Hispanic Folklore: Do you really know it?
Dia De Los Muertos decorations (Brianna Rubio/The Puma Prensa)
Written By: Brianna Rubio, staff writer
Five out of six non-Hispanic students at Maria Carrillo High School can recognize two Hispanic myths but only one could confidently tell you the backstory. Hispanic Folklore has been lost in translation since 1848, when immigration was brought into awareness in the United States of America. As Mexicans continued to immigrate to the US, they slowly became a popular ethnicity over other Hispanic countries, further confusing stories with different regions of Latin America. Tales like La Llorona and El Chupacabra continue to adjust into American culture, but with the arrival of Hispanic heritage month, it's time the truth was set straight.
La Llorona has a few regional versions, the most popular originating in Mexico where a humble poor girl, named Maria, catches the eye of a rich man and forms a romantic relationship with him. While her family is very happy, her boyfriend’s family is upset. Burdened with disapproval from his family, he takes Maria away to start a new life and get married. As the years pass and Maria grows old she feels her husband lose interest in her. One day Maria sees her husband with a younger woman and in a fit of rage she takes her children to a river and drowns them. Regretting her actions she drowns herself, but because of her misdeed she is unallowed to enter heaven until she finds her kids. Stuck searching for her kin, she mistakes wandering children for own, only to feel rage once again and drowns them. Stuck in a never ending cycle of searching and crying, giving her the name La Llorona.
In Guatemala’s version of La Llorona she is unfaithful and has an illegitimate child. In hopes to keep the affair hidden from her husband she drowns the kid, only to be condemned in the afterlife and stuck searching for him near any body of water. Venezuela’s La Llorona had an affair with a soldier, getting pregnant only for him to leave her. When her son was born, she was unsure how to care for the infant and when his loud wails pierced her broken heart, she killed her baby for silence. Comprehending her actions, she screamed and cried, alerting her family who cursed her the moment they saw her lifeless infant on the dirty, cold floor. La Llorona runs away to a field and passes away. There she stays mourning her baby and scaring those who see her. In other areas of Venezuela, her family was responsible for the murder of her child, once again mourning her kid.
These stories were part of many childhoods. “When I was little, and [relatives] told me, I was scared. Especially of El Chupacabra because growing up we had farm animals and I worried for them,” says MCHS Freshman Sharon Arredondo Rodriguez.
Originating from Puerto Rico, El Chupacabra is described to be a hulking creature that looks reptilian and the size of a small bear that has long spikes trailing from its spine. Yet its more popular appearance derives from the Yucatan Peninsula, Northern Mexico, and even the United States of America. El Chupacabra appears to be a wild, strange dog with sunken eye sockets and its skin clinging onto its ribs, paired with long fangs and sharp claws.
Allegedly a small town in Puerto Rico called Moca was attacked by El Chupacabra in 1975. At first the town contributed the strange death of livestock to satanic rituals but as more incidents occurred throughout the island the town suspected the cause of deaths was something beyond human power. Only in 1995, El Chupacabra’s first recorded assault of eight dead sheep with matching three puncture wounds near their chest did the town have a solid answer to their previous hauntings. A few months later El Chupacabra had its first sighting by Madelyne Tolentino in Canovanas, where 150 farm animals and pets died.
Although El Nahual and La Nahuala stem from Oaxaca there are two vastly different tales, La Nahuala is a mortal woman who sold her soul to the devil as she wanted to stay young and beautiful forever. Contrarily the devil made her hideous to teach her a lesson leaving her to wander the Earth and punish those with beauty because she believes they have wronged her.
While El Nahual is a creature who was popular pre-colonial Mesoamerica and in Toltec origins it’s believed to still be active. Nahuals could shapeshift into animals, frequently depicted as a jaguar, wolf, or eagle and are said to be mischievous or protective. Mestizos believed them to act with malevolent intentions while Zapotecs and Mixes thought of them to be protectors.
A lot of Hispanic Folklore to this day still has been lost in translation: different versions to a singular myth causing misunderstandings in outside countries and even within the region. There’s never a clear form to these narratives due to their history. MCHS Freshman Yarita Perez comments on a popular tale back in Mexico saying, “El Nahual is a being that can convert into different aspects and take on many forms. A lot of people back home believed it, but their thoughts really varied.” However, MCHS Freshman Michelle Cruz also mentioned La Nahuala, even though they both grew up in Mexico they had different tales in mind. This doesn’t stop them from enjoying their respective tales and it shouldn’t stop anyone from appreciating any Hispanic folklore. Instead, embrace the differences and remember to educate yourselves.