Story of a Weeping Woman (La Llorona)
The grieving woman with veil is folklore from Latin American. Generations of Mexican children have grown up with this urban legend, whose misdeeds in life have left her spirit trapped on Earth. In the initial time the woman was known with the name La Llorona but as her popularity grew across the world she was given the name of Weeping Woman. It is said that if you hear her crying, you are to run the opposite way. If you hear her cries, they could bring misfortune or even death. Many parents in Latin America use this story to scare their children from staying out too late.
A myth, A spooky bedtime story? Who is she? Why the children fear this woman. Why she kills children drowning them in river?
The Lore!
According to the lore, there was a young woman in a village named María. She belong to a family with poor background though hearsay of her beauty made them known across the village. She lived her life normally until a wealthy nobleman traveled through the village. He was mesmerize and couldn’t help but stop there after seeing the beauty of this girl. The nobleman was also an attractive person and seemed as a charming prince to the young women. They both were taken by each other’s charisma. The nobleman proposed her and she accepted without any second thought.
They got married eventually. Maria gave birth to two sons and they were a little happy family. But the husband stopped spending time with his family as he was constantly travelling for his work. The spark between the couple started to die slowly and the husband only used to come back to the house to meet his children as he loved them more than anything else in the world. As time passed Maria could tell that her husband no longer loves her because of her getting old.
Maria then found out about her husband’ affair with another woman, that was young and pretty as she used to be once. One day he came back to his village with his love interest, and bid farewell to his children. He completely ignored María as if she did not even exist.
This hurting deed and cheating filled her with blind rage and she took her children to a river and drowned them. As soon as her wrath came down, she realized what she has done but it was already too late. She searched them in the river to but the river had taken them away with its flow.
Time passed and she kept howling and searching for them. After some days, her husband came back not to find the children there, he asked her about them. The woman began weeping and told him that she had drowned them because of her anger. The statement made the nobleman furious and he said that she could not be with him unless she found their children.
Her Grief
She threw herself into the river out of grief and anger and died. It is said that she was rejected from entering the heaven until she found the souls of her sons. Now she is bound to the earth for eternity in the search of them. She is heard weeping for her two sons, which got her the title “La Llorona”.
She looks for her children everywhere and captures wandering children at night, mistaking them for her own. As she finds the children are in fact not her own, she kills them drowning in the river, she and her kids died in.
Seeing her is a touch from death
Folks who claim to have witness her state she comes into sight at night or in the late evening by rivers or lakes. She is seen wearing a white gown with a veil. Some people deem those who hear the howling of this woman are touched for death, bad luck or misfortune. The lore states, when her wailing sounds are close by she is in fact far and when the sounds seem to be distant, she is actually very near.
Wails of La Llorona
Among her wails, most popular are “¡Ay, mis hijos!” which means “Oh, my children!” or “Oh, my sons!”. The other include “¿Donde estan mis hijos?” which means “Where are my sons?”
⇒ What are your thought on the story on the lore? Also have you watched the movie The Curse of La Llorona yet? If not I strongly recommend the movie. Is a great deal for all the spooky lovers out there!
