La Llorona is a classic Southwestern folktale. She is called La Llorona, which translates in English to "the weeping woman," because of her cries at night. The general legend is that there was a beautiful young Native American girl. A handsome man came riding into town and ended up marrying her. She had a child or maybe two or three, no one is really quite sure. When her husband left her she threw her children into the river out of madness. When she realized what she had done she ran after her children. The next day she was found dead on the river bank. They buried her, but that night they heard a shrieking cry of "AIIIEEE mis hijos" which means "Oh my children!" Legend has it that she wanders the river at night looking for her children. Parents warned their children that if they were out late at the river at night, La Llorona might mistake them for her own children and take them.

There are many different versions to this story. Some say it originated in Spain. Some of the versions give her a name. There is a big debate about the girl's sincerity. One side says she was sweet, innocent, and obedient. The women were jealous of her beauty. The other side portrays her as a beautiful girl who knew she was beautiful and used her beauty to her advantage. Her husband has been described as a Ranchero or a Spanish Hidalgo. He either leaves her permanently or finds himself a richer lady and shows up with her. In the latter version he stops to talk to his children and ignores her, making her jealous of her children. No one knows how she really died either. Some say she killed herself and others that she drowned. Whatever the version the basic idea of the story remains the same.

A second version of the La Llorona story is that she appears to young men who roam about at night. The young men believe that she is a young, beautiful woman, but when they approach her with sexual intent in mind, she shows herself to be a hag or a terrible image of death personified.

Jimmy Santiago Baca mentions the river in his book Martin and Meditations on the South Valley many times. He talks about the evils of the river and how it takes lives. He associates this with La Llorona. He related death and water. He also mentions La Llorona directly,"The silver whistling blade of La Llorona carving a small child on the muddy river bottom." Later in his book he talks about the rivers "mood of lust" swallowing up its victims as if the river is a living, breathing being.

Many other books make reference to La Llorona. Rudolfo Anaya in his book Bless Me, Ultima mentions the river taking lives on three different occasions. The river is again associated with death and as being evil as it swallows lives. Rudolfo Anaya has another book call La Llorona which suggests that La Llorona derives from La Malinche (another Spanish folktale). La Malinche helped the Spanish conquerors who invaded Mexico and her name became synonymous with one who betrays.

No one truly knows if the story of La Llorona is true or if it was made up, but it has been carried down for many generations. Stories about La Llorona have been heard in Spain. The story was told to me by my mother who heard it from her mother and so on and so on.

La Llorona is largely associated with "evil". Men going to red light houses at night are called by La Llorona. Children who stay out at the river at night probably doing things they shouldn't be doing are called by La Llorona. Throughout the years the story has changed and newer literature associates La Llorona with the abused and neglected children of the world. There are many poems of lost love that mention her.

She has almost become a symbol of sadness and pain instead of evil, hatred, and selfishness. She is idolized as the poor woman who had no other choice, much like Billy the Kid is idolized when in actuality he was a heartless murderer. The ironic twist to this story is that she would not be looked at as the poor woman who went mad. Two years ago the major story broke about Susan Smith, the mother who left her two children in the car and let it roll into the river, drowning her two boys because her lover didn't want them. The world was outraged at the despicable behavior. She was a true life La Llorona but the world did not want to tell a folktale about her.

La Llorona was possibly originally used as a scare tactic towards "evil behavior," but as society changes the story is told much more often to frighten small children and to tell on Halloween night. The story of La Llorona has spread to the East and different versions of the story are told. The legend of La Llorona lives on.