Ghosts in Mexican culture
There are extensive and varied beliefs in ghosts in Mexican culture. In
Aztec beliefs
After death, the souls of the
The Cihuateteo, spirits of human women who died in childbirth, were not benevolent. On five specified days of the Aztec calendar they descended to earth and haunted crossroads, hoping to steal children whom they had not been able to have themselves.[2]
The
Maya beliefs
The traditional Maya live in the continual presence of the "(grand)fathers and (grand)mothers", the usually anonymous, bilateral ancestors, who, in the highlands, are often conceived of as inhabiting specific mountains, where they expect the offerings of their descendants. In the past, too, the ancestors had an important role to play, with the difference that, among the nobility, genealogical memory and patrilineal descent were much more emphasized. Thus, the Popol Vuh lists three genealogies of upper lords descended from three ancestors and their wives.[5]
These first male ancestors - ritually defined as "bloodletters and sacrificers" - had received their private deities in a legendary land of origins called "The Seven Caves and Seven Canyons" (Nahua Chicomoztoc), and on their disappearance, left a sacred bundle. In Chiapas, at the time of the Spanish conquest, lineage ancestors were believed to have emerged from the roots of a ceiba tree.[5] Comparable beliefs still exist amongst the Tz'utujiles.[6]
Purépecha beliefs
The
Day of the Dead
The
Traditions connected with the holiday include building private altars honoring the deceased using
Mexican academics are divided on the exact origins of The Day of the Dead celebrations. Most consider it a mixture of both indigenous roots and European
People go to cemeteries to communicate with the
In most regions of Mexico, November 1 honors children and infants, whereas deceased adults are honored on November 2. This is indicated by generally referring to November 1 mainly as "Día de los Inocentes" (Day of the Innocents) but also as "Día de los Angelitos" (Day of the Little Angels) and November 2 as "Día de los Muertos" or "Día de los Difuntos" (Day of the Dead).[9]
Modern Ghost legends
La Llorona
"La Llorona" is Spanish for "The Weeping Woman" and is a popular legend in all Spanish-speaking cultures in the colonies of the Americas, with many versions extant. The basic story is that La Llorona was a beautiful woman who killed her children to be with the man that she loved and was subsequently rejected by him. He might have been the children's father who had left their mother for another woman, or he might have been a man she loved but who was uninterested in a relationship with a woman with children, and whom she thought she could win if the children were out of the way.[10]
She drowned the children and then, after being rejected anyway, killed herself. She is doomed to wander, vainly searching for her children for all eternity. Her constant weeping is the reason for her name. She is said to haunt near
La Pascualita
- La Popular Store in Chihuahua, Chihuahua: is a wedding boutique which is home to a mannequin that is allegedly an embalmed corpse. According to many witnesses, it moves, blinks and sometimes walks on its own. The story dates back to the 1930s. The mannequin is known as "Pascualita", or "Chonita". According to the legend, a bride was bitten by a spider or scorpion on the day before her wedding, causing her death. The bereft mother (who is the one named "Pascualita"), saddened beyond consolation, hired the best funerary services money could buy and had her daughter embalmed, dressed in the wedding gown, and later displayed the corpse, passing it off as a mannequin. Some versions claim that it was her fiancé that had her embalmed. It is common for late night taxi drivers to notice the mannequin take life, as the bride's intended was a taxi driver himself. In 2017, the mannequin was taken out of the wedding boutique for the first time and displayed in Mexico City, Mexico as part of Hotel de Leyendas Victoria tour.[11]
La Planchada
"La Planchada" is Spanish for "the ironed lady". Contrary to what people may assume because of the legend's title, La Planchada was not a woman who was crushed, rather it is similar to La Llorona. Legend says it was a nurse who was attracted to a doctor and he rejected her, or a disgruntled nurse, or a nurse who killed her patient. Many variations of how she was created exist, but one consistent theme is that her ghost appears in many hospitals, though mainly in the metropolitan areas, especially in Mexico City.[12]
Many hospitals such as Hospital Juárez claim she appears there in her old 1930s/60s nurse uniform, which is perfectly ironed (hence the name "La Planchada") and heals patients in the emergency sections. Just as there are claims about how she was turned into a ghost, there are many others in which eyewitnesses claim she appears. Some say she emits a sort of glow. Others say she looks like a normal nurse. Others say she floats, while others say she walks normally, but her steps are never heard. This happens at night and the next morning patients feel better and are taken to another room for further recovery. When asked why they feel better, patients say that "a nurse came in and healed me", but no one in the hospital was either guarding the room or no nurse came at the time the incident happened.[12]
Vanishing hitchhiker
