An unreasonable fear of coconuts

Run away everyone! It's "El Coco!"

Mothers have been were scaring their kids on the Iberian peninsula with stories about brown hairy blob-shaped creatures since the middle ages. Strangely enough, when Portuguese sailors discovered the coconut, they named it after the creature (not the other way around).

There's a lovely lullaby that goes:

Duérmete niño,
duérmete ya,
que viene el coco
y te comerá.

Sleep child,
Sleep already,
Or the coco will come
and eat you

El hombre del saco

If you want to scare your children in Spain, the 2nd most popular choice (#1 will be the topic of tomorrow's post) is a man who will put your child into a sack and take him away:



There was a great version of it on Contando Cuentos last week.

El Papiol vs Sant Cugat

The two municipalities are fighting over ownership of the 10th century chapel Ermita de Salut.

The boundary between the municipalities goes through the middle of the building, and El Papiol (in typical Catalan fashion) is marshalling arguments going back to the middle ages to justify full ownership.

Those greedy Papiolencs.

It's a beautiful hike (or run if you are feeling healthy) up to the chapel.


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