By Manzanillo Sun Writer from the December 2018 Edition
In Mexican folklore, La Llorona, “The Weeping Woman”, is a ghost of a woman who lost her children and now cries while looking for them in the river, often causing misfortune to those who are near, or who hear her. There is no credible source or evidence to the events that inspired the tale/legend of La Llorona.
Legend
The legend is said that in a rural village there lived a young woman named Maria. Maria came from a poor family but was known around her village for her beauty. One day, an extremely wealthy nobleman traveled through her village. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Maria. Maria was charmed by him and he was charmed by her beauty so, when he proposed to her, she immediately accepted. Maria’s family was thrilled that she was marrying into a wealthy family, but the nobleman’s father was extremely disappointed that his son was marrying into poverty.
Maria and her new husband built a house in the village to be away from his disapproving father. Eventually, Maria gave birth to twins: a boy and a girl. Her husband was always traveling,
and stopped spending time with his family. When he came home, he only paid attention to the children and Maria knew her husband was falling out of love with her.
One day, he left and never returned. Years later, as Maria and her twins were walking by a river, she saw a familiar carriage with a younger, beautiful woman next to her husband. Maria was so angry and confused that, without thinking, she picked up her two children and threw them into the river, drowning them.
Only after she saw their bodies floating in the river did she realize what she had done and she then jumped into the river, hoping to die with her children. Now she spends eternity looking for her children around that river. It is said that, if you hear her crying, you are to run the opposite way. If you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death. Many parents in Mexico and Guatemala use this story to scare their children from staying out too late.
At the gates of heaven, she was challenged over the whereabouts of her children, and not permitted to enter the afterlife until she found them. La Llorona is forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring. She constantly weeps, hence her name “La Llorona.” She is caught between the living world and the spirit world.
In some versions of the tale, La Llorona kidnaps wandering children who resemble her missing children, asks them for forgiveness, then kills them to take the place of her own. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late evening by rivers or lakes. Some believe those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death, but those who escape in time are not, as in the Gaelic banshee legend.
Amongst her wails she is noted as crying “¡Ay mis hijos!” which translates to “Oh my children!” In the Guatemalan version of the legend, it is said that when her wailing sounds near, she is actually far and when she sounds distant- she is actually very near.
It should be noted that the folklore will vary dependent on the location, as it is not specific to any one region, and is known throughout numerous Latin American countries.
It should be noted that the folklore will vary dependent on the location, as it is not specific to any one region, and is known throughout numerous Latin American countries.
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