por Between the myths and legends of the Orinoquía region The most important are the Silbón, Florentino and the Devil, the Rompellanos, the Sayona or Llorona and Juan Machete. The superstitious and magical-religious spirit of the llanero people is represented in all of them.
These myths and legends are the fruit of the popular imagination and have been passed down from generation to generation. They are linked to the daily life of the llanero, the nature of the region and their religious beliefs.
The main myths and legends of the Orinoquía region
1- The legend of the Silbón
This legend is deeply rooted in the Colombian eastern plains and is about a fright in the shape of a very tall and extremely skinny man.
It is the terror of drunken men and womanizers who live from party to party. He announces his presence with a shrill whistle that terrifies those who hear it, then beats them to a pulp as punishment for his misbehavior.
It generally appears between May and June, during the rainy season of the plain. Another version that runs on the plain is that the Silbón is a bird that emits a very loud whistle on dark and stormy nights, and comes to houses to scare its inhabitants.
After it sings, the bird walks away speaking loudly in an Indian dialect that only a few wise rangers understand.
2- Florentino and the Devil
Florentino was reputed to be the best copler and horseman on the plain. One night, while he was riding alone through the savannah to attend a joropo in a town, he noticed that he was being followed by another man dressed in black.
Suddenly, when he was preparing to sing, the mysterious man challenged Florentino to a counterpoint.
Florentino accepted, and when the verses began he realized that he was actually counterpointing with the Devil. If he lost, it would steal his soul.
Despite the danger, Florentino did not lose heart and kept his faith in himself as an improviser.
Between copla and copla the night passed. El Diablo was busy all night trying to defeat Florentino.
But he did not give up and managed to tire the Devil, who had to retire totally defeated at sunrise.
3- Juan Machete
Juan Francisco Ortiz wanted to be the most powerful man in the region, despite already being quite rich.
Then he made a pact with the Devil: in exchange for giving up his wife and children, he asked the Devil for more land, money and cattle.
Juan fulfilled the ritual to the letter to achieve the objective. He was to take a chicken and a frog, sew their eyes shut, and then bury them alive, invoking the Devil, one Good Friday at midnight.
The ambitious man did. After several days he began to see how his fortune increased.
One morning he got up very early and saw a large and imposing black bull to which he paid no attention.
Meanwhile, his businesses continued to prosper and he became the richest man in the region.
One day the good fortune began to disappear, until the man was left on the brink of misery. Repentant for the devilish pact he had made, he buried his remaining money and disappeared into the jungle.
They say that sometimes Juan Machete is seen vomiting fire and wandering around the place where he buried the treasure to prevent them from digging it up.
4- The myth of Rompellanos
Rompellanos was a former guerrilla from the 50s who was fighting between the departments of Arauca and Casanare.
His real name was Eduardo Fernández, but he was known by the nickname Rompellanos when he became a myth.
He was a generous man with the poor and stole from the rich landowners of the plain to help the humble.
After taking advantage of the Colombian government’s amnesty decree in 1953, he went to Arauca and drank for three days.
It was September 22 when they saw him drinking accompanied by two officials from the SIR secret service (currently DAS).
That night the Breaker was killed and his corpse lay in the rain until morning. They say that the heavy rain purified his soul.
No one claimed his body, so he was buried without an urn in the town cemetery. Years later, a woman who claimed to be his wife arrived and tried to take the body, but the people of the town did not allow it.
Since his death he became a benefactor of the poor and needy, and in his memory the song of the singer-songwriter Juan Farfán is sung, who yearns for the past and advocates for the rescue of the customs and virtues of Rompellanos.
5- La Sayona or Llorona
Legend has it that a very beautiful woman gave birth to a baby.
To win the woman’s affection and trust, a suitor of the young mother invented a false story about her husband’s supposed affair with his own mother-in-law, which caused the woman to hate her mother.
The daughter, blinded by jealousy and enraged, attacked her mother and stabbed her to death. She then set fire to the humble palm house where she lived.
The woman fled desperately when the house began to burn, but at that moment she remembered that her own son was inside the house.
So he tried to enter the burning house to rescue him, but it was impossible. And she only managed to hear the screams and the heart-rending cry of the child while he was consumed by the flames.
This tragedy plunged the woman into such great grief that she lost her mind and suddenly disappeared into the vast plain.
Since then he appears on the roads to scare the carousing men and liars. But on other occasions she seduces them with his beauty and charm.
When the romance begins and the men are about to kiss her, then the woman transforms and her teeth begin to grow to devour them, after which she flees the place emitting piercing cries of pain.