Uruguay has an unusually well-documented record of folk belief because several major collections were printed or assembled in Montevideo, including Daniel Granada’s 1896 study of Río de la Plata superstitions and Ildefonso Pereda Valdés’s 1943 work on magical folk medicine in Uruguay. This collection brings together 40 distinct superstitions, omens, protective customs, and folk-healing beliefs that are tied to Uruguay through Uruguayan fieldwork, rural vocabulary, border traditions, or the shared Río de la Plata culture recorded in the country.
These beliefs do not describe every Uruguayan household, and several survive mainly as historical folklore rather than everyday practice. Uruguay also shares many motifs with Argentina and southern Brazil: mal de ojo, luz mala, the lobisón, Catholic folk charms, animal omens, and sympathetic cures moved across a region whose cultural boundaries never matched modern political borders exactly.
Household Signs, Small Omens, and Everyday Luck
Pointing at Stars Can Raise Warts
Pereda Valdés listed among superstitions he had collected in Uruguay the warning that pointing at stars could cause warts. The belief links an ordinary gesture toward the night sky with a later mark on the body.
Spilling Salt Is Best Avoided
The same Uruguayan folklore collection records a taboo against spilling salt. The motif came from older European traditions but was still familiar enough in Uruguay to be catalogued as a local popular superstition.
The Last Sip Can Reveal Secrets
A late-nineteenth-century Río de la Plata account says that water left in a glass or jug after drinking could be thrown away so the next person drinking from it would not discover the first drinker’s secrets.
An Itchy Palm Points to Lottery Luck
Granada recorded itching in the palm as a hopeful lottery omen. It belongs to the urban and domestic layer of Río de la Plata folklore that circulated in Uruguay alongside older rural signs.
A Burning Ear Tells How People Speak of You
In one recorded version, a hot or burning left ear meant someone was remembering the person badly, while the right ear suggested favorable talk. The side of the body changed the omen’s meaning.
White Butterflies Around a Lamp Bring Good News
White butterflies circling a light were recorded as announcing something good. The color contrast matters in the same source, because a dark butterfly carried the opposite emotional charge.
A Black Butterfly Is a Bad Sign
A black butterfly appearing nearby was treated as an unfavorable omen in Granada’s Río de la Plata collection. The account does not present a single fixed outcome, only the sense that its arrival warned of trouble.
A Black Cat Can Mean Good Luck
One striking reversal of a familiar European omen appears in the Montevideo-published record: the black cat is associated with luck rather than automatically with misfortune. It shows why imported symbols can change meaning after migration.
Inside-Out Clothes Can Settle a Restless Child
A child who would not sleep at night could be dressed with clothing reversed or inside out. In Granada’s explanation, the reversal mocked or confused the troublesome supernatural being blamed for disturbing the child.
Thirteen at the Table Was an Urban Fear
By 1896, fear of thirteen people dining together was known in the Río de la Plata, but Granada explicitly described it as recent and urban rather than an old countryside belief. The feared outcome was misfortune within the following year.
A Found Horseshoe Carries Luck
Finding a horseshoe unexpectedly and keeping it was said to bring luck. The custom was not unique to Uruguay, but it is directly documented in the Río de la Plata material circulating in the country.
Tuesday Is an Unlucky Day for New Beginnings
Granada noted that baptisms were uncommon on Tuesdays and linked the reluctance to the Spanish saying that Tuesday was no day to marry or embark on a journey. In Uruguay this belonged to a transplanted Iberian layer of folklore.
Rain, Fishing, Horses, and the Rural Landscape
A Cat Washing Its Face Predicts Rain
When a cat repeatedly washed its face, rain was said to be on the way. The sign turns ordinary animal grooming into a weather forecast, a familiar kind of observation in older rural folklore.
Good Friday Gives Herbs Special Timing
Historic herb gatherers in the Río de la Plata were recorded collecting medicinal plants on Good Friday. The date was treated as an auspicious moment for plants already valued in household medicine, blending folk timing with Christian sacred time.
Saint Anthony on Fishing Gear Draws Fish
A small image of Saint Anthony could be hung from a fishing rod or other tackle so that fish would be attracted. This is folk devotion used for a practical wish, not a formal rule of Catholic worship.
Saint Anthony Could Be Put in Water for Rain
During drought, one historical practice placed an image of Saint Anthony in a stream or lagoon, or upside down in a well, until rain came. The gesture treated the saint’s image as part of a bargaining-style folk appeal.
A Blessed Cross Could Be Carried to Water in Drought
Another drought custom involved keeping vigil over a blessed cross, then carrying a cross in procession to a nearby river or stream and putting it into the water. The record belongs to historical folk religion rather than standard church practice.
Do Not Gallop Across an Aguará Trail
A rural belief warned that a horse might fall if ridden at a gallop across the track where an aguará, the maned wolf, had recently passed. Granada described the omen as a countryside example of sympathetic association.
