[OVERVIEW]
As The Curse of La Llorona is set to come in in just a few days (4 days as of writing this) I decided to talk about the real legend of La Llorona for those who may not know who she really is.
La Llorona has been used in much of pop culture including Supernatural, Chasing Papi, Grimm and more.
La Llorona is of Mexican folklore but there are similar stories that are traced to Greek and German mythology.
[WHO IS LA LLORONA?]
In a rural village there lived a young woman named Maria. She came from a very poor family but she was known around the village due to her beauty.
One day an extremely wealthy man traveled through her village. He stopped when he saw Maria, like love at first sight. Maria was charmed by him. He ended up proposing to her.
Maria's family was happy she was marrying into a rich family but his family was angry he was marrying into poverty.
Maria and her new husband built a house outside of the village to get away from his family. Maria ended up giving birth to two children.
Her husband was always away from home and when he was home he would only pay attention to his children and not Maria. Maria knew he was along out of love with her.
One day he returned from the village with a younger woman to tell his children goodbye. He had ignored Maria.
Maria felt hurt and she grew angry. In a blind rage she took her children and drowned them in a river near their house.
Afterwards she realized what she had done and desperately searched for them, but the river had already carried them away. Days later she was found dead by the river bank.
[LEGEND]
According to legend she was challenged at the gates of heaven about where her children where as she wouldn't be allowed in unless she had her children. She was stuck between the land of the dead and the land of the living. She would spend eternity looking for her lost children.
She is always heard weeping for her children, hence where she got her name. 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.
La Llorona kidnaps wandering children at night, mistaking them for her own. She drowns the children to take them to heaven, but because they are not her children she is not allowed in.
Some believe those who hear the wails of La Llorona are marked for death or misfortune, similar to the Gaelic banshee legend.
It is said that when her wails sound near she is actually far and when she sounds distant, she is actually very near.