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LA LLORONA--THE WEEPING WOMAN
THE TALE
Many years ago, in a small village, lived a beautiful, vain, proud girl, named Maria. She would not even look at the young men in her village—they weren’t good enough for her! "When I marry," Maria would say, "I will marry the most handsome man in the world."
And then one day, into Maria's village rode a dashing young ranchero, the son of a wealthy rancher from the southern plains man, who seemed to be just the one she had been talking about. Maria decided this was the man for her, and she knew just the tricks to win him. She refused to look at him when they crossed paths; she wouldn’t even come to the window when he played his guitar to serenade her…and he fell for these tricks and vowed to marry her.
Before long, they did marry, and life was beautiful. They had two children and seemed to be a happy family together. But then, the ranchero went back to the wild life of the prairies. He returned only to see his children and grew to care nothing for his beautiful wife. He even talked of setting Maria aside and marrying someone from his own class
Maria’s pride was wounded and she grew bitter and angry—toward her husband and also toward her children. One evening her husband drove up with an elegant woman sitting beside him. He spoke to her children, but completely ignored Maria.
When she saw that, a terrible rage filled Maria, and it all turned against her children. And although it is sad to tell, the story says that in her anger Maria seized her two children and threw them into the river! But as they disappeared down the stream, she realized what she had done! She ran down the bank of the river, reaching out her arms to them. But they were long gone. The next morning they found Maria, dead on the bank of the river.
When she got to the gates of heaven, Saint Peter asked her, “Where are your children? You must find them and bring them here.” And so it was, from the first night Maria was in the grave, the villagers could hear the sound of crying down by the river. She was looking for her children. And now they call her La Llorona, the weeping woman. And by that name she is known to this day. It is said that if you hear her cry, death is also coming for you. Children are warned not to go out in the dark, for La Llorona might snatch them and never return them. (Adapted from Joe Hayes telling of La Llorona)
LA LLORONA ORIGINS
The tale of La Llorona is thought to originate in the 1400's in the Aztec nation, before the Spanish invasion. The Aztecs participated in child sacrifice to a goddess named Coatlicue. She is depicted wearing a long white dress made of tangled rivers and drowning men.(The Texas Observer, 2) La Llorona is also often depicted in a long white dress, by the river, and involved with drownings.The daughter of Coatlicue, Cihuacoatl, was the patroness of mothers who die in childbirth. She was said to have had a son, whom she abandoned, but then regretted her decision. When she went back to get him, he was gone, and a sacrificial knife was left in his stead. The spirits of these women are said to steal children at night and cause illness (Davis, 2015). It’s easy to the overlap of these goddesses with La Llorona, from Coatlicue’s depiction, to Cihuacoatl’s stealing of children.
When Cortez came to Tenochtitlan, he was given 20 women by the people of Tabasco in 1519. One of the women, Malinali, or La Malinche, was his translator, advisor, and, eventually, his mistress. In the Aztec depictions of Cortez, she is always by his side. He later abandoned her to marry a Spanish lady. It is not recorded that she killed her children, but the fiction did develop that she became a vengeful vampire after her death (Wikipedia).
The first ‘sighting’ of La Llorona happened right around 1560, 30 years after the Spanish landed in the new world. There is a tale in Greek mythology about a woman named Medea, from which echoes of La Llorona can also be heard. The story of Medea opens as Jason has just abandoned his wife, Medea, and his two children. He’s hoping to remarry a princess and advance his station in life. Medea is devastated and curses her own life and the lives of her children. Fearing revenge, Medea is banished from the city, but, upon pleading for mercy, she’s granted one more day in the city. With this last day, Medea offers a poisoned gift to Jason’s soon-to-be wife, which kills her, and then, in a last act of revenge, she kills her own children and flees the city. Jason is left cursing his own life (Costa, 1973). The similarities between Medea and La Llorona are so plentiful, it would only take a few tweaks to change the former into the latter. By simply adding a touch of paganism, found in the form of the Aztec’s beliefs, a pinch of Catholicism, from the Spaniards, regarding her attempt to get into heaven, and a known, historical figure, Malinali, Medea could easily be transformed into La Llorona.
THE MESHING AND MORPHING OF TALES OVER TIME
As illustrated by the childhood game, telephone, it’s easy to imagine how these two tales could have become morphed into one through their re-telling. It would have been an easy cohesion of several popular beliefs into one.
400 years is a long time for a legend to persist. La Llorona is one of the few who can claim such a life span. I believe there are many pieces to her long life. One piece that may play into this story: La Llorona is especially repeated and passed along in parts of the United States and Mexico where mountain lions roam. La Llorona is said to be heard wailing, “Where are my children?” in an almost banchee-like cry. The mountain lion mating call is described as an other-worldly, high-pitched, uncanny cry (National Park Service). If someone was particularly inclined to the story of La Llorona, the mountain lion cry could easily be mistaken for her, and further strengthen their belief in her.
Another reason La Llorona is still around may be that its origins were so widely known. The Aztec gods were well-known and revered throughout the entire region. Medea is a classic, and would have been well-known to the Spanish. It’s easy to see how La Llorona could quickly have spread over a wide region because of its familiarity to these old tales.
I doubt many people among us, would subscribe to belief in the Aztec’s gods of old. Few would claim they are afraid that an angry god may come steal their child in the night or that they must sacrifice their own children to appease these gods. I don’t believe many people believe in the gods of Greek mythology either. Zeus, Hera, and Hermes are just some of the Greek gods still familiar to us today. Do you really believe Zeaus is the god of gods? If you’re going to believe in La Llorona, it would follow that you should believe in the Greek gods as well, as they were the natural origin of La Llorona. Do you want to worship the frightening Aztec gods? You’ll have to make sure you feed them daily, offer sacrifices of your own blood through cutting, animal sacrifice, and, if things go really badly, child sacrifice. Depending on the version you subscribe to, you may also have to believe in Catholicism, which would contradict your belief in your new gods. This would be the natural follow-through to belief in the tale of La Llorona. If you don’t care for those types of gods and beliefs, you may as well discard a belief in and fear of La Llorona as well.
La Llorona is often passed on to children by their parents or grandparents in an attempt to curb their behavior. “Behave! Or La Llorona will come for you!” This is an oft-heard statement, and can perpetuate the tale from one generation to the next. In this attempt to scare children into obedience, the tale is not just good for a scare, but can be useful to parents and grandparents. Usefulness, and then the nostalgia of re-telling the tale to these children’s own children were the sustenance of La Llorona, contributing to her long life and popularity.