THE BEST AND MOST IMPORTANT NICARAGUA LEGENDS

Nicaraguans have an abundant mythological culture that favors the formation of Dantesque and folkloric stories. Many people point out that in this country there is no region in which the myths or magical stories that are classified as Nicaraguan legends are not known.

Nicaraguan Legends

Nicaragua concentrates a black, fantastic, sorcerous, wonderful and ancestral imaginary that shapes the convictions and superstitions of its inhabitants. Among the most important Nicaraguan myths and legends, the Cadejo, the coyota of El Viejo and the chief Diriangén stand out. In this nation, the dissemination of legends and myths through verbal stories is very important, so talking about ghosts, spirits and supernatural creatures, good or bad, is common.

Central America is the nucleus and confluence site of a mestizo civilization due to its particular geographical location. Aborigines, Africans and Europeans have forged chronicles, stories and mythical stories that allude to the indigenous-ancestral tradition of the area. When talking about Nicaraguan legends, there are those who claim that there is not a single town in this country in which people do not know of at least one legend.

In short, in Nicaragua, there are numerous magical stories that have been passed down through time. In the stories below, you can see those Nicaraguan stories and legends that have survived to this day and that continue to be of interest to everyone who reads them.

Popular Nicaraguan Legends

Below are some of the Nicaraguan legends that have become hooked on popular taste, which is due to the identification of their people with what is told, which they consider as their own.

The Nagua Cart

On certain nights, when the darkness becomes more unfathomable, it is said that the Nagua Carreta goes out on its rounds, which is a harbinger of calamities for the local residents. The few witnesses to its appearances indicate that it is an old cart which is in deplorable conditions.

This situation causes its wheels to produce excessive noise, causing people to stay in their homes until the noise stops. Instead of an awning, the cart was covered by a white canvas. On the other hand, whoever drives the cart is none other than death, who usually travels in the company of a sharp scythe always resting on his left shoulder.

Replacing the horses, the animals that are used as trailers are a pair of oxen, whose appearance gives the impression of having been taken from a cemetery. One of them has blackish skin, while the other has fur very similar to the color of peach. The unusual thing is that it never turns corners, since when it comes to one or approaches an alley, it simply disappears and reappears in another part of the town.

Unfortunately, there is no one who can confirm where the Carretanagua comes from. Even so, by investigating in depth, one can realize that, in some way, this transport portends the death of a local. Since according to what was pointed out by a Nicaraguan friend, every time the screeching of its wheels is heard, a person dies the next day without any explanation.

Nicaraguan Legends La Llorona

Within Nicaraguan legends, La Llorona is a popular character from those gloomy chronicles that frighten the dreams of peasant communities. Her moans are recognized within the nocturnal chorus of animals and the incessant rhythm of the waters of ravines and rivers. This somber recital is the same one that has truncated the dreams of entire generations in the towns scattered in the enigmatic virgin spaces of our continent.

In Nicaragua you can hear the cries of La Llorona carried quickly by the whimsical winds that come from the four corners of the planet. What is said is that La Llorona expresses herself through an extensive and pitiful moan, supported by the painful cry of a woman whose face no one has been able to see.

In the neighborhood of El Calvario de León, it was known that the La Llorona moan runs near the river, after the Zanjón. It was said by the river washerwomen that, as soon as night fell, they had to collect the clothes that were still wet and take them in a single bundle, otherwise La Llorona would throw them into the river. According to the washerwomen, La Llorona is the lost soul of a woman who had thrown her child into the river.

Many versions are heard about La Llorona, but some state that this enigmatic cry is the deep pain of a mother whose son drowned in the well while she was cleaning clothes in the river. But who was it? Who could clarify who this mysterious soul in pain is? In a continuous search to know more and more about this and other figures of the oral tradition of our people, we sail towards the island of Ometepe.

Doña Jesusita is the name of the old hermit who, knowing of our interest in investigating the town’s chronicles, began to tell us about the origin of the mother’s cry in affliction.

“…In those ancient times, there was a woman and her little daughter of about 13 years old, the little woman was already mature. She was in charge of washing the clothes of her nine younger siblings and carrying water for the house. The mother did not bother to reiterate to her daughter every moment she saw her silently grinding the corn or preparing the dough when the crackling of the firewood resonated under the clay griddle: – Mijita, the blood of slaves is never combined with that of the executioners.

