La Llorona

La Llorona is a popular folktale in the southern United States and the rest of the Americas. The general story goes like this: A woman (la llorona) becomes enamored with a newfound man, and they have several children. For some reason (which varies by country), La Llorona decides to kill her children by drowning them in a river. After she kills them, she becomes distraught, and wanders the banks of the river crying. She is said to appear as a white apparition.

It is interesting to note how the story of La Llorona varies by country/region. In Texas, for instance, the La Llorona kills her children because their father leaves, and she can no longer support them. In some parts of Mexico, La Llorona is a prostitute, and drowns her children to destroy the evidence. In Southern California, La Llorona drowns the children that she has out of wedlock to hide the affair.

These differences are easily accounted for. Given the large extremely diverse aspects of Spanish culture and the large area covered by the myth, it would be impossible to keep the story straight. This myth, like all other myth, offers a sense of cultural identity to those who know and share it. For this reason, La Llorona is an example of the America’s rich and diverse Spanish culture.