1. Text

This folk narrative, commonly known as La Llorona (“The Weeping Woman”), was told to me by my godmother (RS). It is a widely known legend in Latinx communities, especially in Mexico, where my godmother is from, and the American Southwest. This folk narrative is typically used to convey cautionary lessons about motherhood, morality, and the boundaries between the natural and supernatural worlds.

In RS’s version, the story centers on a beautiful woman who lived in a small village. She fell in love with a wealthy man who eventually abandoned her and their two children. Overcome by grief, rage, or desperation, the woman drowned her children in a river. Immediately after realizing what she had done, she was consumed by guilt, sorrow and regret. RS informed me that in some tellings, she dies shortly after; in others, she takes her own life; in some, she kidnaps children, trying to fill the hole in her heart she created for herself. Either way, her spirit is said to wander the earth, especially near rivers or bodies of water, crying out for her children with an echoing, haunting wail.

RS emphasized that La Llorona is not just a ghost story, but a living presence in cultural memory. She described how, growing up, children were warned not to stay out too late near rivers or creeks, or La Llorona would come for them. The legend was often shared at night, especially during family gatherings, both to entertain and to instill a sense of caution and reverence, especially among young ones.

2. Context

This version of La Llorona was shared with me in an informal interview with my godmother RS, who has known this story since childhood. She grew up hearing it from older relatives, particularly her mother and aunts, and she began telling it to her children once she became a mother. Though RS does not take the legend as seriously as some of her relatives do, RS sees the story as deeply embedded in her cultural heritage and tied to her identity as a Latina woman raised in a multigenerational household.

Although she told the story to me in English, she often codeswitched and used Spanish phrases, which she said carried a power that couldn’t be fully translated. She emphasized that while people often treat La Llorona as a ghost story, in her family, it was treated with seriousness and even fear. It functioned not just as entertainment, but as a warning and a moral guide. For RS, the story also served to express complex emotions—grief, betrayal, guilt, shame—and it offered a way to talk about family responsibility, the consequences of despair, and the spiritual costs of abandonment.

3. Interpretation

La Llorona is best classified as a legend—a narrative that blurs the line between truth and myth, often grounded in cultural beliefs and reinforced through oral tradition. It persists in multiple variants across Latin America and the United States, demonstrating its function as a flexible and powerful narrative form that adapts to its audience while retaining core themes.

The story functions on multiple levels. On the surface, it serves as a frightening tale used to discipline children and discourage risky behavior, particularly near dangerous places like rivers at night. However, on a deeper level, La Llorona speaks to societal anxieties surrounding motherhood, gender roles, and emotional repression. The mother’s transformation into La Llorona reflects both personal trauma and collective memory, turning individual grief into a communal warning.

In RS’s telling, the emotional core of the legend was emphasized more than its shock value. The tale becomes not just a punishment narrative, but a reflection on the dangers of abandonment—both being abandoned and abandoning others—and the lingering pain that unresolved loss can leave behind. This emotional resonance helps explain the legend’s persistence over generations.

The continued telling of La Llorona, whether in traditional and modern contexts, illustrates how folklore adapts to shifting cultural realities while preserving key ethical and emotional truths. RS’s version demonstrates that the legend is not a static artifact of the past, but a living narrative that continues to serve social, emotional, and pedagogical functions. Its survival speaks to its ability to evolve in form while remaining rooted in the cultural consciousness of those who tell and hear it.

Date of performance: 4/06/25
Language: English
Nationality: Mexican-American
Occupation: Retired
Primary Language: English
Residence: Monterey, CA