The Sayona

It is a ghost with the figure of an elegant, tall, and very beautiful woman with long hair.
hair. They call her La Sayona because she covers herself with a long tunic or saya. This
the apparition has been frightening night owls since the 19th century and they say that it
appears to drinkers, night owls, and adulterers. Let them admire her but
when they try to win her over, she then smiles, showing some fangs
long and pointed and then disappears, leaving the poor terrified
fishermen. Considered a punishing sign for unfaithful men.
La Sayona is a story originating from the Venezuelan plains and dates back to the time
colonial. It is the story of a very jealous woman who killed her husband and
his mother, thinking that they were having a romance.
Your mother, in the agony of death, cursed her saying: "You will be Sayona for ..."
"always and in the name of God, so be it." Since then, he wanders without
rest and peace, chasing unfaithful men to conquer them and then
kill them.
Among the many stories told in the Venezuelan plains is
the following:
One night a man escaped to meet his lover, in the middle of
Camino was surprised to see her coming to meet him, although he found her strange.
staggering walk. He ran after her, but upon reaching her house, the woman continued
long.
The bewildered man said to him: Well, what’s happening? When he turned around, he
he encountered a white woman with a deathly face, teeth sharp as axes
and huge claws like nails. He ran towards his house and the spirit
he chased with open arms to embrace him.
The man managed to escape and upon arriving home, he found his mother-in-law.
Awake, who upon seeing him so agitated asked:
Son, what happened to you?
What a good scare I got! I went out for a moment to pee and that woman appeared...
Oh my son, it seems like you're cheating on my daughter! Stop that, I
what should I say...
The man assures that after that experience he had no desire to return.
to deceive his wife.
Therefore, it is better for those men who enjoy deceiving their partner,
think it over before LA SAYONA appears to you.
particularity of unfolding, that is, it can appear as a dog or a wolf.

The Whistler
It is said in the Venezuelan plains that some time ago a young man murdered his...
parents. For this atrocious crime, he is condemned forever to carry a sack with
the bones of their ancestors and to scare people by whistling a series of notes
characteristics and making the bones sound. You never know where it is because, if
if its whistle is heard nearby, it means El Silbón is very close.
the ghost is already far away. Some say that whoever hears the whistle is
hearing the announcement of his own death. The narrative says that he is a tall man and
slim that measures about six meters.
The description given by those who have seen and heard it; they say it is that of
a disproportionate man, very tall, who walks standing out above
the treetop emits a chilling whistle and carries a bag full of
bones that make them sound like a Holy Week rattle.
The legend says that the Whistler is the tormented soul of a son who killed his father and
he ate the offal (that is, the liver, heart, and lungs). The boy was raised
spoiled (pampered), did not respect anyone. One day he told his father that he wanted
eating deer offal. His father went hunting to please him but
he was taking a long time to return. In light of this, the boy went to look for him and upon seeing that
I didn't bring anything, I hadn't been able to hunt the deer, I killed it, I took out its entrails and I ...
took them to her mother to cook them. Since they weren't softening, the mother
she suspected they were her husband's 'satires'. Asking the boy, he
he confessed the truth.
Immediately he cursed him 'for all his life'. His brother Juan chased him with a
"Sender", he heard a lid of chili and urged his dog "Tureco" until the end
the world chases him and bites his heels.
In the eastern plains of Colombia, it is known as the whistler; it is said to be the
fearless wandering of a restless soul of a partying and womanizing man who
died alone and abandoned and seeks the company of someone to ride
late at night along the paths of this plain.
Others say that this whistler chases pregnant women;
it emits a long and piercing whistle that penetrates through the ears and at the same time it
there is an intense cold that freezes people. There is a belief that when
a sharp whistle is a woman who is going to die; but if on the contrary the whistle
He is thick, is it a man or a friend who dies.

