‘La Llorona’

Age: 48


Date of performance: 4/5/25


Language: Spanish


Nationality: Latino/a


Occupation: Caregiver


Primary Language: Spanish


Residence: United States

Text:

“La Llorona” is the name of a sad ghost who roams along riverbanks looking for wandering children at night.

Context:

“She is said to have lost her children in a tragic accident along a riverbank to drowning. Mournful for her children, she took her own life and drowned herself. As a result of this, she wasn’t allowed to cross into the afterlife and remains on earth as a vengeful spirit looking to reunite with her children. She cries out loud, wandering around searching for her children, often mistaking living humans for her deceased children and taking them to riverbank to drown them to reunite in the afterlife.”

Growing up in a small village in El Salvador my informant often listened to this story from some of the older people in their community such as their grandparents, specifically Grandma. They’ve never first hand experienced hearing the wails of a lady in the night, but have continued to hear some of the older generations tell their own personal stories encountering such when they were younger.

My informant interprets the myth of “La Llorona” as a folk story told to children to deter them from wandering out in the village at night through the use of fear. It worked for them as these stories they were told growing up all felt like scary stories and not lessons so they were always scared to go against them and question their validity.


Analysis:

I agree with my informants interpretation of this myth. Commonly, most Hispanic folk stories are meant to teach the younger generation to be careful in the vast fields that surround our home. These pose dangerous environments with wild animals out in the wild in the midst, especially at night. I find that it makes sense for the elders to warn children in a more ‘grounded’ format that’d stick to a children’s mind through fear. Considering the location and environment my informant grew up in, the myth is further amplified by the common misinterpretation of the screams or wails of a big cat to that of a woman’s. A factor, that could’ve served as the foundation of the myth itself.

Ned Kelly (1854 – 1880)

The Informant

R.F. born and raised in Australia provides the following narrative of a bandit well known in Australia pop culture and folklore.

Text

Ned Kelly was a legendary (and one of the last) outlaw bush ranger in Australia with a long history of crime and banditry. His most famous heist was planned on a police train where his gang would derail the train and kill all survivors as revenge against the authority and enable further heists on banks with the police were out of the picture.

Conceived and wore a suit of bullet proof armor into battle.

Image

(The alleged armor made in an improvised bush forge with metal taken from farming equipment, circa 1879)

In the shootout that followed, he was the last one standing with police reporting Ned Kelly’s durability, comparing him to the devil or a ghost, surviving multiple gun shots and seemingly unkillable.

After the last stand, Ned Kelly was brought to trial for execution.

The judge after sentencing Kelly to death by hanging: “May God have mercy on your soul.”

Ned Kelly: “I will see you there where I go.”

Kelly’s mother told him to “die like a Kelly” before his hanging.

“Ah well, I suppose it’s come to this. Such is life.” – Last words at the gallows.

The judge died 12 days later.

Analysis

This urban legend euhemerizes a likely real figure in history by exaggerating his last stand to legendary proportions. It’s particularly interesting that a criminal is being glorified and continues the theme of opposing authority in Australia as exemplified in the ScoMo urban legend. While Australia is sometimes referred to as the wild west of the commonwealth [citation needed], it’s not exactly surprising to see outlaws romanticized in a way similar to America’s Western’s, take Bonnie and Clyde for one cross-cultural example. In a sense, these outlaw figures are also antiheroes representing anti-establishmentarianism, embellished by their spirit of independence and comparable to the trickster who exists on the liminal space between good and evil. Even as the authority figure of the judge sentenced Ned Kelly to death after his valorous last stand, his last legendary deed was taking the judge with him in a single sentence. These traits akin to the trickster likely won the bushranger popularity amongst the folk in Australia.

Not here to fuck spiders

The Informant

RF is an Australian young adult born and raised in New South Wales.

Text

[subject] [copula] “not here to fuck spiders…”

Use

Its meaning is akin to “not here to fuck around,” said sarcastically as a response to being asked what the purpose of presence is.

Person A: Oy, you here to be an ass or what?

Person B: Well, I’m not here to fuck spiders, am I?

