Undergrad delves into the ancient legend of La Llorona

The story of La Llorona is an ancient one imbedded in the folklore of Latin America and New Mexico. There are many variations on the theme but, basically, it's a tragic tale of the ghost of a grieving woman roaming rivers, lakes, or acequias seeking her dead children for an eternity.

Films have been made to tell the woman's story, she's been the subject of folk songs, the Weeping Woman has appeared as a character in a handful of TV series, she was renamed the Ditch Witch in a campaign to warn children of the dangers of acequias, and the godfather of Chicano literature Rudolfo Anaya has written a book about her.

Now Karina Bolaños, a third-year student majoring in English and Religious Studies at The University of New Mexico, is delving into the legends and background that surround the wailing woman. Bolaños, who is minoring in Honors College, also participates in El Centro de la Raza and its support program El Puente for undergraduates pursuing research. She is the first in her family to attend college.

"There are honestly no words to describe how much El Puente and the administrators have helped me. They have consistently pushed and supported me in my undergraduate research endeavors. They have given me the proper skills and foundation to create a well-rounded research project - one that I am super proud of," Bolaños said.

"Holistically, I'm interested in stories, oral stories in particular," she said of her research topic. "For this project, I have been diving into the story of La Llorona. My project explores the ecosystem of her and her stories. What I mean by this term is that I am looking into the living and nonliving parts of her story. So, the oral story that surrounds her figure, and lives within the folk who are familiar with the story acts more as the living piece - as it is ever-evolving - while the nonliving factors deal more so with the theories and historical contexts of her story. I am really working with this story to discuss the question of 'Are stories merely just stories?' I am exploring her stories and history to critically address this question."

When Bolaños was deciding what to research, her mentors told her to find something she was passionate about, "that it truly didn't matter what realm I wanted to go in, but that I had to love it! I thought about the things and the people that I love, and the immediate place I went to were stories. But I wanted to work with something that felt familiar - and that, funnily enough, was found within the story and retellings surrounding La Llorona."

"I really want to just understand the many stories that surround this figure. For instance, in the story I heard, Llorona drowns her children in a fit of anger after she finds out her lover has been disloyal. In other versions, however, there is no mention of the man within the story - that Llorona's children drowned due to her negligence and not paying close enough attention to them. It's been interesting to look at and listen to these variations of her tale and it's really given me a lot to think about."

- Karina Bolaños

Bolaños summarized some of her findings.

"I've been looking at retellings of her story. This character is in the novel So Far from God. Rather than depicting her as a villain, she is instead depicted as a medium for comfort. In more 'scholarly' works, such as within Borderlands/La Frontera, where she describes her as 'the mother who seeks her lost children and is a combination of (Guadalupe y Malinche),'" said Bolaños. "For me, it was interesting to see the duality of studies and art that have been created in hopes of understanding this figure. I aim to continue this study, and hopefully conduct oral interviews with generations of women of the borderlands - to further hear and understand the tales others have of her, and to further humanize this character."

The La Llorona story originally included a male character, Bolaños noted.

"Whereas modern tales are starting to dis-include him… So, if there is this shift in not including him, why is this? What does it mean people are thinking?"

In the future, Bolaños wants to expand her project and discuss more folkloric tales, but for now, her focus is on La Llorona.

"I really want to just understand the many stories that surround this figure. For instance, in the story I heard, Llorona drowns her children in a fit of anger after she finds out her lover has been disloyal. In other versions, however, there is no mention of the man within the story - that Llorona's children drowned due to her negligence and not paying close enough attention to them. It's been interesting to look at and listen to these variations of her tale and it's really given me a lot to think about."

She hopes her research will make people think about the stories they're telling, why they're telling them, and what they mean.

"I've always felt like stories are never merely just that, they're so much more - especially when it comes to stories like La Llorona, that lives as a trans-national story. I want this project to continue to push scholars to pursue research in the humanities and continue to be a contributor to knowledge - especially as a first-gen nuevomexicana."

Bolaños presented her research titled No Llores Llorona: Wandering Toward a Critical Ecosystem of the Wailing Woman at the recent UNM Undergraduate Research Opportunity Conference in the UROC 180 Competition. Like an elevator pitch, The UROC 180 challenges students to present their research in just 180 seconds to the general audience who have no background in the student's research area.

Bolaños credited Melina Vizcaíno-Alemán, associate professor and director of American Literary Studies at UNM, as her mentor and role model, and praised her El Puente graduate mentor Ph.D. candidate Natalia Toscano for her support.

Bolaños is from rural Artesia, N.M., where her whole family lives, including grandparents, parents and her little sister, Natalia.

"They are my biggest supporters and my number one cheerleaders. No matter what I do, or set out to create, they have loved me through it all. My decision to come to UNM was somewhat of a silly one. I'm a first-generation student, so it was no question to me that I would be attending an in-state institution. I hadn't even stepped foot on UNM's campus, but I just felt so drawn to the place. It was easily the best decision I made, as this place has given me so many gifts of communities, memories, and connections."

Pexel image by Ayşe İpek

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