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La Llorona
La Llorona is Spanish for the Wailing woman. The myth is that she is a woman who had one or two children. Her boyfriend or husband leaves her for someone from higher socioeconomic status and out of anger and revenge she decides to drown her children and herself. Now, she roams that body of water terrifying anybody that gets in her way.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Santa Muerte
A Saint and protector for many, a terrifying figure for others, La Santa Muerte (the Holy Death) is an enigmatic character criticized by the Catholic church and usually connected in public discourse to narcos. The first major and public altar was established in Mexico City in the early 90s. Since then, followers have sprouted all over the world from very different demographics, including drug dealers, LGBTQ communities, and immigrants.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Ancient Aliens
Popular theory that not only do aliens exist but they’ve visited Earth! Ancient aliens were the ones responsible for building the pyramids and other structures Indigenous communities in Latin America built. Ugh I hate ancient aliens!
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Casino Agua Caliente and the Bailarina sin Cabeza
The headless ballerina is a legend from Tijuana about a woman whose scorned lover decapitates her.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Chupacabra
Perhaps one of the most well Latina/o monsters, El Chupacabras has appeared on the news and mainstream tv shows (X-Files for example) for the last two decades. The name chupacabras comes from spanish, chupar meaning to suck and cabras meaning goats. It was first coined by Silverio Perez in Puerto Rico* So this creature does just that, it sucks the blood, or really kills, live stock generally but it seems to primarily like goats.
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
La Malinche
Named Malinalli, Malintzin, Doña Marina and “Cortez’s tongue”, La Malinche is not a monster but an integral myth in Mexican national identity born out of colonization and misogyny. She is an important myth figure for Latin Americans and Latinos/as because of her role as cultural and linguistic translator for Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico in the 1500s.
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
La Mataviejitas
Beginning in 1998, there was a noted spike in murders of elderly women taking place in and around Mexico City. By 2003, there had been 17 murders committed: all done with an assortment of random objects that were found in the victim's home including tights, curtain cords, telephone cords, cables, stethoscopes and even the belts of nightgowns. The police vehemently believed the serial killer, a rarity in Mexico, was a man or a transvestite leading to wasted time, more deaths, and unnecessary arrests. Finally, in 2006 Juana Barraza, now known as La Mataviejitas, was arrested for these heinous crimes.
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
El Cadejo
A Monster mostly seen in Central and South America, the Cadejo appears to those traveling at night as a big black dog with fire red eyes and huge teeth. Some versions of the cadejo are meant to protect while others scare, attack and even kill the people they encounter.
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
The Cocoliztli Epidemics
Cocoliztli epidemic ranged from roughly 1545-1548 and decimated indigenous communities in what is now Mexico. Symptoms included high fever, vertigo, severe headache, insatiable thirst, red eyes and weak pulse then it advanced to include jaundice, anxiety, dementia, and restlessness.
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Curanderas
Curandero comes from the word curar. In spanish curar means to heal, so a curandero is someone that heals. Popular all over Latin America and primarily the U.S. Southwest, curanderos can help with different types of ailments. Sobadores, for example, heal by massaging the body. A yerbero who specializes in herbs and tonics to heal, and a partera or midwife. A Curandero will sometimes go to another specialist for help or advice. There are other types of curanderos that heal spiritual ailments.
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Dogs of Mesoamerica
10,000 years ago when people walked over the Bering Strait they were accompanied by their dogs, who soon proliferated across the Americas. The Xolo dog pictured here is the national dog of Mexico and was highly regarded by the Aztecs. The blonde dog is the Carolina dog, said to be the closet living relative to the dog that originally traveled to the Americas.
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
La Siguanaba
Once a beautiful woman, her lust for power & men cursed her into a horse faced woman who lurks near rivers. If you see her, do not disturb her, or else she will drive you insane.
La Llorona
La Llorona is Spanish for the Wailing woman. The myth is that she is a woman who had one or two children. Her boyfriend or husband leaves her for someone from higher socioeconomic status and out of anger and revenge she decides to drown her children and herself. Now, she roams that body of water terrifying anybody that gets in her way.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Santa Muerte
A Saint and protector for many, a terrifying figure for others, La Santa Muerte (the Holy Death) is an enigmatic character criticized by the Catholic church and usually connected in public discourse to narcos. The first major and public altar was established in Mexico City in the early 90s. Since then, followers have sprouted all over the world from very different demographics, including drug dealers, LGBTQ communities, and immigrants.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Ancient Aliens
Popular theory that not only do aliens exist but they’ve visited Earth! Ancient aliens were the ones responsible for building the pyramids and other structures Indigenous communities in Latin America built. Ugh I hate ancient aliens!
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Casino Agua Caliente and the Bailarina sin Cabeza
The headless ballerina is a legend from Tijuana about a woman whose scorned lover decapitates her.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Chupacabra
Perhaps one of the most well Latina/o monsters, El Chupacabras has appeared on the news and mainstream tv shows (X-Files for example) for the last two decades. The name chupacabras comes from spanish, chupar meaning to suck and cabras meaning goats. It was first coined by Silverio Perez in Puerto Rico* So this creature does just that, it sucks the blood, or really kills, live stock generally but it seems to primarily like goats.
