The Mexican lullaby.

     In the American tradition, you have "The Boogey Man", a mythical figure of uncertain appearance and equally uncertain characteristics. It was used as an implied threat to children to force compliance to a certain behavior or to get them to avoid doing things they shouldn't do.

     Parents might say, "Don't go there or the Boogey Man will get you!" As far as I know, no one ever says what the Boogey Man will  do to you. Just the threat of the Boogey Man getting you is enough of an incentive not to do things.

     In Mexican culture, we have two scary creatures. The first is "El Cucuy." This creature originated in Spain and Portugal and was known as "El Coco." Like the Boogey Man, El Cucuy is used to scare children into compliance. 

     There is also a female scary figure in Latin America - "La Llorona" or "Crying Woman."

     Legends vary, but generally, she is the ghost of a women who committed a great sin. She was Spanish lady in the days of the Spanish Empire. She caught her husband in an act of infidelity and was driven mad with rage. In an act of extreme vengeance, she decided to destroy that which was most precious to him - his children. She takes the children in the dead of night to a nearby river and drowns them. She then realizes what she has done. They were also her children. Her anger turns to grief. She cries out, "¡Ai, mis hijos!" (Oh, my children!).

     She is then forever cursed to roam the rivers looking for her children. It is said that any strange sounds heard by a lake or stream could be La Llorana! She's looking for children to drown!

     In 2019 the film,"The Curse of La Llorona" premiered in theaters. It brought back allot of memories of childhood bedtime stories. A particular memory was very touching and made me sad to my core.

My grandmother Juanita Gámez (or properly, Juanita Segovia de Gámez) by all accounts, had a interesting life.

     She was born Juanita Segovia in 1921 in San Luis Potosí, capitol of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosí. She moved with her family to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. Thrre she eventually met and married my grandfather, Juan Gámez Reyna. Just to clarify, in Spanish speaking countries, surnames are ordered differently. The first surname is the father's, followed by the mother's maiden name, then by the paternal grandmother's maiden name If desired. 

     Because of this ordering, my grandfather was Juan Gámez Reyna. My father was Juan Gámez Segovia. If I was born in Mexico, I would have been Juan Enrique Gámez Dimas. I could also have chosen the full monty and gone by Juan Enrique Gámez Dimas de Segovia.

     Single women simply add flair husband's surname at the end. In my grandmother's case, she became Juanita Segovia de Gámez. 

     Married life was not easy for her. She was his second wife and much younger than him. Her step children were only a few years younger than she. This was a house of discord. It became even more discordant when she started having children of her own. Life, however went on.

     My grandfather was a merchant and they ran a store. However, my grandfather took ill and he knew that his first family would sieze his assets. Fearing retribution, he urged his young wife to emigrate to the US where they had family already living there. 

     Life was not easy in a new country but they survived and thrived. She became the strong matriarch of a strong and resilient family. 

     She was a strict disciplinarian, with a strict division of labor - girls worked in the house, boys worked out in the yard. Why? Because that's the way it was!

     And if we didn't work hard enough or up to standards, we would be to told, "¡Ustedes no valen ni tres cacahuetes!"

     She did have her tender side, however. She adored babies. I remember her singing a "cancion de cuna" (lullaby). Sadly it's just a fragmented child's memory. All I remembered was "A la ruru bebe". Just a fragment of a song. Not heard again until I watched "The Curse of La Llorona." The film closes with a cancion de cuna that I had not heard in decades. Now that I have heard it, I can hear my grandmother Juanita singing that in her light, yet raspy voice. Those rare moments when she let her guard down and allowed herself to be gentle. My dear old abuelita. People like her made America great.

Click this link to hear the the lullaby she would sing.

https://youtu.be/XipVAKPjy70