Amalivaca and the Creation of the World

In indigenous mythology, Amalivaca was the creator of humanity, of the river.
Orinoco and the wind. Initially, it made men immortal, but as punishment for
his faults made them mortal. It is said that many years ago there was a great
flood. Amalivaca then set out in a canoe to explore the world and along
he and his brother Vochi were repairing the flood damage, after which
only one couple of humans had survived. They went to a great
mountain carrying moriche palm seeds and from there they dispersed them
throwing them into the world. From these seeds, men and women were born.
that populate the planet.

Guaraira Repano
The city of Caracas is nestled in a beautiful valley at the foot of the mountain.
El Ávila. In pre-Columbian times it was called Guaraira Repano, which
means something like: 'the wave that came from afar'. The indigenous people of the area
they told that in ancient times there was no mountain and that from the valley
I could see the sea. But one day the tribes offended the great goddess of the sea and she
wanted to end everything in the village. Then he raised a great wave, the highest that
had been seen; all the people knelt and begged for forgiveness from the goddess and, just
when the wave was about to crash down on them, the goddess took pity and turned the wave into the
great mountain that exists today.
Florentino, the one who sang with the devil.
Florentino was the best rider and singer of the plains. One night, riding alone
through the plain to attend a joropo in a nearby town, he noticed from afar that
another man was following, all dressed in black, who seemed to be going to the same party.
When the joropo began and Florentino prepared to sing, the strange guest...
I challenged him to a duet. Florentino accepted, and as they crossed paths, the...
couplets, he realized that his opponent was the Devil and that if he lost in the
counterpoint, he would lose his soul. But his skill as an improviser and his faith
they kept the Devil busy singing all night without Florentino realizing it
A rhyming mistake would not happen. When the sun came out, the Devil had to disappear.
completely defeated. Alberto Arvelo Torrealba wrote a poem
monumental narrating the back-and-forth between Florentino and the Devil.
The confrontation between Florentino, the most famous of the llanero singers, and the
Diablo takes place in several scenes. The first of them corresponds to the Challenge;
in it, in some desolate spot of the plain summer, The Devil crosses with
Florentino, both gentlemen, and he challenges him to a counterpoint in place and
opportunity marked there.
The second represents us Florentino at the agreed place, singing and to the
waiting for the challenger, who does not take long to present themselves. Thus begins the
immediate counterpoint woven with bandola or harp, cuatro and maracas, at the end
from which, The Devil is defeated. Some say it's by the rising of the sun; others, by
the conjuration of the saints, but the fact is that it disappears. The legend that runs through
the llanos suggest that, after the meeting, florentino never sang again.
For some researchers and historians, it is not a coincidence that Alberto Arvelo
Torrealba has decided to bring these characters to life in Santa Inés, setting
key in the history of Venezuela as it is the very place where the general
Ezequiel Zamora won the battle against the centralist army that defended the
Venezuelan oligarchy. Santa Inés, the place where 'El Catire', Florentino, challenged
Satan came out victorious.
The legend of Florentino and the Devil was also revived by Rómulo Gallegos in
his novel Cantaclaro. "Florentino, the fair-haired solace taker, was the best of the
Coplers. Essential in all joropos and parties of the Llano, no one could defeat him.
in their exchanges. The Devil himself, envious of Florentino's triumphs,
he decided to challenge him to a duel of verses," wrote Gallegos.