She called the white people executioners since the girl was Indian. The daughter, at dusk she went out to wash in the river and one day she was approached by a white man who stopped to drink at a well and greeted her as he passed by. The whites never exchanged words with the indigenous people, only to give them orders. The point was that she was enchanted by white and they always take advantage of women. So it was that under a large ceibo tree trunk used for washing clothes, there by the river, they saw each other daily and she opened up to him.

“Tomorrow, white man, we’ll meet at the same time,” he always said goodbye. Obviously, as soon as the target arrived, the little Indian woman came out with a belly, but the family had not yet found out about her delivery. They comment that she went secretly under the guanacaste, so as not to be seen by the washerwomen and so that they would not accuse her of her mother.

After some time, when she was ready to give birth, a ship arrived at the island, here in Moyogalpa. The white man was saying goodbye, he was leaving for her land and as it was time for her to give birth, he begged him to take her. However, where was he going to take her! The little Indian woman sobbed and sobbed, afflicted, her eyes out.

He left and she had a seizure and fainted. When she woke up the next day, next to her was a child and instead of adoring that little baby, she took him and angrily told him: -My mother reminded me that the blood of the executioners should not be combined with that of the slaves.

That’s how he approached the river and threw the little boy in and bread! She fell when she threw it into the water. Immediately a voice was heard exclaiming: Oh! mother… oh mother!… oh mother!… Upon hearing that voice the girl felt regret for what she had done and entered the water trying to rescue the child but the more she followed him, the more the current took him and carried him further away. always listening to them the same whining: Oh mother!… oh mother!… oh mother!

Not being able to continue any further, he had to get out of the river, which had already dragged the little boy, but the cry of the child that was sometimes heard in the distance seemed close at other times: Oh mother!… oh mother!… oh mother. !…The young woman, saddened and upset with said whimper, went crazy. She was screaming, that’s why they called her La Llorona.

The deranged woman perished and her soul was left wandering, that is why her screams can be heard at night… “La Llorona walks there, until she can be heard throughout the river.” Nowadays, mothers, in order to make little boys happy who sob out of sheer spoiledness, tell them: – Here comes the crybaby…

The Segovias Earthquake

Strong, hairy, fierce and with a shrill cry, the Sisimico lived in the depths of the jungles of Las Segovias. Anthropomorphic like the gorilla and the orangutan, he was obsessed with kidnapping women, enjoying them and leaving them, according to the most popular versions. In another he is shown as an old man, without the strength to kidnap his females, being similar to a single long shadow.

Even so, in surrounding towns in the Dipilto and Jalapa mountains, a version was heard in which the Sisimico ended happily with his prey: the cook of a house near Murra, whom he had caught while getting water from a fountain. The Sisimico, emerging from the thicket, lifted her up and threw her onto his back. After much wandering, he arrived at a cave, into which he introduced the woman and closed the entrance with a rock. At midnight he returned loaded with fruits and raw meat for her.

Some time later, the cook conceived a child. The Sisimico took the baby in her arms and with his tongue licked her feet and head, exhorting with her gestures that she do the same. The boy was taught to speak by the woman just as he was shown the things of the world.

The rooster that announces the dawn was the animal that most attracted the child’s interest since it had beautiful clothing and a rose-red crest. The woman later gave birth to a Sisimiquito that did not suffer from the cold since it was protected by a very thin and thick coat. Upon the death of Sisimico, executed by ruthless hunters, the woman was dedicated to caring for her child and her Sisimiqui.

Nicaraguan Legends The Bride of Tola

Just 13 kilometers north of Rivas is a small town that is famous for a historical event, which in its time was the biggest social uproar of the time. So much so that there have been versions of it that can be defined as mythical and folkloric, but there are still people in the town who are witnesses that the true story of the Bride of Tola arose here.

There are several versions of this, one of the Nicaraguan legends, Tola’s girlfriend, but they all agree that on the same day of the marriage of a girl named Hilaria with her suitor Salvador Cruz, he left her standing waiting in front of the church. since another woman with whom he had a love affair and who lived on the outskirts of the town took advantage of him and ruined his wedding.

According to one of the interpretations, Hilaria was happy with her wedding plans with the person who would be the love of her life. The religious act was planned to take place in Bethlehem, since at that time in the original Tola there was no Catholic parish.

It happened that on the day before the wedding the bride and groom had agreed to meet in the church of Belén, but Salvador decided that before the wedding he would say goodbye to Juanita, who was another girl with whom he had an affair…