A3o+dos+ossos&pg=PA45|title=História breve das Misericórdias Portuguesas, 1498–2000|first=Isabel dos Guimarães|last=Sá|date=1 December 2008|publisher=Imprensa da Universidade de Coimbra / Coimbra University Press|via=Google Books|isbn=9789898074546}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjZAAAAAYAAJ&q=dicionario+farricoco&pg=PA202|title=Novo diccionario portatil das linguas portugueza e ingleza ...|first=Antonio|last=Vieyra|date=29 May 1867|publisher=Va J.P. Aillaud, Guillard e Ca.|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In the travels of the Baron Rozmital, 1465–1467, a paragraph was written commenting on the traditional mourning clothes of the Portuguese of that time. The relatives of the deceased who accompanied his funeral would be clad in white and hooded like monks, but the paid mourners would be arrayed in black.<ref>Teophilo Braga. CURSO DE HISTORIA DA LITTERATURA PORTUGUEZA. Porto: 1885</ref>"[...] white was 
worn as the garb of mourning until the time of King Manuel, at the death of whose aunt, Philippa, black was adopted for the first time in Portugal as the symbol of sorrow for the dead".<ref>Holland, James. The tourist in Portugal: illustrated from paintings (1839)</ref>

===Giants===
[[File:Ribadeo, Plazuela de San Roque.JPG|thumb|right| ''Os cocos'', giant representation of the coco and coca of [[Ribadeo]]. The tradition dates back to the 19th century.]]
In [[Ribadeo]], two [[Giant (mythology)|giant]] figures represent "el coco y la coca" that dance at the sound of [[drummer]]s and [[Galician gaita|Galician bagpipe]] players.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xigantes.org/denominacionesg.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113104931/http://www.xigantes.org/denominacionesg.htm|url-status=usurped|title=Gigantes y Cabezudos|date=13 January 2013|archive-date=13 January 2013|website=archive.fo}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LBGZ-m7FGJcC&q=%22el+coco+y+la+coca%22&pg=PA273|title=Galicia feudal|first=Victoria|last=Armesto|date=29 May 1971|publisher=Editorial Galaxia|via=Google Books}}</ref>

===The land of the dead===

The 'land of the dead' is a mythic land which appears in traditions from various cultures around the ancient world.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nd9R6GQBB_0C&q=the+land+of+the+dead+ancient+world&pg=PA120|title=The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore|first=Patricia|last=Monaghan|date=14 May 2014|publisher=Infobase Publishing|via=Google Books|isbn=9781438110370}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=viQiAgAAQBAJ&q=the+land+of+the+dead+ancient+world&pg=PA93|title=The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality|first=Mark|last=Grimshaw|date=1 February 2014|publisher=OUP USA|isbn=9780199826162|via=Google Books}}</ref>

Probably the oldest mention of a mythic land of the dead located in the [[Iberian Peninsula]] is in the [[Lebor Gabála Érenn]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JLC3AwAAQBAJ&q=the+mag+mor+spain&pg=PA375|title=Religion Of The Ancient Celts|first=J. A.|last=Macculloch|date=3 June 2014|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317846239|via=Google Books}}</ref>

The legends of Portugal and Spain speak of an enchanted land, the Mourama, the land where an enchanted people, the [[Enchanted Moura|Mouros]] (Celtic *MRVOS)<ref>[http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/luisjordao/almanaque/numero05/page46.htm MOURAS ENCANTADAS, AS NOSSAS AVÓS. ALMANAQUE ALENTEJANO.] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808053513/http://www.prof2000.pt/users/avcultur/luisjordao/almanaque/numero05/page46.htm |date=August 8, 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VH6lRlyBiuUC&q=mouros+%2AMRVOS&pg=PA222|title=Actas del XXVI Congreso Internacional de Lingüística y de Filología Románicas|first1=Emili Casanova|last1=Herrero|first2=Cesareo Calvo|last2=Rigual|date=22 March 2013|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=978-3110299977|via=Google Books}}</ref> dwell under the earth in Portugal and Galicia. The lore of Galicia says that "In Galicia there are two overlapped people: a part lives on the surface of the land; they are the Galician people, and the other in the subsoil, the Mouros". Mourama is the otherworld, the world of the dead from where everything comes back.<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://ruc.udc.es/dspace/handle/2183/8338|title=Myths, legends and beliefs on granite caves|first=J.|last=Costas Goberna|date=29 May 2019|via=ruc.udc.es}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.continuitas.org/texts/morais_portugal2.pdf|title=Portugal Mundo dos Mortos e das Mouras Encantadas VolumeII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RG100_11.pdf|title=A Mourama|access-date=2014-08-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314022725/http://www.csarmento.uminho.pt/docs/ndat/rg/RG100_11.pdf|archive-date=2012-03-14|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Mourama is ruled by an enchanted being who is called ''rei Mouro'' (king Mouro). His daughter is the princesa Moura (princess Moura), a shapeshifter who changes herself into a snake, also called ''bicha Moura'', or can even be seen riding a dragon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dip-badajoz.es/errores/error404.php|title=Diputación de Badajoz|website=www.dip-badajoz.es}}</ref>

