Who is La Llorona?
La Llorona means “the weeping woman” in Spanish. She is a female ghost widely told of in Mexico and other Latin American countries and among Hispanic people in the American Southwest. Dressed in white with long, loose hair, she is said to wander the banks of rivers and lakes at night, wailing “Oh, my children!”
A sad legend
In the well-known version, a beautiful woman married a wealthy man and had children, but when he abandoned her, in anger and grief she drowned her own children in a river. Coming to her senses, she searched for them in remorse but could not find them, and she too lost her life. Not allowed into heaven after death, she still wanders the waterside looking for her children, and takes away any children she finds, mistaking them for her own, the story goes.
A warning for children
In Latin American homes, she has been used to discipline children: “If you play outside late at night, La Llorona will take you,” “If you go near the river, La Llorona will come.” There are many ideas about the story’s origin, including theories linking it to an Aztec goddess or to tales from the time of the Spanish conquest.
In films and songs
La Llorona is the subject of Mexican folk songs, Day of the Dead events and many films. In 2019, the American horror film The Curse of La Llorona was released. As a female spirit who appears with her crying at night, the Irish banshee is very similar.