Analysis

The phrase reveals two things about Australian culture, one being the prevalence of spiders in not only the Indigenous people but the English speaking settlers thanks to their prevalent natural presence that contributes to the wild reputation of Australian wildlife. The other insight this phrase offers about Australian culture is the casual, crass sense of humor, especially noted by snarky, dry sarcasm which may extend from the nation’s origins as exiles of the British who are also known for their dry sarcasm.

“Old Age, Poverty, and Cold”

Context— This story was part of the larger Navajo creation myth. It follows two monster slaying twins. It was told to me by a young man in Arizona when asked for his favorite stories. It comes after the twins have slain most of the monsters in the world, save for three.

“There’s only those three left– Old Age, Poverty, and Hunger. Each twin goes to their mother Changing Woman and asks– where can we find these monsters? Changing Woman won’t tell them, but the Wind does. They first go to find Old Age on a mountain. This wrinkly old woman who just laughs when they say they came to kill her. She asks them, “What will you do when I am gone? When all of you stop growing old and having children? No one will be there to pass the knowledge on.” And so the twins spare her. 

“Next, the Wind tells them where to find Poverty – these two old bats living in the mountains in squalor, basically. They take and take everything people have until there’s nothing left, so the twins say they’ve come to kill them. They say, “Alright, if that is what you must do. But think, what will happen when we are gone? People would just go on using the same tools over and over. There would be no change. No betterment.” And so the twins decide to spare them too.

“Finally, the Wind tells them where to find Cold Woman, who freezes everything every winter. They find her on top of this winter mountain and they tell her the same thing – they have come to kill her. She only says, “If that is what you must do, then I will not stop you. But once I am dead, there will be no more winters. The land will get hot. Land and water will all dry up and people will die.” And finally, the twins decide to spare her too, leaving only these three monsters in the world.”

Analysis-= In this myth, twins confront three “monsters,” one by one. While it begins as a traditional heroic narrative of slaying the monsters, it quickly subverts these expectations. Instead of killing these monsters, the twins come to learn that they serve a unique purpose, making each encounter a moral lesson. Old Age does not just cause death– she brings wisdom and life, reminding the twins that without her, there would be no generational change or birth. Poverty is portrayed similarly– framed as a source of motivation rather than a monster. Finally, Cold Woman brings winter, something considered monstrous to the twins at first. Her warning that her death would upset the environment highlights core Navajo values of balance, nature, and cyclical life. Rather than eliminating all challenges to the Navajo people, this myth emphasizes that negative forces are as integral to harmony as sacred ones while also emphasizing interconnectedness (one monster cannot be killed without affecting the entire population), hardship, adaptation, and survival. 

“Coyote & The Giant”

Context: This was a story told by a teenage girl in an isolated village on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. When asked for her favorite myths, she told me the story of Coyote and the Giant –

“Every day, Giant comes around and eats people. He’s too fast for the monster hunters to get him, too fast for anyone to outrun him, and too big to fight. He loved to come down and eat all the children. But Coyote had a good idea, a way to make Giant less dangerous. Because Giant’s so big, he can only go so fast, so Coyote offers to make him as fast as him! Of course, Giant agrees. Coyote tells him that the reason he’s so fast is because he breaks his leg and heals it with his spit. If Giant does that too, he’ll be just as fast as Coyote. So Giant wacks his leg into two pieces. Splinters the bone and tells Coyote to spit on the bone. Coyote does. But of course, nothing happens. Coyote just made Giant break his own leg. Became too slow to catch anyone, much less Coyote.

Analysis: This myth features Coyote, a central figure in Navajo folklore. It highlights the importance of cunning in Navajo culture, as it is well-established that brute strength is no match for Giant. Coyote’s actions prove that intellect can win over physical power while emphasizing how these traits are heroic. The telling also included a lot of physicality and a sound effect when describing the “spit” Coyote produces. This comedic element creates engagement and entertainment. Additionally, Coyote’s choice to make the Giant break his own leg emphasizes nonviolent means of resistance and survival, another key value of Navajo culture.