{{Expand Spanish, Cipitío, topic=culture, date=March 2009 Cipitio is a legendary character from

Salvadoran Salvadorans ( Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvad ...

folklore revolving around the Siguanaba and

Cadejo The cadejo () is a supernatural spirit that appears as a dog-shaped creature with blue eyes when it's calm and red eyes when it's attacking. It roams isolated roads at night, according to Central American folklore of indigenous origin. There is ...

legends. He is generally portrayed as an 8 to 10 year old boy with a large conical hat and a pot belly. His name is taken from the

Nahuatl Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...

word for child: "Cipit" or "Cipote". Some also relate his name to the deity

Xipe Totec In Aztec mythology and religion, Xipe Totec (; nci-IPA, Xīpe Totēc, ˈʃiːpe ˈtoteːk(ʷ)) or Xipetotec ("Our Lord the Flayed One") was a life-death-rebirth deity, god of agriculture, vegetation, the east, spring, goldsmiths, silversmiths ...

According to the legend he is the product of a forbidden romance between Sihuehuet, goddess of the moon, commonly known as La Siguanaba, and Lucero de la mañana (Lucifer). When Sihuehuet's husband found out about this affair he sought the assistance of the god

Teotl Teotl () is a Nahuatl term for sacredness or divinity that is sometimes translated as "god". For the Aztecs was the metaphysical omnipresence upon which their religious philosophy was based. As described by James Maffie, "is essentially power: c ...

. Both the queen and ''Cipitio'' were cursed and condemned by

. Cipitio was condemned to live eternity as a small boy with his feet set in a backwards position, to serve as reminder of the twisted and illicit affair of his parents. Stories are told of farmers that come to their fields and find the footsteps of a boy, they decided to follow them but eventually get lost because unbeknownst to them Cipitio has backwards feet and so they head in the wrong direction into the bush. Cipitio is said to enjoy eating ashes, throwing pebbles at beautiful ladies,Cordova 19. and preferring to eat a variety of

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry (botany), berry – produced by several kinds of large herbaceous flowering plants in the genus ''Musa (genus), Musa''. In some countries, Cooking banana, bananas used for ...

called "Guineo Majoncho". He can also " Teleport" anywhere he wants. A couple of short stories with this character can be found in the book ''Cuentos de Cipotes'' by the Salvadoran writer and poet Salvador Salarrué. He is the main protagonist on a TV show for the Salvadoran Educational Television Station and is portrayed by Rolando Meléndez, who has played the role since the show's origins. Each episode depicts the problems that Salvadoran children encounter in their communities, families and schools. Cipitio helps them while teaching morals and values.

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Bibliography

*Cordova, Carlos (2005). ''The Salvadoran American''. Westport: Greenwood Press. *Kampwirth, Karen and Victoria Gonzalez (2001). ''Radical Women in Latin America: Left and Right''. State College: Penn State University Press. *Kephart, Beth (2003). ''Still Love in Strange Places''. New York: Norton. Mythological characters Salvadoran mythology

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