Honduran Folklore

A folklore belief common throughout Central America is that a human being and a spirit, usually an animal, are so closely connected that they share the same soul. If one dies, so will the other. This belief is not as widespread in Honduras, however, as it is in neighboring Guatemala.
Honduran folktales are about a variety of spirits, many of whom live in wells or caves. One popular story is about El Duende, an imp with a big sombrero, red trousers and a blue jacket, who courts pretty young girls by tossing pebbles at them. Curanderos are faith healers who are believed to be able to cure nervous ailments and drive away the evil eye, the vista fuerte .
Lempira was a sixteenth-century Indian chieftain who fought the Spanish. He is much admired as a folk hero, and the national currency is named for him.