{"id":1675,"date":"2010-08-19T18:19:38","date_gmt":"2010-08-19T22:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/?p=1675"},"modified":"2011-07-27T11:15:07","modified_gmt":"2011-07-27T15:15:07","slug":"la-llorona-a-mexican-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/la-llorona-a-mexican-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"“La Llorona”, a Mexican legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are stories you hear when you are a child, and they scare you do death. In Spain we were always threatened with \u201cEl hombre del saco<\/strong>\u201d (The man with a bag) or \u201cEl sacamantecas<\/em><\/strong>\u201d to make you eat, vegetables in my case, or behave appropriately.<\/p>\n

That must be the reason why I found this Mexican legend so interesting. \u201cLa Llorona<\/strong><\/em>\u201d is the Spanish name for \u201cThe Weeping Woman\u201d. Although this legend is originally from Mexico, there are several different versions in Spanish-speaking cultures in Central and South America. The basic story tells us about the ghostly apparition of a mysterious woman dressed in white, wandering at night and crying for her lost children: \u201cAyyy, mis hijos!\u201d <\/em>(Oh, my children!). According to this tragic legend, she was a woman who was abandoned by her husband or lover, with two children. In desperation for her lost love, she drowned her kids as revenge, but when she became aware of her act, she went desperately mad. She died, but her soul remains searching for her dead children. In some countries, seeing the apparition of \u201cLa Llorona\u201d is an omen for the witness\u2019 death in the near future, in a similar role to that of Banshees in Irish mythology. She is always depicted as an unmerciful killer, dragging children into water.<\/p>\n

This legend is more than 300 years old, going back as far as indigenous Aztec myths.In some tales \u201cLa Llorona\u201d is related to Cihuacoatl<\/em>, the patron goddess of women who die in childbirth, predicting the fall of the Aztec empire and the loss of her people at the hands of the Spanish Conquistadors. In some other texts, \u201cLa Llorona\u201d and \u201cLa Malinche\u201d are considered the same person. \u201cLa Malinche\u201d was the indigenous mistress of Hernan Cort\u00e9s, also abandoned by him after his return to Spain. The story says that \u201cLa Malinche\u201d killed their son when he married a Spanish lady of his own class (though there is no historic evidence of this murder).<\/p>\n

We find different versions of the legend in Chile, Venezuela, Paraguay, Colombia, but this lady in white dress is a constant presence in their folklore. Children books, short stories, novels and films have been created based on her story. Nowadays, there is a new vision about “La Llorona”:\u00a0 Chicano literature, studies and criticism have rescued her not as an evil figure, but as a female archetype for a strong, independent woman not restricted to motherhood and marriage.<\/p>\n

Let me finish this post with a recommendation: I have recently watched a great film about this topic, directed in 1960 by Rene Cardona, \u201cLa Llorona\u201d <\/a>that you may enjoy. And we can even find references to her in \u201cEl chavo del ocho\u201d!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=7QkngcduIUU<\/a><\/p>\n

Chavela Vargas – La Llorona – The Weeping Woman – Frida Kahlo <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Todos me dicen el negro, Llorona
\nNegro pero cari\u00f1oso.
\nTodos me dicen el negro, Llorona
\nNegro pero cari\u00f1oso.<\/p>\n

Yo soy como el chile verde, Llorona
\nPicante pero sabroso.
\nYo soy como el chile verde, Llorona
\nPicante pero sabroso.<\/p>\n

Ay de m\u00ed, Llorona Llorona,
\nLlorona, t\u00fa eres mi shunga.
\nAy de m\u00ed, Llorona Llorona,
\nLlorona, t\u00fa eres mi shunga.<\/p>\n

Me quitaron de quererte, Llorona,
\npero de olvidarte nunca.
\nMe quitaron de quererte, Llorona,
\npero de olvidarte nunca.<\/p>\n

No s\u00e9 que tienen las flores, Llorona,
\nlas flores del camposanto.
\nNo s\u00e9 que tienen las flores, Llorona,
\nlas flores del camposanto.<\/p>\n

Que cuando las mueve el viento, Llorona,
\nparece que est\u00e1n llorando.
\nQue cuando las mueve el viento, Llorona,
\nparece que est\u00e1n llorando.<\/p>\n

Yo te so\u00f1aba dormida, Llorona,
\ndormida te estabas quieta.
\nYo te so\u00f1aba dormida, Llorona,
\ndormida te estabas quieta.<\/p>\n

Pero en llegando el olvido, Llorona,
\nso\u00f1\u00e9 que estabas despierta.
\nPero en llegando el olvido, Llorona,
\nso\u00f1\u00e9 que estabas despierta.<\/p>\n

Si porque te quiero quieres, Llorona,
\nquieres que te quiera m\u00e1s.
\nSi porque te quiero quieres, Llorona
\nQuieres que te quiera m\u00e1s.<\/p>\n

Si ya te he dado la vida, Llorona,
\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 mas quieres? \u00bfQuieres m\u00e1s?
\nSi ya te he dado la vida, Llorona,
\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 mas quieres? \u00bfQuieres m\u00e1s?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are stories you hear when you are a child, and they scare you do death. In Spain we were always threatened with \u201cEl hombre del saco\u201d (The man with a bag) or \u201cEl sacamantecas\u201d to make you eat, vegetables in my case, or behave appropriately. That must be the reason why I found this…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[358367,358362],"class_list":["post-1675","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","tag-literature","tag-culture"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1675"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1687,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1675\/revisions\/1687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/spanish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}