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unohana said:
La Llorona-the mexican legend
Although several variations exist,
the basic story tells of a beautiful
woman por the name of Maria who
drowns her children in order to be
with the man that she loved. The
man would not have her, which
devastated her. She would not take
no for an answer, so she drowned
herself in a lake in Mexico.
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".
In some versions of this tale and
legend, La Llorona will kidnap
wandering children who resemble
her missing children, o children
who disobey their parents. People
who claim to have seen her say she
appears at night o in the late
evenings from rivers o 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
dicho 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,[1] and
that being outside after dark will
result in her visitation. The tale
also warns young women not to be
enticed por status, wealth, material
goods, o por men who make
declarations of amor o lavish
promises.
Comparisons to other folktales
La Llorona bears a resemblance to
the ancient Greek tale of the
demonic demigodess Lamia.[2]
Hera, Zeus' wife, learned of his
affair with Lamia, and then forced
Zeus to give up the relationship
and punished Lamia por 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.[3][4] In Greek
mythology, Medea killed the two
children fathered por Jason (one of
the Argonauts) after he left her for
another woman.
Local Aztec folklore possibly
influenced the legend; the goddess
Cihuacoatl o Coatlicue was dicho to
have appeared shortly prior to the
invasion of Mexico por 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.
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