Maria Lionza
According to the legend, María Lionza (Yara) was a Nivar maiden, an enchanted daughter of
a powerful chief from Nirgua. The Shaman of the village had predicted that
when a girl with strange eyes, aquamarine eyes, was born, it was necessary to
sacrifice it and offer it to the Lord of Water, the Great Anaconda because if not
perpetual ruin and the extinction of the Nívar would come. But his father was unable to
do it. And he hid the girl in a cave in the mountain, with 22 warriors who
they watched her and prevented her from leaving. She was forbidden to look at herself in mirrors
water. But one day a mysterious force put the guardians to sleep and the beautiful
young man left the cave and walked to the lake, discovering his own reflection in the
water. She was delighted by his vision. Thus she awakened the Lord of Water to the Great
Anaconda, who emerged from the depths, falling in love with her and
attracting her toward him. In the lake, María Lionza and the powerful serpent celebrated
a spiritual and mystical communion. When his father discovered the union, he tried
separate them. Then the Anaconda grew, became enormous and burst, causing a
great flood that swept away the village and its people. Since that day María Lionza
she became the protective goddess and mistress of the lagoons, rivers, and waterfalls, mother
protector of nature, wild animals, and queen of love. The myth of Yara
survived the Spanish conquest, although it underwent some modifications. In this
sense, Yara was covered by the Catholic religion with the mantle of the Christian virgin
and took the name of Our Lady Mary of the Onza of the Prado of Talavera
Nivar. However, with the passage of time, she would be known as María de la
Onza, that is, María Lionza.
The cult of María Lionza gained great strength in the 1950s.
during the dictatorship of Marcos Pérez Jiménez, who ordered that be erected in the
year 1953 on the eastern highway, near the entrance of Central University
from Venezuela, a statue of her mounted on a danta, the work of the sculptor
Alejandro Colina, which collapsed due to lack of maintenance, being
replaced by a replica, while the real one is being repaired by the UCV.
The image of María Lionza is that of a lady dressed in a blue cloak, with
colored feathers and jewels; sitting on enormous snakes. When strolling through
the jungle of Nirgua or Chivacoa, marches in a danta, which is invulnerable to all
the arms and Christian prayers. It has the ability to petrify the stingy, to the
thieves and bandits.
Goddess of the mountain of Sorte, in Yaracuy. She is also known as 'The Queen'.
There are many versions of its origin, but the most accepted is that it was from the ethnic group.
Caquetía, mestizo daughter of a chief. As she was born with light eyes, which
he considered it a bad omen, his father hid her in a cave in the mountain. The
I visited her daily to feed her and one day I saw a danta (tapir) bringing her fruits.
wild ones to the girl and carried her on his back.
The girl grew up with the name Maria and people visited her seeking healing.
for their illnesses because he knew the powers of plants. He could be seen by
the jungle riding on the danta and this image grew in popular faith,
becoming a protective deity of the forests and healer of the
people. She was called María La Onza because she was also accompanied by a onza or
puma
It is currently an object of worship in the Sorte mountain, Yaracuy State,
converted into a sanctuary by the followers.

The Clock of Guigue (GÜIGÜE)

In the Ávila Plaza of the town of Güigüe, part of the Carlos municipality
In Arvelo, in the state of Carabobo, there is an ancient clock, genuine and authentic.
monuments, like the public clocks of Caracas, brought during the governments
of General Antonio Guzmán Blanco and Joaquín Crespo.
This watch from Güigüe was used to measure time for the people who
they collected coffee from the southern production of Copetón, Santa Efigenia, Altamira and the
Palmas. Many places claim that this clock witnessed the experiences of
Don Antonio Pimentel and General Juan Vicente Gómez, during their stay in the
Hacienda el Trompillo, one of his many properties; upon the death of General Gómez,
the clock was moved to the Ávila square of Güigüe completely broken, there it was
repaired and marked the parish hours of the town; there are those who say that the
the person who repaired it died a few days later, then a man of Italian origin
named Salvador Consoli, was a worker of that clock and when he left it
he left his job and went back to his homeland, a few days later he passed away, then a
a man named Andrés Mijares, whom they called 'Chipia' died after
repair the clock. The most recent case of clock workers was the known
master of that locality, Juan Lorenzo, who dared to put into operation the
watch and shortly after died in Valencia.
Since then, the legend spread throughout the central region of Venezuela,
who repairs 'The Clock of Güigüe', should prepare the will because he
there are few hours of life left.

