THE MEXICAN FOLK STORY OR THE SCARY TRUTH?

The Latin America itself has so many mystical things and hides a lot of interesting stories, scary tales and urban legends. It seems that you can find inspiration on each corner over there and to keep going enjoying such an amazing mixture of exotic nature, ancient myths and modern narration and culture.

When I started to show interest for Mexico, I met the destiny of the dangerous spirit, La Llorona, so called the Weeping woman and I wanted to find out more about this phenomena and why all children in Mexico, are scared of this name. Miguel, the Mexican man in his thirties, told me that you can warn kids that they will be taken by Llorona, if they are naughty. That usually helps because the generations of children have been grown up on creating the irrational fear from the Weeping woman. From one to another, the fasciation with this creature was never out of attention, never out of scary thoughts. The main reason for it is that this is not the mythological figure from folklore but the real person that used to be someone’s daughter, wife and mother.

Who was the real La Llorona ? According to the stories, Maria was one of the most beautiful women in Mexico, back at the time. Naturally, she met handsome, young and rich ranchero and their marriage has been blessed with two wonderful sons. Nevertheless, the good looking husband of Maria had wild heart and the character of womaniser. Maria was betrayed and ready to make a revenge, pushing the common sense to the edge:“It so happened that the father, her one true love, had abandoned her for another woman, breaking her heart and fracturing her mind, making her an outcast in her own community. Racked with the agony of his affair, she became bent on revenge, paying him back in the most horrific way imaginable—leading their children down to the water and drowning them both, one after the other. A truly selfish act for La Llorona, but it did come with one consolation. So disgusted at the sight of what she had done, she decided to follow right after them, taking her own life in those very same waters. An easy way out, for certain, but the only way for her to avoid the shattered reality she had created, and wrap up this horrible tale of love and loss and a mother’s betrayal.“

With this scenario, it would be just a sad happening from some of many unhappy destinies in Mexican society but unfortunately, this wasn’t the end but the beginning of our real and creepy story that got the attributes of attractive urban legends, screened in Hollywood. This revengeful spirit has never been really gone from the community but all over there, searching for eternity and peace, but bringing only pain, fear and tears. It is said that the deep crying of La Llorona is something that cant be forgotten. She is lurking on the children, that are alone, standing there in white, showing her empty hands and inviting children to join her and accept her mothers love. The other inform that La Llorona is actually hunting the cheating husbands, turning their lives into the hell. The many sides of the story could be explained by the different roots of the cultural heritage. The part of Mexican identity is linked to the old civilisations of Aztec and Mayas but still developed within the urban Mexican mentality, encouraged with popular American campfire exciting tales. We shouldn’t ignore the fact that Aztec people expected fearsome goddess or snake woman to come and conquer Mexico, and called her Cihuacōātl. Depending on the origin of myth, you can note the slightly differences between the La Llorona cult from Central American jungles and the one from lonely deserts of Mexico. In both cases, we are talking about the lovely and angry ghost that is searching for a rest or for a victims. The people in Mexico take this curse very seriously and with caution and many claim that they saw or heard La Llorona cry and invitation.

The worst sin ever is for mother to kill her own children and that’s is exactly the point that put the La Llorona into the devil playground. From the social, religious and cultural perspective, the La Llorona fate is something that cant be explained, described or justified. Naturally, the ghost must be forever cursed and also all that is under ghost hunt. The Hispanic background, especially in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is full of the witnessing statements that La Llorona has been there but the ideas about her and her presence goes to the American Montana. The crying woman is lurking on lonely victims on the river banks around the whole North and Latin America, as it seems, but the reality shows us actually the weakness of human mind and the ability to be scared from unknown.

The Latin folklore has many alluring moments and figures, as well as ghosts, creatures and destinies. Each of them is unique, because it is a kind of merging with ancient civilisations and their specific tradition and polytheistic approach, that has been cruel sinked into the christian official religion. The Roman Catholics Church has accepted many variations of local myths and urban legends, with the purpose to attract the new flock. That tolerance was intentional since the Latin America has a great touch of spiritualism and ancient religions. Even the typical exorcism has been mixed with solutions against dark forces, created by shamans.

La Llorona is more than a myth, it is a reminder that unhappy heart is the curse with no end, the darkness with no time, the pain with no chance for recovery. It is never ending story that has been shaped through the years and social challenges. For some people, La Llorona figure is there to work on discipline of the children and for some people is just a cool story before sleeping in tent, somewhere in the wild Mexican deserts or jungles with lost cities. Whatever is your own opinion, when you are there, show respect for those who believe in La Llorona and show compassion for the tragic end of that poor and betrayed soul.