The 7 Guaraní myths
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Luisón

The werewolf, also called Lobisón or Huicho

BoquerónPresidente HayesCentralAsunciónAlto ParanáItapúaÑeembucúMisionesAlto ParaguayConcepciónAmambayCanindeyúSan PedroCaaguazúCordilleraCaazapáParaguaríGuairáTeju JaguaMbói Tu'ĩMoñáiJasy JatereKurupíAo AoAsunción

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Where it livesAny cemetery in the country

Variant Colmán ties him to cemeteries, naming none. He goes from town to town.

HabitatCemetery
How it movesOn all fours, at night
Fear
Cunning
Speed

Scores made up by this saga, for fun.

Domain
Lord of the night and companion of the Fates
When
At night. Tuesdays and Fridays, in popular tales
Watch out
Passing between your legs or touching your forehead passes on the curse

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The mini tale

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Tradition

In Guaraní mythology, Luisón is the seventh child of Taú and Keraná.

Saga

At his birth, the sky lit up with the Seven Sisters.

Saga

That glow marked the end of the curse that weighed on his parents.

Tradition

But not on him. On Luisón fell the worst of all sentences.

Tradition

He lives on the border between life and death, where the fate of the soul can be lost forever.

Variant

On Tuesdays and Fridays, when night falls, he loses his human form

Variant

and turns into a monstrous dog, with sharp teeth and a sickening smell.

Tradition

He seeks out cemeteries. He rolls among the dead.

Saga

And at midnight he goes out to hunt the living.

Variant

With a kiss on the forehead, or by passing between a man's legs, he can turn him into another Luisón.

Variant

At dawn, he becomes human again: dirty, tired, with a look that no longer seems human.

Saga

Since then, Luisón and his brothers keep lurking in the Guaraní Region.

The video

Watch the video on Instagram ↗

Video narrated in Spanish.

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Sixteen frames, as in stop motion. Slide to animate.

Tribute

The people who appear in the Luisón video are inspired by the cast of Sombras en la noche, the Paraguayan suspense series aired by Canal 13 from 1993 to 1996: Clotilde Cabral, Wilfrido Acosta, Jorge Ramos and Rubén Vysokolán, whom we remember fondly. It is a tribute made with admiration. This site has no connection with the original production.

Luisón

Take a closer look

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What is tradition and what is art?

  • Tradition

    He is the seventh child, lord of the night and companion of the Fates, ruler of cemeteries.1

  • Saga

    In Colmán, the Seven Sisters do not appear at his birth: they form after the fire, from the purified souls of the seven brothers.1

  • Variant

    Tuesdays and Fridays come from popular tales. Colmán mentions no days of the week.1

  • Variant

    The belief says a family's seventh son becomes a Luisón. In Argentina, that idea is tied to presidential godparenthood.23

  • Variant

    Part of his story came from Europe, with the werewolf figure, and blended with local tales.34

  • Variant

    Passing between the legs or licking the forehead passes on the curse, according to collected folklore.2

Sources for this myth
  1. Narciso R. Colmán (Rosicrán), Ñande Ypy Kuéra / Nuestros antepasados (1929, versión castellana 1937). Texto en Portal Guaraní
  2. ABC Color, «El mito del Luisón» (adaptación de Folklore Paraguayo, Servilibro)
  3. Wikipedia, «Luison»
  4. Mitos y Más, «Tau y Kerana: los siete monstruos guaraníes y su autor»

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LuisónShares this myth's card, with its own image and link