José Antonio Oquendo

In the mid-19th century, when the country's revolutions had somewhat ceased,
like the Federal War, the Blue Revolution or the War of '92, took advantage
the merchants of the time to travel through the difficult roads that came
Oh Iván, from the eastern or central plains to sell his goods and to
market the cattle, with the only means of transport being donkeys, oxen and
mules that made up the tack, and of course the horse, an important animal and
primordial of the plain gaucho to herd the godmothers of cattle that would be sold to
the government troops and exposing themselves to the danger of highway robbers,
who killed to steal the livestock and thus satisfy their hunger.
bandit troops, decimated by war.
One of these many merchants was JOSÉ ANTONIO OQUENDO, to whom
they called him "QUIRPA", a horse-riding plainsman, a good rancher with a rope in hand and a
piper, strong singer of the savanna, good coplero, good counterpoint singer, his voice was
recognized in each of the towns and the most remote corners of the
immensity of the plain. It is certain that its place of origin is unknown, some said
what was it of Apurito, Palmarito or Guasdualito, the truth is that he was the son of the
immense flat land.
His friend and workmate, 'THE' always accompanied him.
"Guitarrero," and alongside them was the mule, which carried on its back, "the
"camoruca" llanera, musical instrument, which "QUIRPA" played.
masterfully, becoming the singer who accompanied himself, with his
...the battle cry: '...the harpist and good coplero has arrived,
respond, accompany me guitar player." This is how the party got started, where they had fun.
people in taverns and shops, among sticks of aguardiente and the relancino
counterpoint
On one of these trips, José Antonio Oquendo, "QUIRPA", was coming to Caracas,
with a livestock godmother arriving in San Sebastián, I mentioned to her
...look buddy, we're arriving in San Sebastián, we'll leave there
the workers who take care of the livestock and you and I will move a little further up, and
we arrived at Güiripa, a cool town with beautiful women, I have very 'good' ones.
relationships with those people, and we are going to party the night away, and 'girl' that I
I'll take her in the horns...
That's how 'The Guitarist' prepared the mule with the harp, he put some into a bag
rum bottles, their 'just in case' with cheese, cassava, and papelón, cleaned and refined their
guitar (four) and they embarked on the journey to Güiripa.
Yes, 'QUIRPA' was widely known in the town, his fame had reached
until Güiripa, and in one voice the locals could be heard: '...hey cousin, stand up
"Here comes Quirpa..." This is how one by one, the inhabitants began to prepare.
for the big party, they arrived at the riverbanks, where the great was lit
bonfire, and the thirty-two strings of the harp, performed by "Quirpa" and accompanied
by the guitarist; they started with a 'guacharaca', which warmed up
men and women who, to the rhythm of the tapping, began the great party.
As the hours passed, the party took on more color, and under the effects
from alcohol, 'Quirpa' and 'El Guitarrero' kept playing, throwing out couplets after
couplets in fierce duels, between 'Quirpa' and the singers from the area,
one by one they fell defeated by the verses 'kill the coplers' that with skill
"Quirpa" refuted them. Under the roar of the dance, they say that "Quirpa" looked on.
to a stunning brunette who also corresponded to him, giving her 'flirty looks'.
"Quirpa" inspired by the beauty of this woman, forgot about her opposites, and
he began to court the woman with his verses, highlighting all her attributes
that adorned her; but, as there is always a "but", the woman had a "master", and

