In many cultures throughout the world and history have appeared legends about fantastic beings half man, half wolf. The werewolves or lycanthropes have known each other since ancient times and in Supercurioso we talk about the origin of the word "lyántropo" in the post: Do you know who Lycaon was, the king who gave his name to the LICANTROPÃ A? , in this Greek myth we see Zeus turning a man into a wolf, but the stories about these characters are not European heritage and on this occasion we want to tell you about the Legend of the Lobizon, the Guaraní-werewolf .
The Guarani people live in a region that includes areas of Paraguay, Northeast Argentina, eastern Bolivia and southwestern Brazil. Before the arrival of the colonizers, the Guaraní people had their own beliefs and mythology that were mostly absorbed by Christianity in its syncretizing process or forgotten as they were not written and transmitted orally. One of the myths that have remained is that of Lobizón or werewolf of the Guarani mythology .
The legend of Lobizón, the guaraní-wolfman
Lobizón, Luisón , Luisõ or Lobisón is the name of a monstrous creature similar to a European werewolf. The legend explains that Marangatú, the second son of the first human couple, had a beautiful daughter named Kerana. The girl was kidnapped by Tau, who was the personification of the spirit of evil. Angatupyry , the spirit of good, cursed the couple and condemned them to have only monstrous children.
The seventh male child, from a chain of male children, of this couple was Lobizón. The most cursed of all. Monstruoso like his brothers, had the average appearance of human and half of dog or wolf. The name of Lobizón or louisón was taken by the Guaraní people borrowed in the same way as in Argentina and Uruguay they called the werewolf men who is also lobizon and the Brazilian word that originated it: lobisomem. The original Guarani name for this seventh cursed son has not been preserved, because as we said there was only oral transmission and this character was increasingly resembling the European werewolf.
However, we do know how the Guarani mythology described it. He was an absolutely monstrous being, horribly ugly, with long, dirty hair that practically covered him completely. He also had both eyes and skin with a very pale and sickly appearance. There was a foul, nauseating odor in his wake that presaged the presence of a being related to death. For all those unfortunate people who came across him, the impact was terrifying. It was related to the night, death and cemeteries and it was believed that it fed exclusively on dead and rotten human flesh. The legend of the Lobizón o Luizón also explained that if the monster passed between the legs of a person, it also became a Luizón and if it touched someone, it meant that soon he was going to die.
Over time, the Legend of Lobizón and that of the European werewolf were similar and the Guarani also went out to hunt the nights of the full moon, hunting to eat and if he bites someone, he also becomes a Luizón. So rooted was this legend in some social groups that it was believed that the seventh male son in the chain was destined to become Luizón, and in many cases the families got rid of him. In Paraguay and the Northeast of Argentina, at the end of the XIX century and the beginning of the XX the president of the nation sponsored the seventh son (without any female), so that he would not be killed. From 1973 the sponsorship was made official and the sponsored person enjoyed the privilege of having a scholarship.
Galicia and the legend of the lobishome very similar to the legend of the lobizón
In Galicia - region that is well worth visiting - there was also the legend of the "lobishome" very similar to the legend of the lobizon . When a family had a seventh male child followed, there was a possibility that it was a Lobishome. To check it, one should look at the newborn's palate. If he had the image of a cross or a wheel of Santa Catalina he would not become a lobishome, but he did not. To avoid the occurrence of this terrifying event, he must be immediately sponsored in baptism and confirmation by one of his older brothers who had already reached the age of 16 and had been baptized and confirmed before. If this possibility did not exist, the child would become a lobishome if he was not baptized by the name of "Bieito", which means "blessed" in Galician.
In this tradition, the lobizón went out to hunt on Fridays and he took off his clothes becoming a werewolf. His habit was to visit seven villages or small towns and in each of them dress a skin. To return to his human form he could burn one of the skins he had stolen in the villages he visited or simply make him bleed.
Fortunately, the legend of the lobizón and others similar to that of the Galician lobishome have gone down in history and have forgotten times like the Enlightenment in which lycanthropy was firmly believed to be a real disease resulting from syphilis, rabies or epilepsy, for example. Currently, it does take into account a mental pathology known as clinical lycanthropy, one of whose most documented cases we talk about in Supercurioso: Manuel Blanco Romasanta | 13 murders of a clinical lycan .
Did you know the legend of the Lobizón , the werewolf Guarani? Do you have more information about this spooky mythical figure? Share them with us! We will be happy to add them to this post.