La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman")
La Llorona, or "The Weeping Woman," is a poignant ghostly figure rooted in Mexican folklore, renowned for her mournful cries as she wanders the banks of rivers and lakes searching for her lost children. The central narrative involves a tragic woman, often named Maria, who is said to have drowned her children in a fit of rage over her husband's infidelity, leading to her eternal punishment of seeking their souls. This legend has deep historical and cultural significance, serving as a cautionary tale that parents sometimes invoke to deter misbehavior in children.
The La Llorona myth intertwines with various historical and mythological influences, including parallels to figures from Greek mythology like Lamia and Medea, and elements from pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican deities such as the Aztec goddess Coatlicue. Over the centuries, the legend has evolved into multiple versions, including fictional retellings that connect it to historical events, such as the relationship between Hernán Cortés and La Malinche, showcasing themes of love, betrayal, and grief.
La Llorona's impact extends beyond folklore into modern culture, inspiring films, songs, and even Halloween attractions, reflecting her enduring presence in both Mexican and Mexican American heritage. Through these narratives, La Llorona symbolizes the complexities of motherhood, loss, and the consequences of one's actions, resonating with audiences across generations.
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La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman")
La Llorona (The Weeping Woman) is a legendary ghostly figure from Mexican folklore known for wandering along the shores of rivers and lakes in search of her lost children. Although there are many different versions of her tale, the basic La Llorona story is that of a troubled young woman who drowned her children and was condemned to spend eternity searching for their lost souls. A legend with ancient roots, the La Llorona myth grew to become a major part of Mexican and Mexican American folklore over time. Its persistence is attributable in significant part to the fact that Mexican parents have long used the threat of a visit from La Llorona as a terrifying warning to misbehaving children. As a result, many of those who grew up hearing frightening stories about the ghostly La Llorona still believe in her as adults. This has allowed La Llorona to retain a strong place in Mexican culture even centuries after her heartbreaking story was first told.
Background
Although La Llorona herself is a product of Mexican folklore, many elements of her story can be traced back to ancient mythology. Most notably, La Llorona has clear ties to the Greek mythological figures Lamia and Medea. Lamia was a demigoddess said to have had an affair with Zeus. When Zeus's wife, Hera, learned about the affair, she forced Lamia to consume her own children—a horrific act that led the demonic Lamia to scour the earth in search of more children to capture and eat. Medea was another tragic figure who, according to the tragic poet Euripides, murdered the sons she had with Jason the Argonaut after he left her for another woman. This latter story closely parallels one of the more prominent versions of the La Llorona legend.
The historic origins of the La Llorona fable are also rooted in similar characters that appear in the mythological traditions of other European cultures. Among these is a German version of the classic White Lady figure who was said to have murdered her two children to be free to marry the mate of her choice. Some experts also point to Eve, who is traditionally believed by faithful Christians to have been the world's first woman, as an early La Llorona precursor. Such European influences on the La Llorona legend's development were likely the result of the cultural assimilation that occurred when Spain conquered much of Latin America in the sixteenth century.
There is also some evidence to suggest that some elements of the La Llorona legend arose from the pre-Christian Mayan and Aztec civilizations. A number of traditional Mayan goddesses share certain characteristics with La Llorona. Some of these deities include Xtaj the Lust Woman and Xpunch the Wailing Woman. The Aztec goddess Coatlicue, who embodied love and sin and had the power to both create and destroy life, is also considered to be a predecessor to La Llorona. Another such predecessor is the Aztec "snake woman" Cihuacoatl, a powerful seductress whose fatal sexual conquests took many men's lives and who abandoned her own son at a crossroads.
Overview
There are two main variants of the La Llorona legend. The first is based on the tale of a stunningly beautiful young woman who is intent on marrying the most handsome man she can possibly find and coldly rejects any prospective suitors whose appearance does not measure up to her own. This woman, often known as Maria, eventually finds a sufficiently handsome mate and pursues him by playing hard to get. Maria has little difficulty in seducing the young man and the two are soon married. The couple also soon have two children together. Although the marriage goes well at first, Maria's husband eventually begins to yearn for his old bachelor lifestyle and ultimately has an affair with another woman. When Maria finds out about his betrayal, she takes her revenge by either throwing their children into a river and allowing them to drown or killing them by her own hand and dumping their bodies into the river. Upon realizing what she has done, Maria then takes her own life, but she is refused entry into the afterlife until she can retrieve her slain children's lost souls. With that, she is condemned to spend eternity crying and wailing as she searches the waters endlessly for the children she cast off in anger.
The second of the two major versions of the La Llorona legend is actually a fictionalized account of the real historical relationship between Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés and his mistress La Malinche. In real life, Cortés was sent to conquer Mexico in 1518 and officially claimed the region for the Spanish Crown the following year. Around the same time, he received a group of young native women after defeating indigenous forces at Tabasco. One of these women was La Malinche, who served as his interpreter, became his mistress, and bore him a child. Although historically inaccurate, legend has it that La Malinche became enraged when Cortés subsequently chose to take a highborn Spanish woman as his wife instead of her. Driven by jealousy and Aztec pride, La Malinche drowned the child she had with Cortés out of revenge and so met the same fate as all the other versions of La Llorona.
As the La Llorona legend has grown and evolved over the years, so too has the depth of its presence in popular culture. Since the 1930s, La Llorona has been the subject of numerous feature films. Some of these have included La Llorona (1960) and The Cry (2007). She was also the subject of a spooky eponymous folk song that many Latin American singers have covered since it was first recorded in 1968. In 2012, the La Llorona legend was used as the basis for a scary walkthrough attraction called La Llorona: Villa De Almas Perdidas that was staged at Universal Studios Hollywood's Halloween Horror Nights. La Llarona's popular appeal is so great, in fact, that her image has been used on a wide variety of novelty items that include everything from coffee mugs to t-shirts, jewelry, and throw pillows.
Bibliography
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"La Llorona: The Tale of La Llorona Is a Mexican Folk Story about a Woman Trapped Between This World and the Afterlife Searching for What She Has Lost." Don Quijote, www.donquijote.org/culture/mexico/society/customs/la-llorona. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.
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West, John O. "La Llorona." Handbook of Texas Online, tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lxl01. Accessed 24 Oct. 2017.