Christmases are usually filled with excitement, joy, and family, but this was like no regular Christmas. This was a Christmas straight out of the “Nightmare Before Christmas” movie. A few years ago, we travelled to Tampico, Tamaulipas in Mexico for Christmas to spent a week with my aunt. She lives near the beach, and we always spent our time running through the water and building sandcastles. Although my time there is filled with a ton of good memories, it also consists of scary stories, myths and legends of witches and of Mexico's very own, the Llorona. No matter how many times I hear these stories, they still scare me. But at the end of the day, they were just stories and that would comfort me. My aunt never missed the chance to scare us with the terrors and hauntings …show more content…
That night, we stayed up late hearing our aunt and parents share stories about their experiences with witches and the Llorona. We all huddled around the table on the balcony with hot chocolate and pan dulce in our hands, trying to warm ourselves from the harsh cold. My aunt began the circle by telling us the legend of the Llorona and how she became so popular in Mexico. She said every part of Mexico has its own version of the Llorona and how she died. The Llorona is a woman who cries at night for her lost children. She drowned them in a river to get revenge from her husband who had left her for a younger woman and who only paid attention to the kids. One day she took them down to the river and threw them in. She later went back and tried to look for them in the river, but she then realized that she killed her children so she
Ultima goes to stay with Antonio Marez, a young boy who lives in the llano with his parents, two sister, and three brothers. This is because Ultima is too old to live on her own. Antonio and Ultima grow very close. Antonio helps Ultima cure his uncle Lucas and lift the curse on the Tellez home. Ultima collects herbs from the mountains and uses these to make remedies and medicines. She used remedies and medicines to cure Antonio’s uncle, Lucas.
Doña Guadalupe is a woman of great strength and power, power and strength which she draws from her devout faith and her deep and loving compassion for her family, and power and strength which is passed down to her children. “‘Well, then, come in,’ she said, deciding that she could be handle this innocent-girl-stealing coyote inside. On going into the long tent, Salvador felt like he’d entered the web of a spider, the old woman was eyeing him so deliberately” (360). Doña Guadalupe is a very protective woman, which is extremely speculative when it comes to her children, this is especially true when it comes to boys, because she has not gone this far only for all of her hard work to be ruined by a no good boy. This shows how protective she is, she loves her family, and especially her kids so much that they themselves must pass her test before being able to pass on to her children. “The newborns were moving, squirming, reaching out for life. It was truly a sign from God” (58). Doña Guadalupe is also a very devout and faithful person. She sees God in everything and in everyone and by that fact, what she sees and who she sees is true, and she tries to be a model of clairvoyance for the family. “Doña Guadalupe put the baby’s little feet in a bowel of warm water, and the child clinging to his mother. He never cried, listening to her heartbeat, the same music that he’d heard from inside the womb” (57). Finally, Doña Guadalupe is very passionate which allows for a great model upon which her children follow. This further shows how she is clearly th...
Even though Pepita was much more understanding and polite to her caretaker, the Marquesa did not give Pepita quality time. The only happiness the Marquesa could find satisfying was the love and kindness from her beloved daughter, Doña Clara. Eventually, the Marquesa learned of her biological daughter’s pregnancy. She subsequently went into a mode of superstition and “became a mine of medical knowledge and suggestion” (p. 31). For instance, she “refused to allow a knot in the house” and “the stairs even steps were marked with red chalk and a maid who accidentally stepped upon an even step was driven from the house with tears and screams.” (p. 31). The Marquesa even made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santa María de Cluxambuqua, where “The ground had been holy through three religions” (p. 32). As Pepita and the Marquesa crossed the Bridge of San Luis Rey for their pilgrimage to Cluxambuqua, Marquesa’s focal point was her love for her daughter. The Marquesa made her way to the shrine as she left Pepita alone for their stay at the inn. Meanwhile, as Pepita was alone, she began to write a loving letter to her former and loyal
The story had only just begun when La Loca died in an unsettling fashion; her tiny body thrashed so violently that it was thrown from the bed and foam, mixed with a dash of blood, escaped her mouth. While she was in the powerful throes of death, Sofi and her daughters wailed and watched helplessly, because they were too frightened by the girl’s seizures. It was a sad time for the people of their village, because no one likes to bury a child, especially a young one. After La Loca’s wake, her mother wanted to give her a Mass before placing her corpse into the ground. It was here, as Father Jerome, offered some comforting words that the girl pushed open her coffin and “returned” to the waking world.
