Cadejo

{{Short description|Creature in Central American folklore}}

{{Short description|Creature in Central American folklore}}

{{Multiple issues|{{notability|date=August 2020}}

{{One source|date=August 2022}}}}

{{About|creature in Central American folklore|South Korean funk band|Cadejo (band)}}

{{About|creature in Central American folklore|South Korean funk band|Cadejo (band)}}

[[File: El Cadejo - "La Linea" by Carlos Loarca.jpg|thumb|A 2011 painting by Carlos Loarca depicting el Cadejo]]The '''cadejo''' ({{IPA|es|kaˈðexo}}) or '''cadejos''' is a [[supernatural]] [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit]] that appears as a dog-shaped creature with blue eyes when it is calm and red eyes when it is attacking. It roams around isolated roads at night,[https://books.google.com/books?id=CNUWAAAAYAAJ Games and Popular Superstitions of Nicaragua], E.A.P de Guerrero, p. 38, in The Journal of American Folk-lore, Volume 4, Parts 1-2, 1891 according to [[Central America]]n folklore of indigenous origin.

[[File: El Cadejo - "La Linea" by Carlos Loarca.jpg|thumb|A 2011 painting by Carlos Loarca depicting el Cadejo]]The '''cadejo''' ({{IPA|es|kaˈðexo}}) or '''cadejos''' is a [[supernatural]] [[Spirit world (Spiritualism)|spirit]] that appears as a dog-shaped creature with blue eyes when it is calm and red eyes when it is attacking. It roams around isolated roads at night,[https://books.google.com/books?id=CNUWAAAAYAAJ Games and Popular Superstitions of Nicaragua], E.A.P de Guerrero, p. 38, in The Journal of American Folk-lore, Volume 4, Parts 1-2, 1891 according to [[Central America]]n folklore of indigenous origin.

The myth also exists in several states of Mexico.{{cite web

|url=https://sipse.com/milenio/columna-mitos-cavernas-carlos-evia-cervantes-cadejo-2-307595.html

|title=El Cadejo (2)

|trans-title=The Cadejo (2)

|last=Evia Cervantes

|first=Carlos

|website=SIPSE.com

|publisher=Grupo SIPSE

|date=2018-08-15

|access-date=2019-12-10

|language=es

}}

There is a good white cadejo and an evil black cadejo. Both are spirits that appear at night to travelers: the white cadejo protects them from harm and danger during their journey, while the black cadejo (sometimes an incarnation of the [[devil]]) tries to kill them. In [[Costa Rica]] and [[Panama]], the cadejo is a single creature, black in color, and although monstrous, it is generally harmless. In Costa Rica and [[Nicaragua]], "''el cadejo''" is known as "''el cadejos''".

There is a good white cadejo and an evil black cadejo. Both are spirits that appear at night to travelers: the white cadejo protects them from harm and danger during their journey, while the black cadejo (sometimes an incarnation of the [[devil]]) tries to kill them. In [[Costa Rica]] and [[Panama]], the cadejo is a single creature, black in color, and although monstrous, it is generally harmless. In Costa Rica and [[Nicaragua]], "''el cadejo''" is known as "''el cadejos''".

[[Guatemala]]n and [[Salvadoran folklore]] also tells of a cadejo that protects [[drunk|drunk people]] against anyone who tries to rob or hurt them. When the cadejo is near, it is said to bring a strong goat-like smell. Turning one's back on the cadejo or speaking to it is said to induce insanity.[https://books.google.com/books?id=LteeDgAAQBAJ Beasts! Book 2], Jacob Cove Fantagraphics Books, 2008

[[Guatemala]]n and [[Salvadoran folklore]] also tells of a cadejo that protects [[drunk|drunk people]] against anyone who tries to rob or hurt them. When the cadejo is near, it is said to bring a strong goat-like smell. Turning one's back on the cadejo or speaking to it is said to induce insanity.[https://books.google.com/books?id=LteeDgAAQBAJ Beasts! Book 2], Jacob Cove Fantagraphics Books, 2008

=== Description ===

== Origins of the legend ==

Although the term "cadejo" used to refer to this being is of Spanish origin, the mythological roots of the Cadejo are found primarily in [[Maya mythology]] and in the shamanistic traditions of the [[Nahua peoples]] of Mesoamerica, where indigenous myths frequently describe [[shamanism|shamans]] and [[nagual]]s capable of taking animal form to perform religious and funerary functions, in rituals that employed jade ornaments, animal skins, bird feathers, and masks.{{harvnb|Ferrero|2002|p=38}}{{harvnb|Sierra Quintero|Díaz Cabrera|2011|p=58}} Among Mesoamerican cultures, the dog served as a companion to the dead on their journey to the afterlife.{{cite journal

|last=De la Garza

|first=Mercedes

|year=2014

|title=El carácter sagrado del xoloitzcuintli entre los nahuas y los mayas

|trans-title=The sacred character of the xoloitzcuintli among the Nahua and Maya

|journal=Arqueología Mexicana

|volume=21

|issue=125

|pages=58–63

|location=Mexico City

|publisher=National Autonomous University of Mexico

|issn=0188-8218

|url=https://biblat.unam.mx/es/revista/arqueologia-mexicana/articulo/el-caracter-sagrado-del-xoloitzcuintli-entre-los-nahuas-y-los-mayas

