CONTEXT:
RR is one of my best friends and roommates. She is a sophomore at USC who enjoys crocheting, writing poetry, and making me laugh.
TEXT:
Me: “Tell me the story of La Llorona.”
R: “Well, the way my mom learned it is that she’s a witch.”
Me: “Who did your mom hear it from?”
R: “Her aunt told her—her aunt is from Mexico.
Her name is Evangelina—we call her Vengie
That’s my grandpa’s sister.
So my great aunt.
And when they used to live in this neighborhood, they would run around and if there was like wind blowing,
or like my grandma said, when cats mate, you know how they kind of sounds like babies crying,
and so they would say oh, that’s La Llorona.
She is coming back for her children who were swept away in a river.
Other versions of the story are that they drowned or she drowned them in the river and then she comes back.
My mom heard that they were swept away in a river so she didn’t do it.
She lost them.
And so she cries
and she’s coming back and haunting the kids because she’s looking for her own.”
Me: “So did she want to steal kids to replace them?”
R: “Yeah.
So her kids were swept away
but she’ll drop other kids in the river to take their souls
My mom and her older sister, Paula used to say.
They would get really scared when they heard wind blowing or like crying.
ANALYSIS:
La Llorona is also known as The Weeping Woman or The Cryer. Her tale originates from Latin America—specifically Mexico. The most common version of the story states that La Llorona drowned her own children, however, it is interesting that R’s’s family grew up telling the story that the children got swept away on their own.
For another version of the story you can check out this link: