The Cucafera

Just as Western Europe has the Krampus to punish naughty children around Christmas time, Spain and Portugal have the Cucafera.

Also known variously as the Coco, Coca, Cucuy, Cuco, Cuca, Cucu, Cucuí or El-Cucuí. this is a mythical ghost-like monster, equivalent to the bogeyman. The Cucuy is a male being while Cuca is a female version of the mythical monster. The monster will come to the house of disobedient children at night and take them away.

The myth of the Coco originated in northern Portugal and Galicia. According to the Real Academia Española, the word 'coco' derives from the Galician and Portuguese côco, which means 'coconut'. The word 'coco' is used in colloquial speech to refer to the human head in Spanish. Coco also means 'skull' and is cognate with proto-Celtic krowkā (the Cornish for skull is crogen for example). 

In Spain, Portugal, and Latin America, parents sometimes invoke the Coco or Cuca as a way of discouraging their children from misbehaving; they sing lullabies or tell rhymes warning their children that if they don't obey their parents, el Coco will come and get them and then eat them. It is not the way the Coco looks but what it does that scares most. It is a child eater and a kidnapper; it may immediately devour the child, leaving no trace, or it may spirit the child away to a place of no return, but it only does this to disobedient children. It is on the lookout for children's misbehavior from the rooftops; it takes the shape of any dark shadow and stays watching.

The oldest known rhyme about the Coco, which originated in the 17th century, is in the Auto de los desposorios de la Virgen by Juan Caxés. The rhyme has evolved over the years, but still retains its original meaning: 

Duérmete niño, duérmete ya... 

Que viene el Coco y te comerá 

Sleep child, sleep or else... 

Coco will come and eat you 

The coca was an integral part of festivities like All Souls' Day and the ritual begging of Pão-por-Deus. The tradition dates from the 15th century or earlier and is a ritual begging for bread and cakes, done door to door by children, though in the past poor beggars would also take part. Its purpose is to share the bread or treats gathered door to door with the dead of the community, who were eagerly awaited and arrived at night in the shape of butterflies or little animals. This same tradition extends to Galicia, where it is called migallo. It has a close resemblance with the traditions of souling or nowadays trick-or-treating.