|access-date=2019-07-02

|language=es

}} The legend is therefore a product of cultural syncretism and, in turn, a remnant of an ancient belief that every human possesses an animal companion. This mythical animal is understood as a spiritual double of the person, such that illness or death affecting one will also affect the other. In modern terms, a comparison may be drawn with Western religious thought, which holds that a person has a [[Guardian angel|guardian angel]] that protects them from danger.{{cite journal

|last=Lee

|first=Donghoon

|year=2019

|title=La recuperación de la identidad en “Leyenda del Cadejo”, de Miguel Ángel Asturias

|trans-title=The recovery of identity in "Legend of the Cadejo" by Miguel Ángel Asturias

|journal=Sincronía: revista de filosofía y letras

|issue=68

|location=Guadalajara, Mexico

|publisher=University of Guadalajara

|issn=1562-384X

|url=http://sincronia.cucsh.udg.mx/articulos_68_html/lee_68.html

|access-date=2020-11-25

|language=es

}}

== Description ==

[[File:Ghost-BlackDog.jpg|thumb|The most common description of the Cadejo is that of a large black dog with glowing eyes.]]

[[File:Ghost-BlackDog.jpg|thumb|The most common description of the Cadejo is that of a large black dog with glowing eyes.]]

The most prolific descriptions correspond to the black Cadejo. All agree that it is a large black dog with red eyes like embers, which drags heavy chains.{{harvnb|Ferrero|2002|p=38}}{{harvnb|Padilla|2013|p=26}} The Costa Rican writer [[Carlos Luis Fallas]], in the glossary of the novel ''Marcos Ramírez'', describes it as ''"a fantastic animal, with phosphorescent eyes and thick fur, black and very long"''.{{harvnb|Fallas|2008|p=313}} Another version from Costa Rica also adds goat legs and jaguar teeth.{{harvnb|Zeledón Cartín|2000|p=203}} Likewise, in this same country, it also appears with completely brown fur on certain occasions. In some versions from Nicaragua, it is capable of manipulating its body to grow, in the manner of a giant dog. In his story ''El Cadejo'', the Salvadoran writer [[José Efraín Melara Méndez]] describes it as ''"a kind of small dog that followed people but did not harm them. Although sometimes people did not see it, they heard its characteristic footsteps similar to those of a goat."'' For the Honduran writer [[Jesús Aguilar Paz]], "''one must not confuse the Duende with the Cadejo: the latter is a nocturnal quadruped that feeds on putrefying corpses, and when it walks its bones rattle; its eyes are luminous and encountering it is dangerous."'' [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]] omits that it has the form of a dog, and incorporates three different species into one body, ''"with goat hooves, rabbit ears, and a bat's face"''.{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=Donghoon|title=La recuperación de la identidad en “Leyenda del Cadejo”, de Miguel Ángel Asturias|journal=Sincronía: revista de filosofía y letras|issue=68|year=2019|issn=1562-384X|url=http://sincronia.cucsh.udg.mx/articulos_68_html/lee_68.html|language=es}}

The most prolific descriptions correspond to the black Cadejo. All agree that it is a large black dog with red eyes like embers, which drags heavy chains.{{harvnb|Ferrero|2002|p=38}}{{harvnb|Padilla|2013|p=26}} The Costa Rican writer [[Carlos Luis Fallas]], in the glossary of the novel ''Marcos Ramírez'', describes it as ''"a fantastic animal, with phosphorescent eyes and thick fur, black and very long"''.{{harvnb|Fallas|2008|p=313}} Another version from Costa Rica also adds goat legs and jaguar teeth.{{harvnb|Zeledón Cartín|2000|p=203}} Likewise, in this same country, it also appears with completely brown fur on certain occasions. In some versions from Nicaragua, it is capable of manipulating its body to grow, in the manner of a giant dog. In his story ''El Cadejo'', the Salvadoran writer [[José Efraín Melara Méndez]] describes it as ''"a kind of small dog that followed people but did not harm them. Although sometimes people did not see it, they heard its characteristic footsteps similar to those of a goat."'' For the Honduran writer [[Jesús Aguilar Paz]], "''one must not confuse the Duende with the Cadejo: the latter is a nocturnal quadruped that feeds on putrefying corpses, and when it walks its bones rattle; its eyes are luminous and encountering it is dangerous."'' [[Miguel Ángel Asturias]] omits that it has the form of a dog, and incorporates three different species into one body, ''"with goat hooves, rabbit ears, and a bat's face"''.{{cite journal|last=Lee|first=Donghoon|title=La recuperación de la identidad en “Leyenda del Cadejo”, de Miguel Ángel Asturias|journal=Sincronía: revista de filosofía y letras|issue=68|year=2019|issn=1562-384X|url=http://sincronia.cucsh.udg.mx/articulos_68_html/lee_68.html|language=es}}