strong or offensive verses, which did not affect 'Quirpa' and he replied back.
in such a teasing manner, ridiculing him, seeing himself already lost and dead with rage for
the jealousy and the impotence from not achieving his goal against "Quirpa", the husband
jealous, they say, I launched this verse: '... if you have arrived in these lands, coming from so far'
far away, your carbide is finished, you are a poor fool and let it be known in
Caracas also in the whole world that here in Güiripa gentlemen, they don't want to
the plainsmen..”, immediately taking a feline leap, dagger in hand, from a
I only cut the 32 strings of the harp that 'Quirpa' played with mastery, and that is how it is.
How the eggplant patch is set on fire, 'Quirpa' like a good plainsman, faced it with his fists.
clean against whom he dared to harm his harp, in the midst of the brawl 'Quirpa' receives
certain stab, which takes his life on the spot. The guitarist in defense of his
the boss and party companion comes to his defense, but is also injured,
They say he received up to sixteen stab wounds, miraculously saving his life.
They say that after the skirmish, everything fell silent, and in the midst of the
semi-darkness, only two bodies lying on the ground stood out, that of
"QUIRPA" and "THE GUITARIST", and the blood that flowed from the wounds, arrived
to the river, dyeing the waters red, which wound downstream,
following its own course.

The Weeping Woman

With its heart-wrenching wails, it interrupts the nocturnal silence, in the most
The towns of Venezuela are mentioned. The most well-known legend is about La Llorona.
She was a Spanish woman. She lived during the Colony in a village and had several children.
with an indigenous person. His brothers were enraged upon discovering such an aberration.
We must remember that at that time it was said that the indigenous people did not possess
soul. They were considered animals, inferior beings, of diabolical origin.
The brothers of that lady killed her children and married her to a Spaniard.
But the poor woman went crazy and would escape from her house at night. She wandered
through the fields loose with long hair, in a wide nightgown, crying
mourning sadly for the death of their children. The peasants are
were troubled to hear her. Shortly after, she died of sorrow, but the villagers still
they listen. Some have even seen her dragging the weight of her sadness through the
fields of Venezuela.

The crazy Luz Caraballo

The crazy Luz Caraballo is a character from Venezuelan popular culture.
region of the Andes, especially of the State of Mérida and immortalized in the
literature by the writer and poet Andrés Eloy Blanco.
Many will have heard the story of the crazy Luz Caraballo in children's voices.
Andean people, the feat is in understanding what their swift tongues pronounce.
They tell of a woman driven mad by the loss of her five children. It is said that two
they left for war alongside Simón Bolívar, those who, "went after
a man on horseback
Since then, this mad woman wanders anguishing all over the moor,
From Chachopo to Apartaderos, searching for the children he lost.

The Dwarf of the Cathedral

The twelve bells rang on the old clock of the Cathedral of Caracas. The square
She was alone. A cold breeze was coming from the north of the city. A well-dressed gentleman,
with a bowler hat and covered with a Spanish cloak appeared around the corner of Las
Monjas entered the square and marched towards the corner of La Torre, suddenly he appeared.
at the church door a tiny figure like a ten-year-old child, but
he had a cigarette in his mouth and was smoking, as if it were the last cigarette of his life. The
the man was blowing puffs of smoke, but suddenly the tobacco went out.
the gentleman was already reaching the corner of La Torre and clearly heard
when with a shrill voice, that boyish-looking man asked him: May I have a
match to light the tobacco, please. The man felt a shiver and began to
He approached the strange smoker. He was very short, had an old man's face. He was a
dwarf.
He extended the lit match and saw how the dwarf, after sucking the tobacco,
It began to grow and grew... After a very strong laugh, it reached the
height of the clock and with the index of the right hand pointed to the face saying:
It is five past twelve in Caracas and the hands of the clock in San Pedro in Rome
It is six and seven in the morning... Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! _As if it were a
spring doll, in a fraction of seconds, the man turned back into
dwarf. But the man was already running towards the corner of Veroes shouting:
Help! Rescue!, Hail Mary Most Pure…!
For two centuries, 'the dwarf' of the Cathedral was the most famous ghost of
Caracas.
Men refrained from going through the center of the city after ten.
from the night. More than one night owl ran to the Caracas Gate
with his tongue out, terrified by the dwarf.
When Billo started playing at the Roof Garden in 1939, the dwarf disappeared.
Years later, Billo wrote 'in the corner of Las Gradillas a dead man appears,' but
he did not mention the dwarf out of respect.