Initially Reyna Grande and her siblings Carlos and Mago were left behind while her parent immigrated to the United States to work. During that time Grande faced many struggles among the most prevalent were her feelings of abandonment, the neglect she and her siblings faced at the hands of their paternal grandmother, and the ostracization. Reyna was left behind when she was a baby by her father and had no concrete recollection of him and her mother left when she was four. Until that point Reyna’s mother had been the only parental figure she had known. The abandonment didn’t stop at the physical absence of her mother, but also at the emotional unavailability of her mother when she finally did return. In the absence of their mother the Grande children were to be cared for by their paternal grandmother Evila who was largely hostile and neglectful. Though their grandmother provided them with housing and at least some nourishment she was in no way emotionally supportive or loving toward them often blatantly displaying her preference for their cousin Elida prominently as if to reiterate the favoritism. The children were often ostracized amongst their peers due to their status as “orphans”. In opposition to their cousin who, although in the same predicament she was seen as
When she was washing the pot it slipped out of her hands and the pot fell into the heavy wash. The pot was her grandmother it was something special to her that had just broke. She started thinking about the pot that her grandmother and mother both use to stir the beans. Her husband Jose began to complain about pain in his face when two purple bulbs kept growing and growing in fact which they were plague that had spread around. Tomasita lost everything her friends build her a two room house out of scrap next to the river. Tomasita was never the same when all this happen to her she started collecting mulberries to dry then. She would always sit next to the river after she got out of work. Tomasita was blame for making the river change color from all the mulberries that went to the river. She was arrested by Mexican soldiers for the river that change colors. She was taken in the convent for over then fifteen years. Sister Adela learn how to read Tomasita face expression to know what she wanted. When Tomasita left the convent she was being follow by the police she was held gun point but didn’t follow orders of the authority. When they shot
During the week, we watched the movie, La Otra Conquista. The movie is historically based on the journey of Hernando Cortes and his conquistadors to the New World. On the journey, the conquistadors traveled to Mexico to conquer the Aztec empire. Topiltzin and Dona Isabel were children of the great emperor of the Aztec Empire, Moctezuma. His half-sister, Dona Isabel was in a relationship with Hernando Cortes. In the beginning of movie, the scene was the aftermath of a war. Majority of the Aztecs died including the emperor. The conquistadors were astonished by the ritual, the Aztecs performed. In the ritual, the Aztecs sacrificed Topiltzin’s mother to the sun goddess by removing her organs. The conquistadors immediately implemented the Aztecs
My life began to settle into a pleasant rhythm, i studied and learned over the tv and received excellent grades that Celia would praise me for. I would still dream of the dead man on the ground occasionally, but once it got too bad that i demanded a pitcher of water by my bed. When Maria would visit she would bring her dog ‘furball’, but when she didn't visit the i would entertain myself by exploring the house and pretending that i was “El Latigo Negro.” On the afternoons i would listen to Feliccia play the piano behind the potted plants. One day i crept out of my hiding place and went to go eagerly touch the keys of the piano but as soon as i touched the key i heard Felicia's listless voice so i ran into the closet and closed the door. On
She is known to be always crying and asking where her children are, the tale tells that this woman either killed her children and threw their bodies in the water or drowned her children and then let the water carry them away, the reason why she did this depends on the interpretation, some say it was out of spite for her husband others say she sacrificed them. After committing this gruesome act, the legend states she then committed suicide by either drowning or killing herself. She has been imagined in two polar opposite depictions: “Some describe La Llorona as a female ghost, a woman with razor-sharp fingernails dressed in white or black with a face resembling death. Others believe her to be a young and beautiful woman who, when approached by traveling young men, transforms herself into a hag.” (Ruiz & Korrol 362) Despite how it is only folklore and there is no actual vengeful spirit that wanders and searches for the children, people hold on to this tale and many even believe in
In Charles Webb’s “The Death of Santa Claus,” the speaker describe how a story of how Santa Claus died to him once he found out Santa Claus is not actually real. In the first half of the poem, Webb tells the story of how Santa Claus was feeling kinda sick and the sickness turned into his death. At the end of poem the 8 year old kid telling the story about Santa Claus gives the reader some details but not many, on how his mom had to tell him Santa Claus was not real.
This story, although somewhat unique in its exact plot, contains many elements that make it a typical and traditional ghost story. These elements suggest common fears in today’s society of people in general, and children specifically.
“This is my daughter Betty.” From the second I stepped into that room I felt the Devil’s breath flowing down the back of my neck. For the first time in my witchcraft career I felt unsafe and I feared that something more may be at stake here. I shook the girl and yelled at her, nothing. I looked at the others asking what they had done they said they were dancing in the woods
The mothers demand something impossible-- the return of their missing children. They know that their children are dead, so why do they insist on such an impossible goal? This helps recreates the children as ghosts of sorts—their mothers refuse to participate in exhumations or to try and identify corpses that could be theirs in order to keep their children “alive”. While we have a general knowledge of what occurred to them because of investigators and survivors’ testimonies, many personal fates are still unknown. Las Madres’ rejection of their death keeps them frozen in a time where they were safe and alive.
The Tupelo Community Theatre haunted house has been around longer than my measly sixteen years, but I only just heard about it a few months ago in August. With my extreme love of Halloween and frightful things, I knew I had to go. It took a lot of hard work to convince my friends to come; but now, as we wind closer and closer to the theatre entrance, they cannot stop smiling that adrenaline induced smile. My teeth keep chattering from the biting wind. One of my friends says something about clowns with horns that spit fire. My pace falters a bit, due to my extreme phobia of clowns. Suddenly, I am having second thoughts about this. As we walk along the sidewalk, I can feel the goose bumps popping onto my skin; but I cannot let my friends see.
Frosty the Snowman waves hello alongside Santa 's reindeer that are ready to take off. Candy canes line the sidewalk and the ginger bread dolls dance in a merry circle. The trees all sparkle with thousands of red, yellow, purple, blue, and orange lights. Out back, Mary and Joseph stand over baby Jesus, Choo-Choo train’s chug in spot, stars twinkle with bright yellow bulbs, and Mr. and Mrs. Santa Clause wave in the distance. Kerkhoven, MN, the location of the happiest house on the block. Every year my breath is always taken away as my eyes struggle to soak in the utter abundance of Christmas spirit. I 'm smiling and we 're not even inside yet.