(Cuca) What is the story behind this trend in Social Media today?
17-09-2026
Cuca is a well-known figure from Brazilian folklore, traditionally a witch who kidnaps disobedient children. Monteiro Lobato reimagined her in the Sítio do Picapau Amarelo stories as an alligator-like creature with long blonde hair, claws, and a flamboyant personality. That version became iconic through the long-running children’s television series.In 2017 the character exploded online when clips of her dramatic gestures, hair flips, and sassy demeanor spread internationally. People treated her as a camp icon, pairing the footage with pop lyrics and calling her a new gay-icon successor to figures like the Babadook.The current wave began in late August 2026 around the twentieth anniversary of Beyoncé’s album B’Day. That record’s visual world included swamp and alligator imagery. Brazilian fans immediately connected it to Cuca and began posting edited photos and videos that place the alligator-witch on Beyoncé album covers, in her outfits, and lip-syncing her songs. They nicknamed the mash-up Cuconcé or Cucaoncé (and sometimes Cuca’s Day). The jokes spread beyond Brazil as people who had never heard of the original show discovered the character through the memes.The trend works because Cuca’s existing larger-than-life, theatrical persona already lent itself to pop-diva treatment; the B’Day anniversary simply supplied a fresh, thematically perfect hook.