Definition of La Llorona

Some legends are shrouded in mystery and are a mixture of tradition popular oral and fantasy. One of these legends is that of La Llorona, a story that is part of the tradition cultural Latin American and that in each territory presents his own version of it.

The Mexican version

According to legend, at the time of the conquest there lived a young woman of great beauty who was the daughter of a Spaniard and an indigenous woman. Her face, her smile and her look made men fall in love. Her name was Susana and, after falling madly in love with a Spanish nobleman named Santiago, she had three children with him. However, they did not contract marriage, because Santiago avoided her and preferred not to compromise when feeling ashamed of Susana's impure origin.

He decided to marry another woman and on her wedding day, Susana appeared with a wedding dress and a veil that covered her face to pose as her wife. She approached hers, loving her and after hugging him she stabbed him, causing him to die. Her hatred and despair made him flee to the forest and in a fit she ended the lives of her three children and then her own life.

Since then, his spectrum She wanders through the forests and riverbanks and some claim that they have seen her walking alone and crying, because her guilt for having murdered her children does not allow her to rest in peace. She is popularly known as La Llorona and, according to what they say, if she meets a man on her way, she will believe that it is hers, her beloved Santiago de ella and will kill him.

A legend that is part of the Latin American oral tradition

In the Peruvian popular tradition the characters in the story have other names and the story presents a Social context different. In Colombia there is a practically identical legend and those who say they have seen La Llorona affirm that her face is a skull and the umbilical cord of one of her children hangs from her nose. In Bolivia it is said that the ghost of La Llorona travels the most remote places looking for her children. Among Venezuelans it is said that this woman enters the villages at night and it is possible hear her crying in pain.

Regardless of the different versions, there are three possible relationships. Some affirm that they have ever seen La Llorona, others doubt and do not know whether or not to believe in this story and, finally, there are those who say that everything is a lie and is just one of many legends of origin a stranger.

Those who have investigated this story maintain that it is a story whose remote origin is found in the mythology of the indigenous peoples of Latin America.

La Llorona's fame is undeniable and her story continues to be told in Latin America as if the specter of this mysterious woman could appear at any moment.

Photos: Fotolia - alexandrum01 / tugolukof