Talk:Anchanchu

Gender

If this is a "real" myth, and not a figment of Maberry's imagination, it's likely that the usual gender of the helper/victims is specified. I suspect "male" is more likely than "female", but I could be wrong. In any case, the gender-neutral pronoun would be wrong, as neither the European nor aboriginal languages have gender-neutral pronouns. — Arthur Rubin (talk) 21:03, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Expansion, sources, and gender clarification

I expanded the article with additional reliable sources (Melton, Bane, Richardson, Guiley, López, Maberry) to cover description, cultural context, and comparisons.

Added a *Popular culture* note on Urban Legends and Tales of Terror (2025) by Karen Cody — included only as an example of the legend in fiction, consistent with other folklore pages.

Also added a blog link under *External links* for further reading, not as a citation.

For clarity: multiple sources (Bane 2010, Melton 2011, Richardson 2018) describe the Abchanchu as a male figure, usually disguised as an elderly man, so the gender is not ambiguous.

Kazop64 (talk) 02:36, 24 August 2025 (UTC)

Anchanchu

So according to the Spanish page, the abchanchu and anchanchu is the same thing. It turns out there is a separate page in English Wikipedia for anchanchu... Not quite sure what to do about that.... Slava570 (talk) 21:24, 22 May 2026 (UTC)

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. Track your hook after promotion. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Dclemens1971 (talk) 18:52, 29 July 2026 (UTC)

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• Comment or view
• Article history

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Character from the Diablada, at the carnival at Oruro, Bolivia. The dance has roots in the legend of Abchanchu.

• ... that if you are walking alone in the Andes Mountains at night, you might be accosted by a shapeshifting Aymaran creature that may suck your blood?

• Source: "El antropólogo Milton Eyzaguirre dice que el anchanchu es el ser maligno más importante de la mitología aymara. [...] Es un ser que chupa la sangre del corazón o de los labios de la gente." [translation: The anthropologist Milton Eyzaguirre says that the anchanchu is the most important evil being of Aymara mythology. [...] It is a being that sucks the blood from people's heart or lips."] From:

• • Reviewed:

5x expanded by Slava570 (talk). Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.

Slava570 (talk) 11:52, 31 May 2026 (UTC).

• Hook violates MOS:YOU, although that does seem like a rule we can bend. Suggest as backup ALT0a: ... that solo night-time walkers of the Andes sometimes have their blood sucked by a shapeshifting Aymaran creature?--Launchballer 12:09, 31 May 2026 (UTC)
• Comment I may do a full review sometime soon, but are the images in the article particularly relevant? I've already deleted one as it has little relevance to the subject. 🪐Kepler-1229b | talk | contribs🪐 02:25, 5 June 2026 (UTC)

@Kepler-1229b: I don't think either hook could run as currently written, since they talk of mythical or legendary creatures as fact in Wikivoice. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 07:50, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

What if it was something like:ALT0b (hopefully labeled correctly) ... that solo nighttime walkers in the Andes sometimes fear a shapeshifting Aymaran creature will accost them and suck their blood? Slava570 (talk) 17:21, 12 June 2026 (UTC)

That works. Narutolovehinata5 (talk · contributions) 03:07, 13 June 2026 (UTC)

• @Slava570: I propose the alt hook ALT1: ... that the anchanchu, a legendary creature in Aymara mythology, can shapeshift into a naked gringa and an Aymara woman adorned with jewelry? using the source 🪐Kepler-1229b | talk | contribs🪐 15:23, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

In addition, the current lead image File:El Anchanchu.png should be used with its caption in the article, as it clearly depicts the written material in the hook. 🪐Kepler-1229b | talk | contribs🪐 15:24, 22 June 2026 (UTC)

It's fine with me if we switch the picture. I don't love the proposed hook though. Anchanchu has several forms, including a helpless old man, a rich Aymara woman, a nude gringa, or various real/mythological animals. I prefer the previous hook, but if we go with this one, I propose something like ALT2 ... that the anchanchu, a mythological Andean creature, is said to shapeshift into the form of a helpless old man or a wealthy Aymara woman to ensnare its unwitting victims. What do you think? Slava570 (talk) 12:05, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

@Slava570: It could work, but ALT1 is more descriptive of the hook so it would make more visual sense to the reader. 🪐Kepler-1229b | talk | contribs🪐 15:45, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

@Kepler-1229b: What if it was this:

ALT1b: ... that the anchanchu, a legendary creature in Aymara mythology, is said to shapeshift into a pot-bellied old man or a wealthy Aymara woman in order to ensnare its victims? (Adding "said to" accounts for Narutolovehinata5's objection regarding Wikivoice. I would rather it say pot-bellied old man rather than gringa, as that's the first form that the sources tend to discuss. And the picture caption says something about jewelry, but I didn't see that in the sources.) Slava570 (talk) 18:58, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

@Slava570: This also works. 🪐Kepler-1229b | talk | contribs🪐 19:27, 23 June 2026 (UTC)

• Full review needed. BlueMoonset (talk) 17:37, 24 June 2026 (UTC)
• ALT1B is approved - article works, hook works, sourcing is good, long enough and soon enough. Jishara (talk) 01:44, 29 June 2026 (UTC)

° It's fine with me if you delete some of the images. There's a cartoonish image that I took out, but that can also be put back in if you think it's better. Also FYI, there's another page called anchanchu, which I've nominated for deletion but someone has commented that maybe abchanchu should be redirected there... --Slava570 (talk) 11:49, 5 June 2026 (UTC)