La Llorona by thecrazykind

TALK STORY

La Llorona

POSTED BY: THECRAZYKIND
UPDATED: Saturday, September 10, 2005 15:00
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Friday, September 9, 2005 1:38 PM

For my cultural expressions class, I have to find people who know about La Llorona and then write their encounters with the legend into a paper (direct quoting could be involved). If any of you lovely people, know about La Llorona, please tell me about it. You can tell me how you learned of the legend, some experience you had in relation to it, or it's significance to you. And it doesn't matter if you only learned about it in school. Anything will work. I would really, really appreciate it! :) Oh and if you could give me some kind of name to go with your story, that would be helpful. Just your first name will be fine.

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Friday, September 9, 2005 2:00 PM

JRC

My memories of La Llorona were from growing up in South Texas, an area called the Rio Grande Valley, which borders Mexico from the tip of Texas to approximately Laredo. La Llorona (if memory serves), was a woman whose children drowned in one of those irrigation canals that stretch across the farm lands. I don't remember if these children drowned while swimming or in some kind of car accident. The woman's spirit would come out at night and cry or scream for her lost loved ones. I've heard of these stories since the sixties, so they're at least 40-50 years old.

J.R. Cortez

Everyone dies alone.

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Friday, September 9, 2005 2:15 PM

TRUTHSEEKER

Hi. Okay, my actual first name is Wendy, and I don't remember exactly where I heard the story first. I'm caucasian, but I live in southern California, so the Spanish language and latino cultures are pretty much everywhere around here. My vague impression if that I heard the story out loud rather than reading it... maybe at a camp, or possibly from another student in my teaching credential program.

The significance it has for me, though, is a little unusual, so I thought you might be interested. My first year teaching, I taught Kindergarten, and I had a girl in my class who would wail like a banshee for the first five or ten minutes of class after her mother dropped her off for the day. She did this for a month! Every day. Luckily, I had enough experience with small children not to take it personally, and her mother knew that the best thing she could do was stay calm, say goodbye, and leave the girl to me. I'd meet her at the door, and after the first day, when I had to hold the girl back physically, I'd make sure the door was closed, say a quiet hello to the girl and let her sob on the doormat until she got bored and wandered over to see what the class was doing. After about a month, we were able to convince her that: a) the crying wasn't accomplishing anything, and b) school wasn't so bad after all, but for a while, there her mom and I would exchange understanding nods at the door every morning. One particular day, the girl's mother must have been a little extra tired of this routine, because she looked at me and shrugged. "La Llarona," she said, nodding her head at her daughter who was doing her usual wailing piteously performance on the floor between our feet. I chuckled and nodded. "Hasta luego," I said and waved as she left.

I suppose because this little exchange happened so early in my teaching career, when I was still very nervous about proving that I knew what I was doing, and equally nervous about speaking Spanish in front of native speakers, it always reminds me of a little moment of relief that I felt. I knew that this girl's mother trusted me and understood that I would be patient with her daughter as long as it took, and even though she knew my Spanish was barely functional at best, she was comfortable enough with me to make a joke. Plus, I actually got the joke! I felt a little more connected to the culture of 80% of my students. So, like I said, my experience with La Llarona is a little unusual. Whenever I hear the name, I smile.

*** *** ***
The woods are the only place where I can see a clear path.

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Friday, September 9, 2005 3:46 PM

PHAEDRA

I'm a native Los Angelino. La Llorona is pretty well known across the southwest and Mexico. She's kind of our version of Bloody Mary.

Legend has is that she was once a wicked woman who drowned her children so that she could be free with her lover. God cursed her to walk the earth till she found their souls. She stalks children and takes them in the night, when she discovers that they are not hers she kills them.

La Llorna wears a long black dress (think the costumes from any Zorro movie or TV show). She has long black hair that is usually pulled up in a sever bun. She has two distinguising features: (1) She has no face, there is a white void where it should be and (2) she has a terrible cry, which souds like a siren mixed with the wails of a baby.

Growing up, lots of my friends were hispanic (I'm black). When I was about 7 years old, I had a bad dream one night when I thought I heard something evil coming after me. When I described the sound to my friends they freaked and told me about La Llorna. Now sirens and crying babies are not a rarety in my neighborhood, but I respect La Llorna.

Well hop this helps

Phaedra (a bad luck name)

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Friday, September 9, 2005 5:26 PM

CEDRIC

Though I'm anglo, I grew up in Laredo, Texas, and I could see Mexico from my bedroom window. I heard stories about La Llorona many times when I was young. In some versions, she was a woman who drowned her own children and then herself to get away from an abusive husband; in all the versions, her spirit wails at night. Some say that young men out late at night (presumably carousing or making liaisons with young women) must beware her siren call, for she will lure them to a watery grave in the river.

Interestingly, the story seems to be set near whatever local river or creek is nearby. A friend of my mother once said, "It's ridiculous that people claim to hear La Llorona near Chacon creek. It's too shallow for anyone to drown there."

