Wait...was "El Sombrerón" Fae?!?
Article & Illustration by Phillip LaPalme, All rights restricted
“The hat walks the portals...”
- Legends of Guatemala By Miguel Ángel Asturias
El Sombrerón is one of the most famous legendary tales in Guatemala alongside La LLorona, El Cadejo and La Siguanaba. El Sombrerón literally means “The Hat”, though he is also sometimes called Tzipitio or Tzizimite, meaning “goblin” (presumably a Spanish evolution of a Mayan or Aztec word). He is described as a diminutive man wearing all black– including his boots and rather large sombrero which obscures his face. He is sometimes seen riding a black horse, making him nearly invisible in the night. However, he is more commonly described as leading a pack of four mules through the city streets. He also carries with him a guitar (sometimes described as being made of silver), which he is quite skilled at playing and has the voice to match. He can appear without warning, emerging from the blackness of night and disappearing just as quickly; as if by the aid of portals.
El Sombrerón walks the streets of the town and neighborhoods at night, particularly on the full moon. The sounds of his boots, spurs and trolloping mules make a thunderous sound — He is not trying to hide, in fact, quite the opposite. El Sombrerón is looking for love; particularly from that of a long-haired, big-eyed girl. He attempts (rather successfully), to serenade girls with his masterful guitar playing and brilliant singing. Should a young woman fall for El Sombrerón he will hitch his four mules to the posts of her house and serenade her — Hypnotized by his charm he then braids her hair (something straight out of European Faerie Lore). Once this happens, it’s too late for the young maiden. Next, El Sombrerón, will feed the girl dirt after which they’ll be unable to eat or sleep and day-by-day she’ll grow weaker and each night he’ll come again to serenade her. Eventually the young woman will grow so weak she dies at which point he owns her soul. It’s not quite clear why he feeds her dirt; however, it may be another Fae-Folk tie-in — In European Faerie lore it is widely accepted that should someone eat or drink anything offered to them by the Fae-Folk they will never be able to return home. The legend then goes on to say that El Sombrerón will sometimes attend the funeral of his victims, shedding crystal tears.
The one known defense against El Sombrerón is that once a girl knows she has become the object of his affection (or obsession…), she must cut her hair. This displeases him and he simply loses interest. This defense mechanism comes from a version of the story where a girl falls under his spell and she will neither eat nor drink and she gradually weakens. Every night, El Sombrerón returns to serenade her and braid her hair as she inches closer to death. Finally, out of concern, her parents cut her hair and bring her to the clergy where a priest blesses her hair with holy water. This rids her of the spell cast over her and El Sombrerón moves on.
Aside from stalking women, casting deadly spells over them and braiding their hair, El Sombrerón also enjoys braiding the hair of horses and even in some cases, dogs. Not only does he enjoy braiding the horses' manes, he likes to take them for joy rides at night while their owners are asleep. He does so for so long the horses become exhausted and are unable to work the next day. In other cases he is said to charm the horse in much the same manner as he does the young women. This trickster element is yet another connection to the Fae-Realm mythos.
The actual origins of the story are not quite clear though it seems it could be an adaptation of European Faerie folklore having been born in Central America after the arrival of the Spanish, but don’t quote me on that. Alternatively, there is an old story of a Mayan family who brought their son to a local Brujo (sorcerer, witch-doctor or more politely, Shaman), to see if he could cure their ill-behaved son and rid him of his errant ways. The Brujo agreed to help and told them to make a hat as large as possible — When they did, the Brujo imbued it with his magic and the family brought it home. The family awoke to find their son struggling under the hat which he could not remove. The boy became the subject of ridicule and humiliation amongst the villagers. As the boy aged, he did not grow any taller beneath that hat, although as he got older he discovered how to use the magic powers in the enchanted hat and learned to abuse them. He gained the power of invisibility, he could scale walls and walk on ceilings — Ultimately, he was much more of a nuisance than he had ever been before the hat. There’s no literature to show the connection between this Mayan tale and that of El Sombrerón, but perhaps the merging of cultures and spread of oral tradition morphed the old lore into what we have today, as is often the case.
It does seem clear however, that this legend serves as a fable to scare young girls into observing cultural norms — To avoid seemingly charming men courting them in the night, not to succumb to their seductions and charm, but instead to follow the standards of courtship. There may be many more layers within this story that are lost to time — The connections to Faerie legends are hard to ignore and warrant more study. It’s just one more rabbit hole for us to go down together some day.
References:
https://aprende.guatemala.com/cultura-guatemalteca/leyendas/leyenda-de-el-sombreron-en-guatemala/
https://remezcla.com/culture/el-sombreron-que-horror-halloween-guatemala/
https://britishfairies.wordpress.com/2020/02/17/the-perils-of-fairy-food/
https://quepasa.gt/legends-guatemala-tradition/
https://ztevetevans.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/guatemalan-folklore-el-sombreron/
https://www.jmplumbley.com/2016/03/23/the-black-hat-of-guatemala-el-sombreron/
