Chaneques: Mischievous Legendary Tricksters In Mexican Folklore

A. Sutherland  – AncientPages.com – Mysterious, magical individuals called ‘chaneques’ are famous in Mexican folklore; however, they also have a lot in common with the Pukwudgies, only knee-high or smaller,  grey-faced forest people with large-ears, as described in Algonquian folklore.

They are also similar in their behavior to Alux, a little trickster in Mayan folklore that is responsible for ‘bad things’ and yet, protects the field at night, summon rain, and helps grow the corn as well, and can bring wealth and good fortune.

In some contemporary legends, the chaneques (from Nahuatl, “those who live in dangerous places” or “owners of the house”) are described as children with faces from elderly men or women. Otherwise, they are no more than one meter tall, have feet in reverse, a deformed body, sometimes they lack a left ear, and laughs like a child. In other legends, they have huge heads and chocolate-colored skin.

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