== In popular culture==
In the last chapter of the work of [[Miguel de Cervantes]], the epitaph of ''[[Don Quijote]]'' identifies him as the [[scarecrow]] and ''el coco''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Don_Quixote/Volume_2/Chapter_LXXIV?match=es|title=Don Quixote|first=Miguel de|last=Cervantes|via=Wikisource}}</ref>
{{Verse translation|lang = es|Tuvo a todo el mundo en poco,		
fue el espantajo y el coco		
del mundo, en tal coyuntura,		
que acreditó su ventura		
morir cuerdo y vivir loco|He had the whole world in little, 
he was the scarecrow and the coco of the world, 
in such a conjuncture, 
that he credited his fortune 
to die sane and to live insane|attr1 = ''Don Quixote'' by Miguel de Cervantes}}

''Que Viene el Coco'', a painting that depicts a cloaked, menacing figure, was painted by [[Francisco de Goya y Lucientes|Goya]] in 1799.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/drawings_and_prints/que_viene_el_coco_francisco_de_goya_y_lucientes/objectview.aspx?collID=9&OID=90028505 The Metropolitan Museum of Art]</ref>

[[It (character)|Pennywise]] from Stephen King's miniseries [[It (miniseries)|''It'']] calls himself the "eater of worlds and of children."

The Cuco appears in ''[[AdventureQuest Worlds]]''. It is among the creatures that attack Terra da Festa before the [[Brazilian Carnival|Carnaval]] Party. The Cuco resembles a Carnaval version of Blister. The Cuca later appears where it is depicted as a humanoid alligator in witch attire.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

A wealthy family of Cucuys appear in ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]'' episode "Alex Gives Up". Their abilities include shapeshifting in which they can change their face to a dark-gray skull shape, with large red eyes. The family consists of Carlos Cucuy (portrayed by [[David Barrera]]), Julie Cucuy (portrayed by [[Roxana Brusso]]), and Lisa Cucuy (portrayed by [[Samantha Boscarino]]). Staying somewhat true to folklore, they enjoy scaring children. Surprisingly, they are afraid of [[Werewolf|werewolves]] which evident at the end of the episode when the parents jump overboard their boat once they find out Mason, the boyfriend of Alex Russo, is in fact a werewolf. Interestingly, Lisa Cucuy wasn't phased by the reveal and only jumped overboard once she was rejected by Mason.

The 2013 [[Universal Studios Hollywood]] ''[[Halloween Horror Nights]]'' event featured El Cuco (here known as El Cucuy) at a Scarezone who was voiced by [[Danny Trejo]].{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

On the television series ''[[Grimm (TV series)|Grimm]]'', in the fifth episode of season three, El Cucuy poses as a little, old lady who answers the prayers of crime victims, changes into beast form, and brutally slays criminals, thus rendering a version of vigilante justice that is a departure from the standard El Cucuy legend.

[[Stephen King]]'s 2018 novel ''[[The Outsider (King novel)|The Outsider]]'' (and the [[The Outsider (miniseries)|2020 TV miniseries]] based on King's novel) features a variation of El Cuco as its main villain.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.charnelhouse.org/theoutsider|title=The Outsider|access-date=2021-07-22|archive-date=2021-07-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722120435/https://www.charnelhouse.org/theoutsider|url-status=dead}}</ref>

El Cucuy is featured in ''[[The Casagrandes]]'' episode "Monster Cash," voiced by [[Eric Bauza]]. Carl Casagrande starts a ghost tour revolving around El Cucuy after hearing about it from his grandmother Rosa. Enlisting the assistance from Lalo, Sergio, and Stanley, Carl invites Ronnie Anne, Bobby, Adelaide, and Vito to partake in it. Afterwards, Carl, Lalo, and Sergio soon find that the El Cucuy legend appears to be true when it shows up and haunts Carl. It leaves when Carl does his chores and refunds the money he made. When El Cucuy visits the hot dog vendor Bruno, he was spooked until it was discovered to be a disguise worn by Rosa.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}

The Mexican stop motion series ''[[Frankelda's Book of Spooks]]'' episode "Let's Get Out of Darkness" features Coco Jr., the son of the child stealing Coco, depicted as a furry creature with eight limbs and a horned lizard-like face. A music lover, Coco Jr. steals childhood passions for music and the arts to create a ghostly orchestra and tricks a bullied theremin player named Tere into giving away her talents to him.

El Cucuy is the nickname of American mixed martial artist [[Tony Ferguson]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.essentiallysports.com/ufc-mma-news-tony-ferguson-explains-how-he-got-the-name-el-cucuy/
|title=Tony Ferguson Explains How He Got the Name 'El Cucuy'|first=Paras|last=Pande|newspaper=Essentiallysports |date=30 April 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Bogeyman]]
* [[Madam Koi Koi]]
* [[Sack man]]
* [[Calaca]]
* [[Hidebehind]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

[[Category:Bogeymen]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters]]
[[Category:Ghosts]]
[[Category:Medieval European legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Latin American folklore|Cuco]]
[[Category:Brazilian mythology]]
[[Category:Brazilian folklore]]
[[Category:Mythology of the Americas]]
[[Category:South American mythology]]
[[Category:Portuguese legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Spanish legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Portuguese folklore]]
[[Category:Spanish folklore]]
[[Category:Mexican folklore]]
[[Category:Supernatural legends]]
[[Category:Colombian folklore]]
[[Category:Myths and legends of Colombia]]
[[Category:Spanish-language South American legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Brazilian legendary creatures]]