Author Archives: AJ

Catholic Proverb

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 26
Residence: South Carolina
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

“Leave it all in God’s hands.”

 

Context: The informant learned this proverb from her mother. They are of Catholic background. The informant described the proverb as meaning, “No matter what decisions or situations we are in, leave it all in God’s hands because he wants what is best for us, so he will lead us in the direction we need to go in.”

 

Analysis:

It seems that when people feel that they have no control on some aspect of their life, they find comfort in saying this proverb because it reassures them that someone is watching over them and will help them anyway possible. Saying this proverb is a form of comfort for many individuals.

Mal de Ojo

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 77
Residence: california
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“This happens when a person has a very strong stare. If they stare at a newborn with their glare the child will get a really high fever, convulse, and die. The only cure is to have the person with the evil eye carry the baby. That is the only way to reverse the evil done. I know babies who have died from this curse.”

Context:

The informant is a 77-year-old Spanish speaking woman, born in Mexico. She believes this to be true. She does not think those with the evil eye necessarily know that they have that power.

Analysis:

It seems that this belief is a way to explain sudden deaths of infants. It is a way to explain the unexplainable.

The Jealous Husband of Chihuahua

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 54
Residence: California
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“In Chihuahua, in the neighborhood of Londres, there was a couple. The wife worked as a nurse at a hospital and the husband was a factory worker. They had three beautiful children. The husband did not want his wife to continue to work. He was jealous at all times because she was beautiful and always dressed nice to work. The wife did not want to leave her work because they needed the money, and she loved being a nurse. He kept insisting that she stop, but she continued to ignore his demands. One morning, the husband began to sharpen a huge butcher knife. The wife on her way to work saw him doing this and asked what he was going to do with that. He responded, that he needed it to kill one of their pigs. The wife shrugged and said goodbye and that she would return late afternoon. Two hours later, the neighbors heard various cries from the children in the home. Some neighbors approached the house and they saw one of the three children run out of the house and fall to the ground. The child’s throat had been slit. The neighbors rushed in and saw the husband about to take his own life, next to him were the other two kids, dead. The police arrived and they then went to the hospital to tell the wife the atrocities that her husband committed. The wife cried out, and then fainted. When she woke up, she went crazy and spent the rest of her life at a mental hospital.”

 

Context:

The informant is my 54-year-old man from Guadalajara, Mexico. I asked him to tell me this story, having heard it thousands of times growing up. He says he heard this story from a childhood friend. He believes that this shows the extremes people go to when they cannot control another person. Also, the dangers of being a jealous person.

La Llorona de Guanajuato

Nationality: Mexican
Age: 77
Residence: California
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: Spanish

Main Piece:

“In Guanajuato there was a beautiful woman who had a husband that was a Count. When her husband left to work, he would always return very late. One day the wife found out that he was cheating on her. She was furious and wanted to punish him. She thought of many ways and one night she thought that when her husband returned one night, he would find his children with slit throats. She carried this idea out and the night came where her husband arrived with the children dead. The husband went crazy at the sight of his children. His screams brought the neighbors to their home, where they took his wife to the police. The wife was sentenced to be burned at the stake in a white dress. Before she was burned, a priest convinced the wife to repent for the sin she had committed. Her regret for her sins was immediate and she howled these words “Mis hijos! Ay mis hijos!” They burned her and she continued to yell this until her death. From that point on, the people of Guanajuato talk about a woman who walks around downtown Guanajuato yelling “Ay mis hijos.” Some have even seen her roam in the white dress she died in.

 

Context:

The informant is a 77-year-old Spanish speaking woman, born in Mexico. Her grandmother told her this story and the informant has passed the tale along to her children and grandchildren. She believes that the tale is a warning in decisions that are made in moments of absolute rage.

 

Analysis

I agree with the informant, this crime committed by La Llorona was that of a crime of passion which could have been avoided. The saddest part of the tale is that because of the woman being blinded by rage, the young lives of her children were ended.

The Weeping Lady of the Woods

Nationality: American
Occupation: Retired
Residence: California
Performance Date: 2019
Primary Language: English

Main Piece:

“There was this story we were told as kids up in the mountains of Tennessee. I never heard her but apparently at night there was a spirit of a woman who would cry in front of a specific tree. She cried there because when running away from a predator, a cougar or something big, she and her two children tried to climb up that tree to get away, but her two kids fell off the tree and were killed by the cougar. The woman was devastated and committed suicide shortly thereafter. So, at night you can hear her weeping next to the tree where her children were killed. I never heard her but everyone knew about her.”

 

Context:

The informant is an elderly Caucasian woman born and raised in Tennessee. I asked the informant what she thought the story meant or was told, she responded that she feels the story is a way to warn people, specifically kids, of the dangers that exist within the woods.

 

Analysis:

This legend has similarities to another folklore legend found in Mexico known as  LA LLORONA. They both have weeping women who weep for their lost children. I agree with the informant on the meaning or relevance of the legend. It is a way to warn children of the dangers found in the woods, especially at night.