Muñeca de La Llorona
date: label: Date made
content: ca 1990 - 1991
name: label: maker
content: McFall, Jo Anne
notes: label: Description
content: La Llorona, or the Weeping Woman, is the frightening figure of a heartbroken woman who drowned her children and haunts the night, especially by riversides. Her story is repeated to children throughout Latin America, with numerous versions circulating throughout Mexico and the American Southwest. She has been identified as the Aztec goddess Coatlicue, who, according to one legend, was heard weeping for her Aztec children on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Some identify her as the damned ghost of a poor woman from Ciudad Juárez, who stabbed her children and disposed of them in the Rio Grande in order to win the affection of a wealthy man. According to another legend, La Llorona is actually La Malinche, the crucial interpreter and lover of Hernán Cortés. After the fall of the Aztec capital, and having borne Cortés's first son, La Malinche was replaced by Cortés's first wife (who had been awaiting him in Cuba) and was hastily married off to one of his Spanish companions. La Malinche and La Llorona, whether considered as overlapping or totally separate figures, reappear frequently in Mexican popular culture, north and south of the border.
label: Description (Spanish)
content: La Llorona es la aterradora figura de una mujer acongojada de dolor que ahogó a sus hijos y desde entonces acecha por las noches, especialmente a orillas del río. Existen numerosas versiones de este cuento que se narra a los niños en Latinoamérica, circulando por todo México y el sudoeste americano. Se ha identificado al personaje como a la diosa azteca Coatlicue, a quien según cuenta la leyenda, se la escuchaba llorar por sus hijos aztecas en vísperas de la conquista española. Algunos la identifican como el fantasma condenado de una mujer pobre de Ciudad Juárez, quien apuñaló a sus hijos y los arrojó al río a fin de conquistar el amor de un hombre rico. De acuerdo a otra leyenda, La Llorona es en realidad la figura clave de La Malinche, intérprete y amante de Hernán Cortés. Después de la caída de la capital azteca, y habiendo dado a luz al primer hijo de Cortés, éste reemplazó a La Malinche por su primera esposa (quien lo había estado esperando en Cuba) y la casó precipitadamente con uno de sus compañeros españoles. La Malinche y La Llorona, ya sea que se las considere figuras superpuestas o totalmente separadas, reaparecen frecuentemente en la cultura popular mexicana, al norte y sur de la frontera.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New Mexico, Moriarty
title: label: Title
content: La Llorona Doll
topic: label: Subject
content: Mythology
label: Subject
content: Toys
label: Subject
content: Children
label: Subject
content: Latino
label: Subject
content: Native Americans
label: depicted
content: La Llorona
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ethnic
label: See more items in
content: Mexican America
label: See more items in
content: Religion
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Judith S. Beatty and Edward Walter De Garcia Kraul
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1991.0859.04
label: catalog number
content: 1991.0859.04
label: accession number
content: 1991.0859
objectType: label: Object Name
content: doll
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: fabric (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: paint (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15.5 cm x 11 in x 4 1/4 in; 6 3/32 in x 27.94 cm x 10.795 cm