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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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 Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:09 pm Post subject: Legends from where you teach |
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Anyone have stories to share on legends from the people/country where you teach? Something that has affected you, or in which you find some truth?
Me first since it's my thread. I choose the story of la llorona from Mexico. Here's something written...
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Sooner or later, everyone in Mexico encounters La Llorona, The Woman Who Wails. It is known that stories about La Llorona dated back to the time of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Some say she is older than the Aztecs, old as despair itself.
Legends are often a mix of history and imagination. Real events combine with the ideas or points of view of people and ripen over time. Most Mexican legends are several centuries old; some dating back to pre-Columbian times while others were born in the colonial period. A legend like La Llorona entails the ideas, values, beliefs, and fears of many generations of people over many places and times.
The word, Mexico, means 'navel of the moon'. Traditionally in cultures all over the world, the moon is a symbol closely associated with women. Mothers are symbolic with the giving of life. In the clash of cultures that engender Mexico's horrific problems also germinates a great flowering of humanity. Is it any wonder that legends about a grieving Mexican mother endure to this day?
Legends tell how a mother gave away her children in a time of famine and now, brokenhearted, forever mourns them. Another legend says that in the few years prior to the arrival of the Spanish to Tenochtitl�n, a woman was heard, especially at night, weeping loudly: "Oh my poor children! Where could I take yooouuuuu? Where could I hide you?"
This was interpreted as an omen for the fall of the Aztec Empire. Some say La Llorona is Malinche, mistress of Cort�s, endlessly lamenting her betrayal of her own Indian people to the Spaniards. Perhaps La Llorona was an Indian girl of noble blood who lived with a Spanish gentleman. When he abandoned her to marry a woman of his own race, like Medea abandoned by Jason, the Indian girl strangled her children and committed suicide. Her ghost, it is said, still prowls at night within the walls of Mexico City bewailing her sacrificed sons, which explains the name Llorona, the Bereaved.
Another popular variation to this legend tells how a beautiful young lady, wearing an elegant dress used to appear at night, before midnight. Her face remained hidden to those who followed her towards the river or another watery place. Some men, wild with excitement over her apparent beauty, upon approach, discover she has no face. Only a skull!
Some men died instantly, others drowned, and of course a few lived to tell the tale.
This story was told again and again as a warning to young men not to go out at night or not to go out and get drunk. Or told to children to prevent them from going near water and drowning. |
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Kent F. Kruhoeffer
Joined: 22 Jan 2003
Posts: 2129
Location: 中国
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:31 am Post subject: |
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Hi Guy !
Here in Thailand there's an interesting legend surrounding
HM King Taksin The Great, who was born to a Chinese father
and Thai mother. The legend itself concerns the details of his
mental health and of the strange circumstances of his death.
The official story is that he was executed on April 6, 1782,
although legend has it that he was secretly moved to the south
of the country, where he lived the rest of his life as a monk.
Rather than copy & paste the whole story,
I'll just be lazy & submit a link instead:
"Legend Fit For a King"
http://www.guidetothailand.com/thailand-culture/stories/taksin.htm |
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benno
Joined: 28 Jun 2004
Posts: 501
Location: Fake Mongolia
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:21 am Post subject: Re: Legends from where you teach |
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| Guy Courchesne wrote: |
Anyone have stories to share on legends from the people/country where you teach? Something that has affected you, or in which you find some truth?
Me first since it's my thread. I choose the story of la llorona from Mexico. Here's something written...
| Quote: |
Sooner or later, everyone in Mexico encounters La Llorona, The Woman Who Wails. It is known that stories about La Llorona dated back to the time of the Spanish Conquest of Mexico. Some say she is older than the Aztecs, old as despair itself.
Legends are often a mix of history and imagination. Real events combine with the ideas or points of view of people and ripen over time. Most Mexican legends are several centuries old; some dating back to pre-Columbian times while others were born in the colonial period. A legend like La Llorona entails the ideas, values, beliefs, and fears of many generations of people over many places and times.