A Coveted Horse May Be Lost Unless It Is Sold
In a recorded rural version of the evil eye, strong praise or coveting of a horse could make its owner fear that the animal would die or be lost. Selling or giving it to the admirer was thought to avert that fate.
Watching Dulce de Leche Can Make It Fail
Granada also wrote that someone making dulce de leche might dislike having the process watched or excessively praised, fearing that the mixture would curdle or “cut” under the influence of envy or the evil eye.
Caburé Feathers Were Attraction Charms
Three feathers from a caburé owl were once credited with drawing customers, luck, or a desired person toward their owner. The historical source describes taking feathers from a live bird; wildlife should not be handled or harmed for a charm.
Turning the Footprint Was Supposed to Cure Bichera
Pereda Valdés described dar vuelta la pisada in the Uruguayan countryside: soil from the footprint of an animal with a maggot-infested wound was cut out, turned over, and marked with a cross. Drying grass was then read as a sign that the worms would die.
A Knot Could Symbolically Close a Livestock Wound
Another rural bencedura used a horsehair or piece of straw formed into a loop. The healer looked at the wound through it and slowly tightened the loop until the wound disappeared from view, then discarded the loop while reciting words.
A Healer Could Work at a Distance Through Clothing
Uruguayan folk medicine also recorded healing at a distance. A manosanta might receive a shirt or another personal garment belonging to the sick person and perform the symbolic cure without seeing the patient directly.
Ojeo, Santiguadas, and the Repeating Number Three
An Azabache Higa Protects Against Mal de Ojo
Children were especially associated with vulnerability to mal de ojo or ojeo. One protective object recorded in the Río de la Plata was a small higa made of black jet, worn around the neck as an amulet against harmful envy.
Three Drops of Oil Test for Ojeo
A child suspected of being affected by the evil eye could be tested by dropping three drops of oil into water while words were spoken. If the drops sank, the result was interpreted in the recorded tradition as confirmation of ojeo.
Three Turns of New Ribbon Close an “Opened” Wrist
A strained wrist was sometimes said to be “open.” The sympathetic cure wrapped it three times with a new red ribbon, though a black ribbon appears as a variant. The ritual depended on repetition and an unused object.
Paletilla Caída Was Measured With a Ribbon
The folk condition called paletilla caída was diagnosed and treated through measuring with a cord or ribbon while reciting words. Uruguayan lexicographic research also records the procedure, often repeated over three days.
Tirar el Cuerito Was Used for Empacho
Empacho has long been treated as a popular digestive illness in Uruguay. One traditional maneuver lifted the skin over the back several times; a particular sensation or sound was interpreted as confirming the condition and helping release it.
Empacho Could Be Santiguado With a Cross
Pereda Valdés preserved an Uruguayan prayer for empacho in which the stomach was rubbed in the shape of a cross and a short formula was repeated three times. It belongs to the tradition of santiguadas and benzeduras.
Three Peas Could Carry Warts Away
A wart charm collected in Uruguay used three peas. Each pea touched the wart in the form of a cross, was thrown over the head, and was not looked for afterward. Leaving without looking back completed the symbolic transfer.
Run Before the Salt Crackles to Lose a Stye
A historical stye charm said that salt thrown into a fire could remove the stye if the person got away before hearing the crackle. Another version used three blows with a mortar pestle followed by leaving without looking back.
Three Wet Twigs and a Prayer Were Used for Culebrilla
Pereda Valdés recorded a charm for culebrilla using water, three damp twigs, and a prayer invoking Saint Paul, repeated in sets of three. When culebrilla refers to shingles, the ritual is folklore rather than medical treatment.
A Prayer and Cross Could Be Used Against Storms
Among the preventive prayers collected in Uruguay is one meant to ward off storms. The formula invokes Christ for protection and ends with the sign of the cross, placing dangerous weather inside the same spoken-charm tradition as healing prayers.
A Twin Could Be an Entendido
Uruguayan lexicographic folklore describes an entendido as a healer of animals and plants who was expected to be a twin to possess the gift. Such a person was also credited with reading future events from birds and larger animals.
An Ombú Could Take on an Illness
A sympathetic cure recorded in the Río de la Plata placed a patient’s foot against an ombú or fig tree before dawn on Good Friday and traced the outline in the bark. As the cut bark contracted, the illness was expected to recede with it.
Luz Mala, Lobisón, and Night Folklore
Luz Mala Can Be a Restless Soul
In gaucho and Río de la Plata folklore, a mysterious light seen at night could be called luz mala and interpreted as a restless soul, sometimes linked with an improperly buried dead person. Older accounts advise keeping away rather than treating the light as ordinary illumination.
