La Llorona // 186 // The Weeping Woman

Transcript

Our story today is linked to the Island of the dolls, it’s another legend from a floating island in the canals of Xochimilco. When we covered la Isla de las Munecas, we discussed the theories about why Don Julian collected so many dolls on the island. Perhaps he was trying to appease the spirit of the little girl that died, or was he scared of the woman in the canal? He said he heard voices and cries when he was alone on the island, and he also spoke about a woman’s screams. He mentioned that the mermaids were coming to take him, and people wonder if he was really talking about the weeping woman. Just like the Island of Dolls, this story has many variations.

La Llorona or Weeping Woman is often told like this: She was a beautiful woman named Maria who married a very wealthy man, and they had two sons. After the children were born, Maria’s husband began to change. He would leave for months at a time, and he was running around with other ladies. He found another woman that was of a higher class than Maria and he wanted to marry her instead. Maria couldn’t bear this news and she blamed her children for her husband leaving her, so she threw them in the river. When she realized what she had done, it was too late, they had already drowned. She spent every day searching for her boys and would walk the riverbanks night and day, crying, and she died shortly after her children.

When Maria got to the gates of heaven, she was asked where her children were. She was told that she would not enter the afterlife until she located them, so she weeps and searches for her children. She is heard wailing, Ay, mis hijos! (Ayy miss hee-hoes) Which means, Oh my children! Legend says that she floats over bodies of water in her white gown, and she may kidnap children, or attack cheating husbands. There is an annual performance of La Llorona on Mexico City’s Lake Xochimilco which runs from the end of October to the beginning of November, overlapping with the Day of the Dead celebrations. The play is about a woman who is trapped between the living world and spirit world after drowning her children. During the play, some people say they can see a little girl’s face under the stage, and it’s believed that this may be the little girl that Don Julian found near his chinampa on the Island of the Dolls.

The legend is deeply ingrained in Mexican culture, and it’s thought to be one of the ten omens (oh-mens) foretelling the Conquest of Mexico. The earliest documentation of La Llorona is traced back to 1550 in Mexico City, but there are theories that this legend is actually connected to Aztec mythological creation stories. The stories or legends have been passed down for many generations and it’s told in several different ways, but the one thing that each version has in common is La Llorona is always weeping and searching for her lost children. This legend is most commonly associated with the colonial era, and she may have been an indigenous woman.

La Llorona is a legendary figure with various incarnations. Usually translated into English as ‘the wailing woman’ and she is often presented as a banshee-type: an apparition of a woman dressed in white, often found by lakes or rivers, sometimes at crossroads, and she cries at night for her lost children, whom she killed. The stories have different variations where the infanticide is sometimes carried out with a knife or dagger, but in most versions, the children drowned. The woman is usually out of her mind with rage because her husband was unfaithful and left her to marry a woman of higher status. After she realizes what she’s done, she usually ends her own life as well and her soul is doomed to wander the earth, searching for her children, forever.

Before Hernan Cortes arrived with his conquistadores (con-kee-sta-doors) in 1519, the Aztec Indians would hear screams at night from the ghost Cihuacoatl (see-wa-coh-ought-el), a pre-Columbian earth goddess ruling childbirth and death. Her cries would echo through the canyons, and she would say, “My children, we must flee.”

Cihuacoatl (see-wa-coh-ought-el) is described as a demon in books and one of the most important goddesses of the Aztecs. She is associated with small children, and a crib or cradle. In the book, it says, “And they also say that she carries a crib with her, as someone would, who carried her child in it, and she goes to the market, among the other women. And disappearing, she would leave behind the crib. When the other women discovered the crib had been forgotten there, they would look to see what was inside: and there would be a flint, like iron, of the rough kind with which they killed those they sacrificed. By this, they understood that it was Chihuacoatl (see-wa-coh-ought-el) who had left it there.”

In book VIII (8) of the Florentine Codex, an encyclopedic work on the Nahua (Nah-wah) people of Mexico completed during the 16th century by the Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahugun (Saw-huh-goon), it says, “In his time, it came to pass that the demon that in the form of a woman walked and appeared, by day and by night, and was called Cihuacoatl (see-wa-coh-ought-el), ate a small boy, who was in his cradle in the town of Azcapotzalco (az-cop-oat-sal-ko).” She is described as a “savage beast and an evil omen” who appeared in white and would walk at night weeping and wailing. She is also described as an omen of war. This goddess could also be linked to the sixth of the ten omens that are recorded in the codex as having foretold the Conquest: the voice of a woman heard wailing at night, crying about the fate of her children.