The word, Mexico, means 'navel of the moon'. Traditionally in cultures all over the world, the moon is a symbol closely associated with women. Mothers are symbolic with the giving of life. In the clash of cultures that engender Mexico's horrific problems also germinates a great flowering of humanity. Is it any wonder that legends about a grieving Mexican mother endure to this day?
Legends tell how a mother gave away her children in a time of famine and now, brokenhearted, forever mourns them. Another legend says that in the few years prior to the arrival of the Spanish to Tenochtitl�n, a woman was heard, especially at night, weeping loudly: "Oh my poor children! Where could I take yooouuuuu? Where could I hide you?"
This was interpreted as an omen for the fall of the Aztec Empire. Some say La Llorona is Malinche, mistress of Cort�s, endlessly lamenting her betrayal of her own Indian people to the Spaniards. Perhaps La Llorona was an Indian girl of noble blood who lived with a Spanish gentleman. When he abandoned her to marry a woman of his own race, like Medea abandoned by Jason, the Indian girl strangled her children and committed suicide. Her ghost, it is said, still prowls at night within the walls of Mexico City bewailing her sacrificed sons, which explains the name Llorona, the Bereaved.
Another popular variation to this legend tells how a beautiful young lady, wearing an elegant dress used to appear at night, before midnight. Her face remained hidden to those who followed her towards the river or another watery place. Some men, wild with excitement over her apparent beauty, upon approach, discover she has no face. Only a skull!
Some men died instantly, others drowned, and of course a few lived to tell the tale.
This story was told again and again as a warning to young men not to go out at night or not to go out and get drunk. Or told to children to prevent them from going near water and drowning. |
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a mexican banshee!!!!!! |
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Deconstructor
Joined: 30 Dec 2003
Posts: 775
Location: Montreal
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:53 pm Post subject: |
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Wherever I've gone,
Whatever I've done,
The legend has always been
my father's son!  |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Welcome back Decon...ain't seen you around much. Legends from Montreal? |
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Ben Round de Bloc
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Posts: 1946
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 4:30 pm Post subject: |
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This part of the country is rich in Mayan legends, myths, and folklore.
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MAKECH
There once was, I have been told, a Maya princess who fell in love with a man she would never be permitted to marry. So heartbroken was she that she wept night and day over her forbidden love. A shaman, hearing her cries and learning of her misery, transformed her into a glittering beetle, a piece of living jewelry. Her beloved pinned her to his breast. Thus she spent her life, close to the heart of the one she cherished.
- http://www.halfmoon.org/story/makech.html |
My advice: If you find yourself in a situation similar to the Maya princess, don't let the local brujo get wind of it. |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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That depends... can I count 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' or 'The Da Vinci Code'? 
PT |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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Only if we can incude legends of hack writers making deals with the devil. |
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Perpetual Traveller
Joined: 29 Aug 2005
Posts: 651
Location: In the Kak, Japan
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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Good thing I wasn't serious or you could have really offended me  then you'd have two harrassment counts against you 
PT |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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I had very, very briefly thought that Da Vinci fans might be offended. Then it passed.
My opinion? Dan Brown is crap. The back of the book reads 'Da Vinci Code. Like Umberto Eco on steroids.' Hint: Read Umberto Eco, then line your kitty box with the pages of Da Vinci Code. |
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QatarChic
Joined: 06 May 2005
Posts: 445
Location: Qatar
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 6:34 pm Post subject: |
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Cool thread, here's my contribution- couldn't find anything on Qatar as such but seeing as I am in the Arabian Peninsula I'll add this one about the Legend of Layla and Majnun:
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This romantic love story can be dated back in its original form to the second half of the 7th Century. The content of the romance, insofar as it can be extracted from the ancient versions, is relatively simple. However, from the start there have been two different versions:
***
In one, the two young people spent their youth together tending their flocks; while in the other, Madjnun [meaning madman] whose actual name according to the narrators was Qays, meets Layla by chance at a gathering of women, and the effect on him is devastating...