Although 'the dwarf' became a Caracas institution and the terror 'of the
"womanizers" who living in Candelaria had a "second front" for Santa
Rosalía, there were other ghosts that rivaled the fateful dwarf of the
Cathedral. For example, 'the man with the cap in La Plaza de la Misericordia'
today Carabobo Park.
When López Contreras was president of the Republic, he still retained that
It placed a beautiful gate that prevented dogs from entering the park. In that
then one of the major problems in Caracas was stray dogs,
thin and dirty, just as the great César Rengifo portrayed them when he painted the
miseries of the people.
After twelve, at the same time as the dwarf, the man appeared.
little hat, a ghost that had both hands in the pockets of its pants and was
he was approaching whistling, while the guy who had the audacity to enter the
He defecated in the plaza and tried to flee, but the gates of the bars had
missing. There was no way to find them.
This torture lasted about an hour, when also as by
charm appeared the doors and the man with the cap disappeared.

Momoy
The Momoyes, Mamóes, or Mumúes are goblins from Venezuelan folklore.
inhabitants of the Andean area since pre-Columbian times. The Momoyes are
described as small little men about 40 cm tall. They can be
dresses in the Indian way, adorning their bodies with feathers, leaves, and flowers,
helping themselves to walk with a cane. They are also described as adorned
for enormous hats and beard. They inhabit the areas of Mérida and Trujillo,
especially its lagoons and rivers. They are described as benign creatures,
mischievous, and defenders of the environment. Due to their nature as sprites
protectors of the crops, agriculture, and the environment in general, are
They tell anecdotes about the furious reactions that the Momoyes can have.
to have towards those jungle visitors who leave their waste
pollutants in a careless manner. It is said that a Momoy returned,
throwing it violently at its owner, a can of soda that was previously
he had tried to sink in a lagoon. It is also said of a Momoy of
La Culata Páramo (Mérida) with a very violent personality, and who used to lash with his
staff to the travelers who camped in the place, especially if they were not
careful with their waste. The Momoyes like to make victims of the
travelers of their heavy jokes, which are generally not more terrible
that hiding or misplacing any of their household belongings.
Moreover, their presence is perceived through all kinds of activities, such as for example
singing, whistling, etc. Anyway, if travelers do not want to be disturbed
for the Momoyes, it would be enough to ignore them, an attitude they could not bear.
The Caves
Throughout the Venezuelan territory, the indigenous people of different tribes shared
the belief that caves were the passages to the beyond. When
someone from the tribe died, a kind of ceremony was held at the entrance of the
cave. If no noise was heard during the rite, it was understood
that the soul of the deceased had passed smoothly to the other world. On the other hand, if
noises were heard, it was supposed to be the spirit of the deceased relative or friend
He/She was being judged and punished for his/her mistakes made in this life.
Many times those noises were heard, due to the animals that inhabit
the caves. It is for this reason that bats and other nocturnal flying animals
they were considered to be the transporters of souls.

Juan Machete:
Considered one of the most well-known legends of the plains. It tells the life
of the man who wanted to be the most powerful in the region, his name was Juan
Francisco Ortiz, master and lord of the lands of La Macarena. This gentleman made a
pact with the devil in which he handed over his wife and children in exchange for much
money, cattle and land. The devil told Juan to catch a frog and a
hen, to which he should sew their eyes and bury them alive on a Good Friday at
midnight, in a secluded place, then I should summon it from the soul and
heart. Juan fulfilled what was entrusted.
After several days, the man realized that the business was flourishing. One
early morning he got up early, and when he saddled his horse he spotted an impressive bull
black, with four hooves and two white horns. This event took place
unnoticed and went to work as usual. In the afternoon he returned from the
he worked and observed that the bull was still roaming around the house. He thought
Could it be from a neighbor? The next day he was awakened by the commotion caused by the
animals, he imagined that the cause could be the black bull. He tried to get it out of his
territory, but this was not possible because no watch could hold out. Tired and
worried about the strange incident, he went to bed, but at midnight he was
awakened by an imposing roar. Upon reaching the pasture, he realized that thousands
They grazed back and forth. Their wealth increased more and more.
The legend says that for many years he was the richest man in the region. Until
that one day the cattle mysteriously began to disappear and their numbers started to decrease
fortune until ending up in misery. It is said that Juan Machete after fulfilling
in his pact with the devil, repentant he buried the leg he had left and disappeared
in the depths of the jungle. The legend says that in the lands of Macarena
A man is wandering, vomiting fire and preventing the money from being unearthed.
by Juan Machete