In the Mexican version of the Vanishing hitchhiker urban legend, the hitchhiker is a beautiful woman, who chats with a stranger in a taxi. When she leaves as a normal person she leaves her address. When the person tries to reach the woman at her home, he is informed the woman is dead and that it is also the anniversary of her death.[13]
Cemetery hauntings
Often there are ghost legends associated with the older cemeteries. For example, the
El Charro Negro
The Charro Negro is a ghost of Mexican folklore that, according to popular traditions, is described as a tall man, with an elegant appearance, in an impeccable black suit consisting of a short jacket, a shirt, tight pants and a wide-brimmed hat who wanders in the depth of the night in the streets of Mexico on the back of a huge jet-colored horse.[15] He is of Mexican origin, and is related to the Devil. It has also served as Mexican cultural inspiration for literature and cinema such as La Leyenda del Charro Negro.[16]
Origin of El Charro Negro
According to some,[who?] the legend of El Charro Negro arises from the syncretism in 1920 between indigenous and European beliefs. El Charro Negro represents the dark side of the human soul, a story that warns of blinding greed. This character was transmuted into dark deities by ethnic groups such as the Wixárika.[17] Among the Huichol deities, which are linked to a dark part are defined as "Neighbors" or "Mestizos", the one that stands out the most within these deities is the god Tamatsi Teiwari Yuawi, which in Spanish is called "Our Big Brother the Dark Blue Mestizo". The result of the meeting of these two cultures, also unites two religions; the Mesoamerican (specifically the Huichol) and from Spain, the result will be a Mestizo popular culture, which creates a figure of Ibero-American folklore, that is, the "Charro Negro".[18]
The coexistence between the indigenous and mestizo culture resulted in economic conflicts, where they took over land to use it for their own benefit, for trade, etc. According to sociological records, the god "Mestizo Azul", within the indigenous culture, specifically within the Huichol culture, represents the stereotype of the colonizer who threatens his culture. This god "Mestizo Azul" is more powerful than the Huichol gods themselves, however, he is a despot, a collector and does not know forgiveness.[18]
From a Mixtec perspective, it is said that El Charro Negro is the "patron of the place" who lives on the top of the mountain, caretaker of the region, this individual does not have indigenous aspects, on the contrary, he tells us about characteristics of the colonizers, that is, a white man, tall and mounted on horseback. The Mixtecos speak of how dangerous it can be to find it, that is why they have the belief of carrying garlic, to be able to drive it away. This "lord of the hill" punishes those who cause destruction in the forests, guards the treasures and punishes those who commit greed. Such is the importance of the "Lord of the Hill" that the indigenous people asked for permission with offerings in order to obtain permission to work on their lands. The offerings consisted of cigarettes, mezcal, and food.
There is an anecdote recorded, in the Sierra del Norte de Puebla, where the indigenous people stopped working on a highway, since the permission of the "lord of the hill" had not been requested.
San Martín de Caballero, is known in the cities as a saint who is asked for money with the phrase "San Martín de Caballero, give me a little money" while alfalfa is offered to his horse. While in the Mazatec culture he becomes a nocturnal being, where they explain that he is not a saint. He is known as the owner of the lands and the mountains. His characteristics are those of colonizers, he is white and greets in Castilian. Some nights he comes down to visit his animals and watch over the buried treasures. Those who wish to obtain money from this being, must go in a state of indulgence (sexual abstinence) and offer cocoa or a turkey. San Martín de Caballero, gives them instructions, which include, take his horse by the tail to the applicant's house and not say anything in 4 years, if this promise is broken then the applicant's soul is condemned, he dies instantly and San Martín de Caballero takes his body and soul to take them to work with him.
In practically all societies the concept of "the dark" has been conceived, which is even presented as an essential element for balance to exist. And this, the dark, is a kind of constant temptation, linked to human passions, which could make man lose his reason, and as a consequence, lose himself or the luminous part of him .[17]
In the Mexica worldview we have the unforgettable cosmic battle between day and night, between light and darkness symbolized by Tezcatlipoca, one of the four sons of Ometéotl, lord of the night; and Quetzalcóatl (also called the white Tezcatlipoca) .[17]
With the arrival of Christianity in Mexico, dualism was also propelled with the figure of God and Lucifer, and in this cultural bifurcation myths and legends arose about the perennial temptation that is capable of making the soul perish.[17]
Legend of El Charro Negro
According to the legend, the El Charro Negro continues to appear at night, on the streets of cities or on rural roads. Being mysterious, he sometimes accompanies walkers, but if the person agrees to get on the horse or receives coins from it, his luck is given.[19]
It is an evil entity that receives this name for its dark clothing. He always appears dressed in an elegant black charro suit with fine details in gold and silver. He can be seen riding on his horse, the same color, an animal whose eyes look like balls of fire.
