kara'i octubre (mr. october)

Last year I had heard of the day of kara’i octubre but didn’t really understand the significance. All people told me was that on October 1 you have to eat beans mixed with corn to scare him away. This year I was able to dig a little deeper to understand the folklore. Here October is a rough month, there aren’t any fruits growing free on trees, and the crops planted in September have yet to be harvested, so families are often left with little money or food. They blame this on the kara’i octubre, who is an imaginary chubby guy with a beard and hat who likes to come to your house and eat all your yummy food. But, if, when he comes by on October 1, you are eating boring food that he doesn’t like, he’ll skip over your house and won’t bother you again, and your family will have enough to eat all month. The not-so-funny joke is that this year we may have a kara’i noviembre too because despite forecast for thunderstorms last weekend we still have a serious drought and those September crops (cotton and sesame) have yet to be planted.