The Seventh Son Can Become a Lobisón
Pereda Valdés recorded the lobisón as especially frequent in Uruguay’s border departments of Rivera, Cerro Largo, and Artigas. One version says the seventh consecutive son becomes a night-roaming animal figure; the story reflects cross-border exchange with Brazil.
Mandinga Is Blamed for Uncanny Mischief
Afro-Rioplatense folklore preserved Mandinga as a devil or mischievous supernatural being, with expressions describing something uncanny as a “thing of Mandinga.” Pereda Valdés described the figure as urban rather than a countryside spirit and noted its African linguistic background.
Lagunas Bravas Could Hide Negros del Agua
A historical Afro-Rioplatense belief spoke of supernatural beings called negros del agua living in dangerous lagoons. The story warned that the water might form a whirlpool around an unwary traveler and that later passers could hear cries from the lagoon.
Why the Río de la Plata Label Matters in Uruguay
Some of Uruguay’s best early documentation was deliberately regional. Granada’s book was published in Montevideo but described the Río de la Plata, so beliefs such as the lucky horseshoe, Tuesday taboo, black-cat omen, household signs, Saint Anthony customs, and the number-three charms should not be presented as uniquely Uruguayan inventions. They are better understood as beliefs documented in the cultural region that includes Uruguay.
Later Uruguayan work narrows the geography. Pereda Valdés explicitly described practices collected in Uruguay and in the Uruguayan countryside, while later university research has examined how belief vocabulary entered Uruguayan lexicography. Border folklore adds another layer: the lobisón is tied especially to northern departments adjoining Brazil, while mal de ojo and luz mala remain recognizable motifs in public presentations of Uruguay’s magical folklore.
Folk Healing Records Are Not Medical Treatment
The healing cards preserve cultural history rather than tested medical instructions. Academic work on empacho in Uruguay treats it as a popular illness category with a long record of household cures, curanderismo, santiguadas, and other practices. Symptoms attributed to empacho can also have ordinary medical causes and deserve appropriate clinical assessment when they are persistent or severe.
Culebrilla commonly refers to shingles, a viral illness for which medical treatment can reduce severity and complications, especially when started early. Prayers, oil tests, ribbons, skin pulling, plant charms, or sympathetic rituals should not replace diagnosis or treatment by qualified health professionals.
📚 Roots of Belief
- Daniel Granada, Reseña histórico-descriptiva de antiguas y modernas supersticiones del Río de la Plata — The 1896 Montevideo edition records household omens, Saint Anthony customs, drought rituals, mal de ojo, number-three charms, caburé feathers, aguará beliefs, luz mala, and other Río de la Plata material used here. (The digitized copy belongs to the University of Toronto’s Robarts Library collection on Internet Archive.)
- Ildefonso Pereda Valdés, Medicina Popular y Folklore Mágico del Uruguay — Documents Uruguayan santiguadas, wart charms, culebrilla and storm prayers, empacho formulas, manosantas, distance healing, and rural livestock sympathies. (The digital copy is preserved by Anáforas, the archive of the Faculty of Information and Communication at Universidad de la República.)
- Ildefonso Pereda Valdés, Dinámica del Folklore — Identifies superstitions collected by the author in Uruguay, including the star-pointing wart belief and the taboo on spilling salt, and discusses how imported motifs change through cultural transmission. (Preserved by the Universidad de la República’s Anáforas archive.)
- Ricardo Soca, Entre el arrabal y el rancherío: el Diccionario del lenguaje rioplatense de Juan Carlos Guarnieri (1979) — Analyzes belief vocabulary in Uruguayan lexicography, including the twin healer called an entendido and the treatment of paletilla caída. (A master’s thesis from the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences, Universidad de la República, preserved in its Colibri repository.)
- Ildefonso Pereda Valdés, El Negro Rioplatense y Otros Ensayos — Historical source for Mandinga, negros del agua, and the lobisón, including the reported concentration of lobisón belief in Rivera, Cerro Largo, and Artigas. (Digitized and preserved by the Universidad de la República’s Anáforas archive; its terminology reflects the period in which it was written.)
- Intendencia de Canelones — Los Descreídos, el más allá — A Uruguayan departmental government cultural page explicitly identifies mal de ojo, lobisón, luz mala, apparitions, Cerro Bravo, and Salamanca as motifs used from Uruguay’s magical folklore, and describes the material as a meeting of European and Native American beliefs. (Official government cultural source.)
- Revista Uruguaya de Antropología y Etnografía — El “empacho”: una enfermedad popular en infantes de Uruguay — Reviews the history, meanings, household cures, santiguadas, and curanderismo associated with empacho in Uruguay. (Academic journal hosted by the Faculty of Humanities and Educational Sciences at Universidad de la República.)
- World Health Organization — Shingles (Herpes Zoster) — Supports the medical safety note that shingles is a viral illness treated with antiviral medicine and that early treatment can reduce severity and complications. (United Nations specialized agency for international public health.)