Spoke to Jeff yesterday about the various versions of La Llorona and how some people see her as "Good" and some people see her as "Evil."
Some people say that even though she frightens kids and keeps them from doing things that are dangerous like playing at the river alone...that in some ways makes her "Good" because she is essentially protecting kids.
How do you see her?
Melba told me that when she was growing up, they had a house next to a river, and at night the entire family would hear La Llorona crying from the bedroom window. She remembers in the beginning asking her father to go see if there might be a woman outside who was hurt or needed help, but her father refused to go out, believing that it was none other than La Llorona.
Melba said that she was always terrified when the crying would happen, and to this day believes that it was La Llorona outside her house next to the river.
Despite the fact that over 28 million US Latinos grow up with stories of La Llorona, I was reminded today when speaking with a non-latino living deep in "La Llorona" country how much we have guarded our stories of her...rarely speaking about her outside of our culture.
Have you ever spoken about La Llorona to "outsiders?" If not, why is that?
It just occurred to me that another similarity that the Jewish "Llorona," known as Lilith, has with the original ghost of La Llorona, personified as "La Malinche" is that both La Malinche and Lilith were considered a threat to men because of their strength and power. It is believed that this is part of the reason that both of these women were demonized.
What other Lloronas in other cultures have you heard of and how do they resemble our Latino ghost?
Anthony Fernandez from Santa Fe heard La Llorona when he was a kid staying with his aunt and uncle one night. He said he heard what he thought were wild cats crying outside of the house late one night.
He went outside to chase them away and immediately felt a chilling presence. He then realized that the cries weren't those of cats, but that of a woman crying from "deep, deep inside--like those women who morn for the dead."
Anthony ran inside the house and paced nervously all night long, believing then--and to this day--that what he heard was La Llorona.
Have you heard her? If so, what did she sound like?
I was sitting with Martha and Christine, two sisters from northern New Mexico, and they told me about a woman in town called Cecilia who everyone knows as La Llorona. It seems something tragic (and suspicious) happened to her kid, who died at a young age, and ever since then the people in the town have called her La Llorona. Cecilia is still alive and well...scaring the people in town (especially the kids) and keeping the legend alive.
Do you know of any local women in your town/city that are real life lloronas?
I just met with Johnny and Peter from Los Angeles. As we sat in one of my favorite restaurants in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they told me of their stories of La Llorona. As the words flowed out of their mouths, their faces lit up with both fear and excitement.
It's interesting to me that something that causes us so much terror is something that we absolutely love talking about...over and over again.
Do you have any stories of La Llorona from Los Angeles?
At long last, The Cry has found a home and will be distributed in the US by Monterey Media...so keep your eyes peeled for updates. (I'll include them on my site www.TheCryThe Movie.com as soon as I know the schedule for theatrical release.)
In the meanwhile, please keep emailing me with your La Llorona stories. Let's keep her alive!
Bernadine
Director, The Cry
Hey all. Sorry for the radio silence. It's been a crazy busy couple of month. Please check out the new trailer for The Cry at http://films.thelot.com/films/19483 . And if you can please support the film and give me a shining rating and comment, that would be awesome.
Thanks!
Bernadine
I've come across many people who believe in La Llorona, and one of the interesting differences in opinion that exists about her is that while some people believe she is evil to the core, other people believe she was merely a victim of her circumstances--forced (psychologically) in some way to kill her child.
I've had a challenging time trying to understand La Llorona. While I don't think that she is evil to the core, I do think that some of her actions have been and continue to be what many people would call "evil." Despite the motivations for these actions, she is (as we all are) still responible for what she does and how she moves through the world.
I believe that La Llorona is a victim in many ways. I think she drowned her child because she chose to accept what her environment imposed on her--which was to be a victim. And she continues to be a victim, as we see through her endless suffering. Society decided she--as a woman and a mother-- should be a victim and she agreed.
In the end, it seems most of us make the choice to be victims in a variety ways, and we aren't aware enough to realize it.
I think La Llorona has a lot to teach us about the pain of chosing to be a victim.
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