Have you heard of ‘El Sombrerón’?
As the light of the full moon descends onto Guatemala, citizens hurry their daughters indoors and bolt tight the entrances. They shut every window, draw every curtain, and take every precaution to hide their young ladies from the wicked eyes of the black-hatted figure stalking the streets. The jingling of his ornamented boots ceases a few blocks down, right at the home of a girl with long, flowing hair. He parks his mules, retrieves his silver guitar, and echoes a dissonant serenade through the darkened windows. From then on, the girl is severely heartsick. She is plagued with permanently braided hair, soil-tainted food, and a torturous insomnia. This cycle is broken at last when her heart completely shatters, allowing El Sombrerón to rob her of her soul.
The legend of El Sombrerón first arose as an old Guatemalan folk tale, describing a ghoulish figure who sported a large hat, a sombrero, and fancied a woman named Susana. The original story states that his serenades inflicted excessive ailments onto the lady that only ceased when her parents cut her hair and had it blessed by a priest. This gave rise to the idea that El Sombrerón curses young women with long hair. While the definitive historical origins of the tale are unknown, there are two widely accepted theories. One cites an ancient Mayan tale where a mischievous boy is given a magic hat to correct his misbehavior but becomes consumed by greed, exploiting the sombrero’s magic to feed his selfish desires. The other speculated origin comes from a Mayan legend as well where a native woman is impregnated by the goddess of fertility’s grandson. Today, El Sombrerón can be observed under alternative names like “Tzipitio” and “Tzizimite” and is portrayed as both an evil and tragic figure struggling to find love.
While El Sombrerón may seem like a mere popular character, there have been numerous reports about the figure appearing on full moon nights in Guatemala’s colonial towns.
Despite stemming from antiquity, El Sombrerón continues to have a great influence on Guatemalan culture. The tale is often used by parents as a way to prevent their daughters from engaging with men, upholding traditional courtship and gender-specific values that focus on maintaining a woman’s purity. It also emphasizes the country’s value of filial piety, exhibiting how one must be obedient to their parents if they wish to avoid life’s harsh consequences. El Sombrerón has been famously depicted in Guatemalan literature with Miguel Ángel Asturias’ 1930s novel titled Leyendas de Guatemala. Furthermore, the character has headlined films like the 1950s El Sombrerón, being the main subject of history’s first fully Guatemalan movie.
Whether you consider El Sombrerón to serve solely as a warning to young women or truly believe that it serenades its victims to death, when you taste a glob of soil crunching in your mouth, beware El Sombrerón!
