La Llorona

"Weeping Woman" redirects here. For the painting by Pablo Picasso, see The Weeping Woman.

Adriana Lamar as "La Malinche" in the 1933 Mexican film La Llorona

La Llorona ("The Weeping Woman") is a widespread legend in Mexico, the US southwest, Puerto Rico, and Central and South America. Although several variations exist, the basic story tells of a beautiful woman by the name of Maria killing her children by drowning them, in order to be with the man that she loved. When the man rejects her, she kills herself. Challenged at the gates of heaven as to the whereabouts of her children, she is not permitted to enter the afterlife until she has found them. Maria is forced to wander the Earth for all eternity, searching in vain for her drowned offspring, with her constant weeping giving her the name "La Llorona".she eats ot dogs and little kids nude health problems jerry jerry jerryy likes little boys blah blah blahhhh

In some versions of this tale and legend, La Llorona will kidnap wandering children who resemble her missing children, or children who disobey their parents. People who claim to have seen her say she appears at night or in the late evenings from rivers or oceans in Mexico. Some believe that those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death, similar to the Gaelic banshee legend. She is said to cry "Ay, mis hijos!" which translates to "Oh, my children!"

Function of the story in society

Typically, the legend serves as a cautionary tale on several levels. Parents will warn their children that bad behavior will cause La Llorona to abduct them, and that being outside after dark will result in her visitation. The tale also warns young women not to be enticed by status, wealth, material goods, or by men who make declarations of love or lavish promises.

Comparisons to other folktales

La Llorona bears a resemblance to the ancient Greek tale of the demonic demigodess Lamia. Hera, Zeus' wife, learned of his affair with Lamia, and then forced Zeus to give up the relationship and punished Lamia by forcing her to eat her own children. Out of jealousy over the loss of her own children, Lamia preys upon human children and devours them if she catches them. In Greek mythology, Medea killed the two children fathered by Jason (one of the Argonauts) after he left her for another woman. Bloody Mary can also be confused with La Llorona but can be thought of as the same person because of La Llorona's name, Maria, and Bloody Mary's name. People can also make the relations that it is the same person because of the legendary stories' accusations of killing their own children.

Local Aztec folklore possibly influenced the legend; the goddess Cihuacoatl or Coatlicue was said to have appeared shortly prior to the invasion of Mexico by Hernán Cortés, weeping for her lost children, an omen of the fall of the Aztec empire.

La Llorona is also sometimes identified with La Malinche, the Nahua woman who served as Cortés' interpreter and who some say betrayed Mexico to the Spanish conquistadors. In one folk story of La Malinche, she becomes Cortés' mistress and bore him a child, only to be abandoned so that he could marry a Spanish lady (although no evidence exists that La Malinche killed her children). Aztec pride drove La Malinche to acts of vengeance. In this context, the tale compares the Spanish invasion of Mexico and the demise of indigenous culture after the conquest with La Llorona's loss.

See also

• Banshee
• Bloody Mary

References

• Perez, Domino Renee, There Was a Woman: La Llorona from Folklore to Popular Culture
• Mathews, Holly F. 1992. The directive force of morality tales in a Mexican community. In Human motives and cultural models, edited by R.G.D'Andrade and C. Strauss, 127-62. New York: Cambridge University Press.
• Ray John De Aragon, The Legend of La Llorona, Sunstone Press, 2006. ISBN=978-0-86534-505-8.

External links

• The New Mexican La Llorona
• Handbook of Texas Online A summary of the tale.
• Supernatural TV Series - Season 1 - Pilot Episode Woman in White Episode