These entries show similarities between Cihuacoatl (see-wa-coh-ought-el) and La Llorona and many scholars believe they are one in the same and the legends came from Aztec mythology. Manuel Carpio (Car-pee-oh) published a poem in 1849 called La Llorona and this is the translation:

“Pale with terror, I heard it told, when I was a child, an innocent child, that a bad man in my town once did to death his wife, Rosalia. And since then, in the shadowy night, the trembling, frightened people hear the sad whimpering of a suffering woman, whimpering such as she made in her agony. For a certain time, she ceases in her lament, but then she breaks out in prolonged weeping, and alone she traverses the streets. She fills everyone with mortal fear, and close by the river in the thick darkness, she goes weeping, wrapped in her cloak.”

Ten years later after Cihuacoatl’s (see-wa-coh-ought-el) cries of saying my children, we must flee, her warnings came to fruition with the arrival of Cortes. Aiding him in his conquest was La Malinche (La Mah-linch-ay) “The Tongue” and she was his Indian interpreter and mistress whose role of translator facilitated the downfall of her own people.

She was viewed as a noblewoman, but this could be a title that was given to her by the Spanish as recognition for the important role she played in the conquest. La Malinche (La Mah-linch-ay) was between the ages of 8 and 12 when she was either sold or kidnapped into slavery. After her father’s death, her mother and stepfather gave her away to merchants so their son, La Malinche’s (La Mah-linch-ay) half-brother, would have the rights of an heir. When she was trafficked, she was sent to many different regions, and she learned the languages. This became very helpful in bridging the communication gap between the Spaniards and the Nahua (Nah-wah).

With the help of La Malinche (La Mah-linch-ay), Cortes was able to kill the Aztec leader and end the rule of the Aztec Empire. Some people see her as the woman who single-handedly brought doom to her own people, she betrayed them. She was a slave though and that of course means, she had to do as she was told, or she might risk death. After the conquest was complete, she continued to live with Cortes as his slave and interpreter and they had a son in 1522.

In 1524, Cortes and Malinche travelled to a new area, and he had her marry one of his captains. This elevated her status as a free Spanish noblewoman, and she gained all the rights and privileges of that class. It seems that Cortes arranged this marriage as a way to get rid of Malinche before his wife arrived in the colony. This marriage was an obvious improvement on her life as she was now free and she married into a higher status with many privileges, but it was also just another instance where she was pushed into something to benefit someone else’s needs.

La Malinche is seen by many as an evil mother and a traitor. In the book, Cortes eventually says he is leaving and taking his son with him. La Malinche stabs their son in the heart with an obsidian knife, then stabs herself. This is why many people believe that La Llorona and La Malinche are the same person. The story appeared in a book in the 1550s called General History of the Things of New Spain, also known as The Florentine Codex, Book XII (12).

In Frances Toor’s 1947 A Treasury of Mexican Folkways, he includes an account of the legend:

“In Mexico City itself the legend of La Llorona is still related. She was a pretty, but humble maiden named Luisa, with whom a rich young man of high society fell in love. He did not marry her, but according to custom furnished a casita, a love-nest, for her, where they were happy for many years. His friends visited and respected her, and they had three children. Finally, his family prevailed upon him to marry a girl of his own class. He told Luisa he was going to marry, and she made a scene; he stopped visiting her. She was an uninvited guest at his wedding in the big Cathedral. She came home maddened with grief and sent a dagger into the tender bodies of each of her children, one after the other. Then horror-stricken, she ran wildly through the streets, calling for her little ones, sending terror into the hearts of all who heard her. According to some of the chroniclers Luisa was tried and garrotted for her crime, and on that same day her lover Don Nuno de Montes was buried after having committed suicide.”

According to researchers, based on the words he used in this, it appears that he was retelling a story that was printed in 1888 and it was an English version of the story. The word Llorona is often used in Spanish for crybaby.