There's also a folk song called "La Llorona"--though opinions vary as to whether it is about the vengeful spirit or about a professional mourner, or perhaps about both. The song figures prominently in the movie _Frida_, about the life of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.

Oh, and my name is James Hazlerig.

"You can't take my show from me,
Because I've got the DVD."
www.BedlamBards.com
Ballad of Joss: http://mp3-postcards.com/listen/?888

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Friday, September 9, 2005 9:51 PM

FALLENANGEL

My name is Elizabeth and I'm an alcholic. Just Kidding.

Ok, Both of my parents are from Mexico, so I sort of grew up with the story. But when I first heard bout La Llorona, I was in the first grade. Some students in my class were convinced that La Llorona was living right next door to the school, right near the field where we played soccor and whatnot, in an abandoned ugly house. Some other kids called La Llorona, Bloody Mary.

Story goes that La Llorona was married and had 3 or 5 kids. But her husband was killed somehow and that left her in some state of craziness. I think out of anger or just plain crazy of her husband's death she drowned her kids in a river somewhere, ran away and killed herself. When she reached up into Heavan, happily waiting to see her husband, God told her she can't. Suicide is a motal sin. Well, she begged and begged God to forgive her and give her a chance, so God striked up a deal for her. She has to go back to Earth, find the river where she killed her children, find her kids and bring them back with her. She will then be allowed to entetr Heavan. So to this day, La Llorona has been haunting rivers in Mexico and Southern California. People have claimed that they seen a woman in a white gown walking along side rivers, crying mournfully at night.

How's that for a nice bedtime story for your kids,huh?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
May have been on the losing side. Still not convinced it was the wrong one.

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Friday, September 9, 2005 11:01 PM

AURELIANO

Most of the answers and insights above are pretty comprehensive, but I thought I'd add my own, as I have no connections whatsoever to the southwest/Mexico. Rather my experience of La Llorona comes from one of my favourite films of all time, Mulholland Drive by David Lynch, which makes a really interesting connection.

Edit: My name's Lassi and I'm from the fair land of Finland.

The dark film is steeped in mythology of both Hollywood and its surrounding L.A. areas. In one of its more ambiguous scenes, the two main characters visit a strange 'nighttime club', where amongst other things (don't want to spoil too much), they watch a musical performance. It's a spanish cover of 'Crying' by Roy Orbison sung by Rebekah Del Rio, presented as 'La Llorona de Los Angeles' by the MC.

Though the physical setting and song lyrics don't reeeallly fit in with the basic folk mythology, its theme works perfectly as the rest of the film is about jealousy, deceit, murder etc. That spanish version of the song and its impact in the film gets so under your skin, that I just had to google and find out more... and sure enough, I found the story of Llorona.

Finally on a different note: I remember having a childrens book on different ghost legends when I was young. One that really stuck with me was about this unnaturally tall woman in white, who was sighted along river beds. The people that saw her were confused but fine, until they suddenly died in accidents in the following days. Can't remember the exact country / area where it was supposed to have happened, but that just highlights my point.

The woman in black or white / rivers etc elements have been constant in folk myths & ghost stories all over Europe and the Americas. For instance the mythological elements that they used in "The Blair Witch Project" work and freak you out because they have that same power (vague description of a woman, maybe she was evil or 'a witch', she was seen decades ago, somewhere along the river).

Oh and obviously my thoughts just jumped to recent Japanese horror movies, what with the dead girls trapped in wells or near water in the Ring series / Dark Water. Sigh. Maybe dead women and water just don't mix!

-
"There's a sort of evil out there. Something strange in the hills. It takes different forms, but it's been there for as long as anyone can remember. And we've always been here to fight it."

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Saturday, September 10, 2005 12:28 PM

THECRAZYKIND

Thank you all!! All the stories everyone has posted is exactly what I need to write my paper. I really appreciate it! What a wonderful, helpful community this is.

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Saturday, September 10, 2005 2:56 PM

DIEGO

Weird, I was just talking about La Llorona today (to people who surprised me by not knowing the legend). I'm not from the southwest, but I am interested in hispanic culture. and I love the folk song.

P.S. Someone (an Argentine? singer- I'll try and look it up) does a cover of the song that is performed just as sad and torn as the lyrics, but altough it's apropo, I prefer my Spanish folk songs to have sad lyrics and disturbingly happy music.

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Saturday, September 10, 2005 2:57 PM

DIEGO

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Saturday, September 10, 2005 3:00 PM

DIEGO

P.S. The one where the music was as depressing as the lyrics was by Chavela Vargas. Joan Baez performs a traditional arrangement that I like a lot.

And yeah, I'd heard of the confounding "La Llorona"/"Bloody Mary" mythos. There was even a news story on the kids growing up in homeless families in Miami and the culture they were creating.

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