He kills his camel as a contribution to the feast, and Layla falls in love with him from the start. Subsequently he asks for her hand in marriage, but her father has already promised her to another. Gripped by the most violent anguish, Qays loses his reason and sets out to wander half-naked, refusing nourishment and living among wild animals. His father tries to make him forget Layla, by taking him on a pilgrimage , but his madness only intensifies.
He does, however, show moments of lucidity in his poetry about his lady-love, and while talking about her to those curious people who have come to see him...
He dies alone, only meeting Layla one more time.
The origins of this story is difficult to establish. It is thought that it may have been a young man of the Umayyad clan who, under the pseudonym of Madjnun, circulated some stories designed to introduce verses in which he sang of his love for his cousin. This identification is, however, isolated and in any case, the poet is anonymous. The fact that historical individuals such as Nawfal ben Musahik, governor of Medina (702 AD) are mentioned in the traditions relating to the adventures of Qays, suggests that the latter version came to existence at about this period. The author, or rather authors of the verses attributed to this Madjnun and the introductory or explanatory tales, will always be unknown, which makes the legend more mysterious and intriguing.
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Interesting to add...Eric Clapton apparently used this story as inspiration for the song Layla
Leyla- by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon
What'll you do when you get lonely
And no one's waiting by your side?
You've been running and hiding much too long.
You know it's just your foolish pride.
Chorus:
Layla, got me on my knees,
Layla, Begging, darling please, Layla,
Darling, won't you ease my worried mind?
I tried to give you consolation
When your old man had let you down.
Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down.
Let's make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane.
Please don't say we'll never find a way
And tell me all my love's in vain
The Persians also believe in this legend too.... |
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web fishing
Joined: 02 Jun 2005
Posts: 95
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 7:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Nice post Guy. I don't have anything to add yet, but I am enjoying the read. |
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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| I'm hoping someone from South America can come up with a good version of the Chupacabra. I don't sleep well at night with that story! |
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matttheboy
Joined: 01 Jul 2003
Posts: 854
Location: Valparaiso, Chile
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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From Latin America, a story about a travelling Argentine.
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An Argentine man was travelling around South America accompanied by an Israeli and an Indian. It was getting late and night falls quickly in Ecuador. Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, an inn appeared. Relieved (for it was also very cold and the travellers weary) they knocked on the door to be greeted by the friendly owner.
"Yes, i have a room to spare but unfortunately it is only for 2 people. However, one of you could stay in the barn with the animals for free. It's very warm in there, you'll be very happy and sleep very well."
The Indian immediately agrees to sleep in the barn saying that he's so tired he'll fall asleep without a problem. The Argentine and Israeli go up to the room.
10 minutes later, there's a knock on the door. "Who's there?" asks the Israeli. "It's Dani, i'm afraid there's a problem with the barn. There's a cow out there and in my religion cows are sacred. I simply can't sleep out there. I'm very sorry."
"Don't worry" says the Israeli, "i'll sleep out there instead. It's no problem."
The Israeli leaves and the Indian settles down in his bed. 10 minutes later there's a knock at the door. "Who's there?" asks the Argentine. "It's Benjamin, i have a slight problem. There's a pig in the barn and in my religion pigs are dirty. I just cannot sleep in the barn."
"OK" says the Argentine wearily. "I'll go. I'm exhausted and i need some sleep." He leaves and the Israeli takes his place.
10 minutes later there's another knock at the door. "What is it now? Who's there?" ask both the Israeli and the Indian.
"The cow and the pig" comes the reply.
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Guy Courchesne
Joined: 10 Mar 2003
Posts: 9650
Location: Mexico City
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Hey, hey, legends only! That one's a true story. |
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