A later codex by a Dominican friar, Diego Duran, details the origin myths of the Aztec gods and discusses a goddess, Coatlicue (Koh-at-leek-way) (she of the snaky skirt) was the mother of Huitzilopochtli (Hoit-zillow-poc-lee), the Aztec god of war. In the codex, she is described as “the ugliest and dirtiest that one could possibly imagine. Her face was so black and covered with filth that she looked like something straight out of Hell.” She waits for her son to return to her from war and weeps and mourns for him while he is gone. There were reports of a woman who roams the streets, weeping and moaning.

The weeping and moaning part could certainly fit in with the legends of La Llorona, but it doesn’t seem to have anything specific to do with water or infanticide. According to the Florentine Codex, Chalchiuhtlicue (Chal-choo-ta-leak-way) (the Jade-skirted one) was goddess of the waters and the elder sister of the rain god, Tlaloc (T-lal-ock). She was feared and caused terror. It’s said that she would drown people and overturn their boats. Ceremonies in honor of the rain gods, including Chalchiuhtlicue (Chal-choo-ta-leak-way), involved the sacrifice of children. These sacrificial victims were brought from their mothers and the more the children cried, the more successful they believed the sacrifice was.

La Llorona is often portrayed as an indigenous woman who was abandoned by a Spanish lover, but the variations in the story seem to be geographical, with different regions having their own versions of the story. The first time the story showed up in print was in the late 19th century and early 20th centuries. She is a very complex female figure, and her cries can be heard throughout Mexico and the United States.

In some versions of the story, Maria’s husband wanted to find another woman, but he still cared for the children and showed them more affection than her, which made her extremely jealous. She told him how she felt, but he refused to change his ways and that’s why she murdered the kids.

In other versions of the story, her husband was of a higher class or status, so he left her for a woman of the same class.

She often haunts the riverbanks and is primarily seen in Southern California and Mexico.

She appears in white and has been described as a sexual predator. She seduces men and lures them in with her crying, then she kills them.

Rudolfo Anaya (uh-nye-ah) wrote a book where he described la Llorona as a demon who wanders the riverbanks and “seeks the blood of boys and men to drink.”

The story seems to be used as a different lesson depending on the geographical location. For some, it could be a warning that you shouldn’t be with someone from a different class. It could be a warning to men that they shouldn’t cheat on their wife or La Llorona will get them. It’s often used as a way to scare people from getting too close to the water or even staying out too late.

In the majority of the stories I read, this is typically used to scare children. If you stay out past dark, La Llorona might get you, or if you get too close to the water, she might drown you. We often hear people, especially around Christmas, telling their kids that they better behave, or Santa will find out and they’ll get coal. Well, if children misbehave, La Llorona might steal them.

It’s hard to know what La Llorona even is. I saw articles where she was presented as a spirit, creature, demon, or banshee. It seems like she could fit into a few categories, but I also wanted to add syren to the list because the stories say she lures men in and syren's are a creature of the sea. If she’s a banshee, that’s a form of fairy in Irish literature. The banshee is said to scream and cry throughout the night and if you hear her, that means someone is going to die soon. This could be quite similar to La Llorona. They are both folklore from entirely different cultures, but they share similarities. The banshee is a supernatural being, but is known as a Fairy in Celtic (Kel-tic) culture. La Llorona is also a supernatural being, but she is known as a lost soul in Mexican culture. Both women cry out at night, but it seems to be for different reasons.

It is said that she carries an evil aura. Anyone who survives an encounter with her will soon experience a tragedy. Others believe she is a bruja (brew-ha) or a witch, casting spells of death or misfortune on people. If you hear her cry, this may be an omen of death and if a mother comes in contact with La Llorona, they may kill their own children after the encounter.

Here’s an old Spanish song that tells the story:

“Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don’t go there alone;

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own

She weeps when the sun is murky red;

She wails when the moon is old;

She cries for her babies, still and dead,

Who drowned in the water cold.

She seeks her children day and night,

Wandering, lost, and cold;

She weeps and moans in dark and light,

A tortured, restless soul

Don’t go down to the river, child,

Don't go there alone;

For the sobbing woman, wet and wild,

Might claim you for her own.”

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