Fortunately, the Charro Negro only appears to people who walk alone, mainly at night.
In popular culture
There is not much about inspiration related to this evil entity. However, it has appeared in the literature within the story Macario, from which it was used and inspired to create a film with the same name. In 2018, the animated film La Leyenda del Charro Negro was released, created by Anima Studios, based on the legend, where he appears as the main antagonist of the film, as well as of the franchise in general.
In the arts
- Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories is a book of short stories published in 1991 by San Antonio-based Mexican-American writer Sandra Cisneros. The title story is a modern version of the legend of La Llorona.[20]
- Hasta el viento tiene miedo (Even the Wind has Fear or Even the Wind is Scared) is a 1968 Mexican horror film, written and directed by Carlos Enrique Taboada. The film is about a ghost that seeks revenge in a school for girls. A remake was released for the Halloween season of 2007 with Martha Higareda as the protagonist.[21]
- Kilometer 31 (Kilómetro 31 or km 31) is a 2007 Mexican horror film, written and directed by Rigoberto Castañeda.[22] The film is inspired by the Crying Woman legend (La Llorona) and legends about highway ghosts.[23]
- The Cartoon Network series Victor and Valentino features many depictions of classic Latin and Mesoamerican culture in a more comedic and family-oriented manner:
- La Llorona appears in the episode "Lonely Haunts Club 3: La Llorona" and is depicted as suffering from empty nest syndrome. She is simply lonely and wants people to visit her which the titular characters and their friends agree to do once a month.
- La Planchada appears in her self-titled episode and is depicted as a two-dimensional ghostly apparition that can summoned by leaving an iron out at night and coughing three times. She lays herself on the ill and soothes them back into wellness. However, she has a moral standing as she threatened to flatten Victor out due to him inconsiderately spreading chicken pox to the other kids.
See also
References
- ISBN 0-521-31896-3.
- ^ "Deity Figure (Cihuateotl), 15th–early 16th century". The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 2010-03-13.
- ISBN 0-8047-1182-8.
- ISBN 1-931010-21-8.
- ^ ISBN 1-60506-860-8.
- ^ Robert S. Carlson, and Martin Prechtel, 'The Flowering of the Dead: An Interpretation of Highland Maya Culture'. Man 26-1 (1991): 22-42.
- ^ Andrea Fischer (2022-10-15). "Así se vive la Fiesta de las Ánimas, la festividad de muertos de los purépechas en Michoacán". National Geographic en Español (in Spanish). Retrieved 2022-12-11.
- ^ Miller, Carlos (2005). "History: Indigenous people wouldn't let 'Day of the Dead' die". Day of the Dead — Día De Los Muertos. The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
- ^ a b Palfrey, Dale Hoyt (1995). "The Day of the Dead". Día de los Muertos Index. Access Mexico Connect. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
- ^ a b "La Llorona - Weeping Woman of the Southwest". Legends of America. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
- ^ "The corpse bride in the window: La Pascualita in Mexico". Ripleys.com. Ripley Entertainment Inc. 20 May 2021. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
- ^ a b "La Planchada enfermera fantasma". Lanza del Destino (in Spanish). Retrieved 2011-04-06.
- ISBN 0-393-95169-3.
- ^ "The History of Santa Paula Cemetery". Retrieved 2015-01-02.
- ^ niños, En Clave de (2013-10-29). "La leyenda del Charro negro". En Clave de Niños (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-14.
- ^ Edwards, Ethan (2013). "El charro negro" (in Spanish).
- ^ a b c d "La leyenda del Charro Negro (que también se incorporó al misticismo indígena)". Más de México (in Mexican Spanish). 2017-06-21. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
- ^ ISSN 0185-3929.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: date and year (link - ^ "La leyenda escalofriante leyenda del Charro negro". Multimedios (in Spanish). 2019-10-29. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
- ISBN 978-1-4395-0807-7.
- IMDb
- ^ EyeForFilm.co.uk interview with director Rigoberto Castañeda about KM31 and Blackout.
- ^ Carmen Sánchez Dávila. "No hay peor miedo que al fracaso", asegura Rigoberto Castañeda director de "Kilómetro 31". Archived 2010-06-21 at the Wayback Machine February 15, 2007. Filmeweb.