In Spain, as in any other country, there are numerous characters, either mythological or exaggerated but based on something real, that are used to scare children into behaving well. Normally these stories become part of the popular culture of the country. Here are some of the best-known ones.

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  “Que viene el coco”, Francisco de Goya, 1799. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goya_-_Que_viene_el_coco_(Here_Comes_the_Bogey-Man).jpg

  The bogeyman. It was very easy for the adults to make children believe in this character, as there was always a stranger or two carrying a sack. Perhaps for this very reason, because the people who walked with them were different, there are no very definite characteristics, except that he was someone who carried disobedient children in his sack. In Catalonia, it takes the form of the Cacamentides. It is said that when lies come out of the mouth of a child, they take the shape of a bird. When he found the bird, the lie hunter would go with it to look for the liar, who he would catch with his metal fingers and put in his sack.

• El coco. These are creatures that frighten children but do not take a definite form. Large and dressed in black, they strike fear into children’s hearts with songs since they go to the kindergarten. Their figure was used for those who did not want to go to bed or for children who did not eat.
• The Vijanera. A Cantabrian character who on New Year’s Eve would enter the attic and prick the bellies of children who had not eaten with a pitchfork. It is also the name of the first carnival of the year, located in Silo, Cantabria, where a masquerade takes place on the 31st of Dicember.

 

 

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