5 MYTHS AND LEGENDS OF THE ORINOQUÍA REGION - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

Among the most important myths and legends of the Orinoquía region are the Silbón, Florentino y el Diablo, Rompellanos, La Sayona or Llorona and Juan Machete. In all of them the superstitious and magical-religious spirit of the plains people is represented.

These myths and legends are the fruit of 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 5 main myths and legends of the Orinoquía region

1- The legend of Silbón

This legend is deeply rooted in the eastern Colombian plains and is about a scare 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 beaten to the ground as punishment for their bad behavior.

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 hiss on dark and stormy nights, and comes to houses to frighten its inhabitants.

After it sings, the bird walks away speaking loudly in an Indian dialect that only some wise llaneros understand.

2- Florentino and the Devil

Florentino had a reputation for being the best copier and horseman on the plain. One night, while 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 as they began to cross the verses he realized that he was actually counterpoint with the Devil. If he lost, it would steal his soul.

Despite the danger, Florentino was undaunted and kept his faith in himself as an improviser.

Between copla and copla the night went by. The Devil was busy all night trying to defeat Florentino.

But he did not give up and managed to tire the Devil, who had to retreat completely defeated at sunrise.

3- Juan Machete

Juan Francisco Ortiz wanted to be the most powerful man in the region, despite being already quite rich.

So 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 livestock.

Juan carried out the ritual to the letter to achieve the goal. He was to take a hen and a toad, sew their eyes together and then bury them alive invoking the Devil, one Good Friday at midnight.

The ambitious man did. After several days he began to see his fortune increase.

One morning he got up very early and observed a large and imposing black bull to which he paid little 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 on the brink of misery. Regretful for the diabolical pact he had made, he buried the money he had left and disappeared into the jungle.

They say that Juan Machete is sometimes seen vomiting fire and wandering around the place where he buried the treasure to prevent it from being unearthed.

4-

Rompellanos was a former guerrilla fighter from the 1950s who was fighting between the departments of Arauca and that of Casanare.

His real name was Eduardo Fernández, but he became known by the nickname Rompellanos when he became a myth.

He was a generous man with the poor and robbed the rich landowners of the plain to help the humble.

After availing himself of the amnesty decree of the Colombian government in 53, he went to Arauca and was drinking for three days.

It was September 22 when he was seen drinking accompanied by two officials from the secret service SIR (now DAS).

That night the Rompellanos was killed and his body lay in the rain until morning. They say that the heavy rain purified his soul.

No one claimed his body, for which 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 townspeople 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 longs for times gone by 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 made up a false story about her husband's alleged affair with his own mother-in-law, which provoked a feeling of hatred from the woman towards her mother.

The daughter, blinded by jealousy and enraged, attacked her mother and killed her with a dagger. Then she 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.

She then tried to enter the burning house to rescue him, but it was impossible. And she only managed to hear the screams and the torn cry of the child as she 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 has appeared on the roads to scare men of revelers and liars. But on other occasions he 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 heartbreaking screams of pain.

References

1. Martín, Miguel Ángel (1979). Llanero folklore. Villavicencio: Lit. Juan XXIII. Recovered from banrepcultural.org
2. Myths and legends of Casanare. Consulted of sinic.gov.co
3. Myths and legends of the plain. Consulted of unradio.unal.edu.co
4. Meta Legends and Myths. Consulted of sinic.gov.co
5. Orinoquía region. Consulted from saberpartdetupais.blogspot.com
6. Orinoquía region. Consulted from colombia.com