The legend of Cuba's Tatagua butterfly

In the lands of present-day Cienfuegos, in Cuba, count the legend that when the aborigines inhabited it, a beautiful young woman was the cause of everyone's envy and admiration.

Aipirí Her name was and, aware of her charms, she attracted the attention of men.

According to legend, Aipirí He danced and sang like no one else and was the main attraction at all of his tribe's parties.

One day, Aipirí She found love with a young Siboney man, a hard-working and respected hunter. They married and started a family of six children.

At first, the beautiful young woman spent the day with her family.

But one day she got bored of everything and wanted to return to her life as a young, single woman, without commitments.

She began missing home, leaving her children alone all day. She would leave the house and only return before her husband's expected return time.

Mabuya, the lord of evil, tired of hearing children cry and fearing that when they grew up they would be as impious and cruel as he was, in a fit of rage transformed them into poisonous bushes (guao bushes), bushes whose resins and leaves produce swellings and sores upon contact.

If Mabuya punished the children for the mother's fault, the spirit of good punished the cause of the harm.

Transformed to Aipirí en tatagua, mariposa thick-bodied, short-winged nocturnal bird also known as mariposa Witch.

As far as this goes legend, in the fields of Cuba the visit of the tatagua (or of the great mariposa Witch) as an omen of the death of a relative or, simply, the announcement of an unpleasant event.

However, although the presence of the tatagua They consider it a bad omen, many believe that tatagua, repentant, she only seeks her children and that is why she flies from one place to another, desperate.