Five White Eagles

Five white eagles were flying one day through the blue of the sky; five eagles
huge, whose glowing bodies cast wandering shadows over the
hills and mountains. Five white eagles flew one day through the blue of
firmament; five huge eagles, whose shining bodies produced
Wandering shadows over the hills and mountains.
Did they come from the North? Did they come from the South? The indigenous tradition only says that the five
Eagles came from the starry sky in a very distant time.
Those were the days of Caribay, the spirit of the aromatic forests, first
woman among the Mirripuyes Indians, inhabitants of the steep Andes. She was the daughter of
burning Zuhé and the pale Chía; and it mimicked the song of the birds, running over the
grass like crystal clear water, and played like the wind with the flowers and the
trees.
Caribay saw the huge white eagles flying through the sky, whose feathers shone.
in the sunlight like sheets of silver, and wanted to adorn his armor with such a rare and
splendid plumage. He ran tirelessly after the shadows that the birds painted
on the ground; saved the deep valleys; climbed a mountain and another mountain; finally arrived,
fatigued at the solitary peak of the Andean mountains. The pampas, distant and
immense, were seen on one side; and on the other, a cyclopean ascent, veined
of gray and emerald, the scale that the mountains form, went through the blue wave of the
Coquivacoa.
The white eagles rose perpendicularly over that height until
get lost in space. Their shadows were no longer drawn on the earth.
So Caribay went from one cliff to another cliff across the steep mountains,
watering the ground with his tears. He invoked Zuhé, the king star, and the wind carried away
their voices. The eagles had disappeared from sight, and the sun was already sinking in the
sunset.
Aterida with cold, she turned her eyes to the East, and invoked Chía, the pale Moon; and to the
the wind stopped to make silence. The stars shone, and a vague
A glow in the shape of a semicircle was drawn on the horizon.
Caribay broke the august silence of the moors with a cry of admiration. The
the moon had appeared, and around it flew the five white eagles
shimmering and fantastic.
And while the eagles descended majestically, the genius of the forests
aromatic, the mythological India of the Andes gently modulated sweetness over the height its
jungle singing.
The mysterious birds fluttered above the bare ridges of the
mountain range, and they finally sat down, each one on a cliff, digging their claws into the
long live rock; and they remained motionless, silent, with their heads turned towards the
North, the gigantic wings extended in a posture of taking off once again to
blue sky.
Caribay wanted to adorn her shell with that rare and splendid plumage, and she ran
toward them to tear away the coveted feathers, but a glacial cold numbed
his hands: the eagles were petrified, transformed into five huge masses
of ice.
Caribay lets out a scream of fright and flees in terror. The white eagles were a
mystery, but not a terrifying mystery.
The moon suddenly darkens, the hurricane strikes with sinister noise the naked ones.
rocky outcrops, and the white eagles awaken. Bristling furiously, and as they
they shake their monstrous wings the ground is covered with snowflakes and the mountain
today is adorned with white feathers.
This is the fabulous origin of the Sierra Nevada of Mérida. The five eagles.
white of the indigenous tradition are the five high cliffs always covered
of snow.
The great and stormy snowfalls are the fierce awakening of the eagles; and the
whistle of the wind in these desolate days, it is the remedy for the sad song and
monotonous of Caribay, and the beautiful myth of the Andes of Venezuela.