The traditional legends of Cuca (pronounced ku·kuh) tell that she is an ugly old woman who appears in the form of a crocodile and steals disobedient children. The cuca only sleeps once every seven years, and parents sometimes use this element of the legend to scare children who don't want to sleep, saying that the cuca will get them if they don't go to bed. Although cuca comes from Portuguese coca, in Tupi (indigenous language of Brazil), Cuca means swallowing something in a single gulp.
Even in several cultures there are lullabies that refer to Cuca, in Brazil the main refrain of the lullaby is commonly known:
Nana neném Sleep, little one
Que a Cuca vem pegar The Cuca’s going to get you
Papai foi pra roça Daddy went to the fields
Mamãe foi passear Mommy went for a walk
Desce gatinho Come down, little cat
De cima do telhado From the roof
Pra ver se a criança To see if the child
Dorme um sono sossegado Is sleeping peacefully.
The legend of Cuca was popularized in Brazil by Monteiro Lobato, through his work "Sítio do Pica-Pau Amarelo", in this story she is portrayed as a humanoid alligator with blond hair and red clothes, a sorceress who torments children who live around where she lives. (This is the most striking version of how it is recognized here)
But it is believed that the Legend of Cuca has its origins in Galician-Portuguese folklore based on the creature “Coca”, which means “skull head”.
The "Coca" is a ghost or a dragon that eats disobedient children that lurks on the roofs of houses, and kidnaps them after doing some mischief.
(But it is worth pointing out that the true source of the Cuca that we know is very difficult to define, due to the miscegenation of various cultures)
Recently Netflix launched a series that is based on Brazilian folklore called "Cidade Invisivel", in the story we follow the detective Eric in the midst of investigating the death of his wife, until some mysteries begin to intrigue the character, and folklore figures like Iara , Saci-Pererê, Curupira etc, start to appear in action. And, of course, especially Cuca, who in this version is portrayed from a different perspective, being a human woman who is a kind of witch of dreams, specialist in putting people to bed/trance, being seen as a protector of all these entities of the world. the great protective mother. It welcomes these beings, who in history live on the margins, because they were expelled from their place of origin (the forest) and are lost in the middle of the city.
I remember finishing the first season, about 2/3 years ago and simply falling in love with this new version of Cuca (who in the series is played by actress Inês Negrine). And luckily, tomorrow (03/22/2023) the 2nd season of Invisible City will finally be released, exploring our folklore even more and bringing even a little more of the tales and stories of the peoples originating in Brazil!
So, I took some time to try to combine these two versions, which are so different but still valid according to research and stories that travel around Brazil (Cuca alligator is the result of legends coming from Portugal and by the representation of Monteiro Lobato, the "traditional" Cuca of original people folklore was associated with owls and moths and this was rescued in the series, as I said there is no wrong source, just a mixture of cultures!!!), so I created my "own" Cuca to celebrate the release of the season and our culture. And that's what it turned out!
I'm going to leave here some links to see the trailer for season 1 and 2 of Invisible City, in case anyone is interested. And also a link to a scene from the series that shows how the lullaby is recited around here.
trailer for the first season of invisible city with english subtitles here!
Trailer for the 2nd season of invisible city (unfortunately I couldn't find the trailer with English subtitles, but you can activate the automatic subtitles translated into English through YouTube)
Scene from the series with the lullaby here! (The audio is not the best)
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