Morning Myth - Hairy Snakes, Milk, Treasure, and Dead Relatives

Myths can be scary. I won't go into a few because I just didn't want to read about infanticide this morning.  But through infanticide, I came upon an interesting series of myths and landed on one, the El Culebron. This comes from South America in the region of Chile. Interestingly, these are associated with gauchos or very rural areas and some neat little historical twisting and ethnic mythos mingling, or seems to be anyway.

 El Culebron is a snake, a huge anaconda-like snake. Massive! It has a head shaped more like that of a calf or young horse. it is also covered in a thick coat of hair. Descriptions vary by region, but these qualities seem to be the most pervasive. it is also a voracious consumer of all living things. So be wary when it comes out because everything is on its palette. Typical monster living in inhospitable and dangerous areas.

Not quite.

 
The El Culebron is attracted to treasure. The treasures vary from ancient artifacts to, and this is where it got interesting, buried treasures of the conquistadors. I could never figure out what the culebron does once it finds treasure as it has no arms and, i never read an account of it being a big shopper. Nevertheless, it is attracted to treasure and should one follow it or track it, the culebron can lead one to a buried treasure. Don't get too close though, it protects the treasure.

The horse was unknown to the indigenous people of South America. The anaconda was unknown to the Europe but was featured in indigenous mythologies in various forms. A few hundred years post-conquest the horse/cow and anaconda have been combined into the culebron mixing prominent animals form both cultures and creating a mythology around it.

This myth is typically associated with rural people. To be specific, the rural, the dispossessed, and the economically marginal. The culebron goes to treasure - conquistador treasure more often than not. This 'treasure' is treasure looted from the vertiginous people during the conquest. The acquisition of the treasure might not only bring wealth, but also reacquire that which was taken. Culebron is also a Spanish word and there is a culebron in Spanish mythology though somewhat unlike the one found in Chile. 

This all endlessly fascinating to me. 

I should note that a culebron can be trained or at least taken advantage of. First one might find a culebron, then pluck its three longest hairs out of it without killing it. Place those three hairs in a bowl of milk and the chulebrom emerge. The strongest will kill the others leaving one. At this point one has a culebron that can be sorted trained, you minimally that might lead one to treasure with its treasure seeking radar. 

One has to keep it well fed. Part of that diet is the blood of a kinsman and children. So yeah, there is that. FYI, child sacrifice is sorta normal in human history. As alarming as it sounds, don't be, if you are reading this, you avoided that most curious form of sacrifice.