User:Mck5471/sandbox

Article Evaluation

 * The lead for this article is more like a summary of the legend itself rather than a summary of what the audience will find in the article. The summary of the legend also doesn't match what is stated under the Legend heading, they are two different tells of the story. Under the origins heading the words "It's fake" really jump out, they seem biased in a negative way.
 * First create a better lead and summary for the article.
 * go over information in the legend and compare to other sources and see if there is any missing information or anything that is unclear and needs to be in more detail.
 * Check over the origins of the article
 * Maybe add in a section about the significance of the story in the Mexican culture.

Lead
La Llorona, Spanish for the Weeping Woman has been a part of the Hispanic culture since the 16th century when the Conquistadors were active. There is an unclear beginning for the legend but there are a few theories as to where the tale originated. There are also multiple variations of the tale but there are aspects that tend to stay the same throughout the stories which are that La Llorona is a woman named Maria who is doomed to walk the earth in search of her children after she drowned them.


 * Spanish for the Weeping Woman, has been a part of the culture of Hispanics since the conquistadors.
 * La Llorona is a spirit who is said to be blessed with natural beauty and long hair, who wears a white gown.
 * She roams by rivers and creeks wailing into the night, she looks for children to drag to a watery grave.
 * The tales of how La Llorona originated vary but she is known to be a doomed spirit, who is condemned to walk the Earth in order to find her drowned children, searching in rivers and lakes.
 * La Llorona, or “Maria” was born into a peasant family and her beauty is what called the rich and the poor men to chase after her.
 * During the daytime she would spend her time in her humble neighborhood and in the evenings she would be deviant and put on her best white nightgowns and try to seduce the men who admire her.
 * La Llorona dressing in the white nightgown contradicts what religious individuals lead to be a symbol of virtue and innocence.
 * Her two sons made it difficult for her to spend her evenings out so she usually left them alone while she had affairs with men. One day the boys were found drowned in the river, they drowned due to their mother not watching over them.
 * But there is a controversy that states that she also was the one who was behind their deaths.

Mexican Culture and La Llorona
La Llorona is a legend that has sept into the Hispanic Culture more so than any other folklore that is similar. The forms of the tale are diverse due to the wide range of geographical distance that Hispanics have traveled. She is the figure of a floating legend, where she is deemed pathetic because of her betrayal of her lover and then the death of her children. This tragedy has seeped into the culture of Chicanx and portrays why this woman was doomed to walk the earth for eternity. Hispanics also view La Llorona as a picture of supernatural danger.

In Mexico, there are said ways to connect to La Llorona or to come into contact with her. One of the ways that an individual can contact La Llorona is to light red candles and put yourself into a room that’s walls are covered in mirrors. While you are lighting the candles you also need to chant out her name, there is the likely possibility that she will appear, but she is known for appearing when children are misbehaving. While others say that they see her outside by Mexican lakes and rivers, searching for her children.

According to Mexican culture, La Llorona is a woman who is trapped between this world and the afterlife, searching for the children that she lost. She cannot get into heaven without her children as her passage, this is why she spends eternity looking for her children. The Hispanic People believe that the Weeping Woman will always be with them. She will always be in the waters looking to find her lost children for eternity as her punishment. This is why many of the Hispanic people fear the dark and continue to pass this legend down from generation to generation.

La Llorona Encounters
A boy and his family were sitting and talking near a creek between Mora and Guadalupita in New Mexico when they saw the frame of a tall thin woman. She quickly seemed to float over the water and up the hill out of sight until she returned a later even closer to them. They had their suspicions about it being La Llorona so they went to the shore to see if there were footprints, and there were none. They believed they saw La Llorona.

Another encounter occurred when a band of brothers left their ranch in Ofo de La Vaca to head towards the Villa Real de Santa Fe. On their way, they encountered a tall woman wearing a black tapelo and a black net to cover her face, two of the boys who were riding in the front seat of the wagon stated that the spirit sat right between them. She remained with the boys until they decided to return home, this is where she uttered, “I will visit you again someday when you argue with your mother”. This tale corresponds to the actions of La Llorona showing up when children are misbehaving, it’s a warning to children to be respectful.

La Llorona
In Latin American folklore, specifically Mexican, La Llorona ( pronounced [la ʝoˈɾona]; "The Weeping Woman" or "the Cryer") is one of the most famous oral legends. The lore states a woman was unloved by her husband and her husband loved their two sons instead of her. She caught her husband with another woman and drowned her sons in a river. Out of grief and anger she then drowned herself. She was refused entry to heaven until she found the souls of her two sons. She cries and wails and takes children and drowns them in the river she and her sons drowned in. The legend represents La Llorona as a person or ghost.