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
La Malinche
Named Malinalli, Malintzin, Doña Marina and “Cortez’s tongue”, La Malinche is not a monster but an integral myth in Mexican national identity born out of colonization and misogyny. She is an important myth figure for Latin Americans and Latinos/as because of her role as cultural and linguistic translator for Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico in the 1500s.
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
La Mataviejitas
Beginning in 1998, there was a noted spike in murders of elderly women taking place in and around Mexico City. By 2003, there had been 17 murders committed: all done with an assortment of random objects that were found in the victim's home including tights, curtain cords, telephone cords, cables, stethoscopes and even the belts of nightgowns. The police vehemently believed the serial killer, a rarity in Mexico, was a man or a transvestite leading to wasted time, more deaths, and unnecessary arrests. Finally, in 2006 Juana Barraza, now known as La Mataviejitas, was arrested for these heinous crimes.
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
El Cadejo
A Monster mostly seen in Central and South America, the Cadejo appears to those traveling at night as a big black dog with fire red eyes and huge teeth. Some versions of the cadejo are meant to protect while others scare, attack and even kill the people they encounter.
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
The Cocoliztli Epidemics
Cocoliztli epidemic ranged from roughly 1545-1548 and decimated indigenous communities in what is now Mexico. Symptoms included high fever, vertigo, severe headache, insatiable thirst, red eyes and weak pulse then it advanced to include jaundice, anxiety, dementia, and restlessness.
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Curanderas
Curandero comes from the word curar. In spanish curar means to heal, so a curandero is someone that heals. Popular all over Latin America and primarily the U.S. Southwest, curanderos can help with different types of ailments. Sobadores, for example, heal by massaging the body. A yerbero who specializes in herbs and tonics to heal, and a partera or midwife. A Curandero will sometimes go to another specialist for help or advice. There are other types of curanderos that heal spiritual ailments.
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Dogs of Mesoamerica
10,000 years ago when people walked over the Bering Strait they were accompanied by their dogs, who soon proliferated across the Americas. The Xolo dog pictured here is the national dog of Mexico and was highly regarded by the Aztecs. The blonde dog is the Carolina dog, said to be the closet living relative to the dog that originally traveled to the Americas.
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
La Siguanaba
Once a beautiful woman, her lust for power & men cursed her into a horse faced woman who lurks near rivers. If you see her, do not disturb her, or else she will drive you insane.
La Llorona
La Llorona is Spanish for the Wailing woman. The myth is that she is a woman who had one or two children. Her boyfriend or husband leaves her for someone from higher socioeconomic status and out of anger and revenge she decides to drown her children and herself. Now, she roams that body of water terrifying anybody that gets in her way.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Resources
https://amzn.to/2YZSCuv
Santa Muerte
A Saint and protector for many, a terrifying figure for others, La Santa Muerte (the Holy Death) is an enigmatic character criticized by the Catholic church and usually connected in public discourse to narcos. The first major and public altar was established in Mexico City in the early 90s. Since then, followers have sprouted all over the world from very different demographics, including drug dealers, LGBTQ communities, and immigrants.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Art by Izel Guadalupe Tamayo website below.
Ancient Aliens
Popular theory that not only do aliens exist but they’ve visited Earth! Ancient aliens were the ones responsible for building the pyramids and other structures Indigenous communities in Latin America built. Ugh I hate ancient aliens!
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Sources:
Erich von Daniken “Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past”
Casino Agua Caliente and the Bailarina sin Cabeza
The headless ballerina is a legend from Tijuana about a woman whose scorned lover decapitates her.
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Art by Miguel Cantu
www.instagram.com/angelus993/
Chupacabra
Perhaps one of the most well Latina/o monsters, El Chupacabras has appeared on the news and mainstream tv shows (X-Files for example) for the last two decades. The name chupacabras comes from spanish, chupar meaning to suck and cabras meaning goats. It was first coined by Silverio Perez in Puerto Rico* So this creature does just that, it sucks the blood, or really kills, live stock generally but it seems to primarily like goats.
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
Resources:
William Calvo-Quiros
Sucking Vulnerability: Neoliberalism, the Chupacabras, and the Post-Cold War Years” (2014)
https://bit.ly/2WSmaaR
La Malinche
Named Malinalli, Malintzin, Doña Marina and “Cortez’s tongue”, La Malinche is not a monster but an integral myth in Mexican national identity born out of colonization and misogyny. She is an important myth figure for Latin Americans and Latinos/as because of her role as cultural and linguistic translator for Hernán Cortés during the conquest of Mexico in the 1500s.
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
Art by Martevarr (image link)
Resources:
Pilar Godayol “Malintzin/La Malinche/Dona Marina: re-reading the myth of the treacherous translator”
La Mataviejitas
Beginning in 1998, there was a noted spike in murders of elderly women taking place in and around Mexico City. By 2003, there had been 17 murders committed: all done with an assortment of random objects that were found in the victim's home including tights, curtain cords, telephone cords, cables, stethoscopes and even the belts of nightgowns. The police vehemently believed the serial killer, a rarity in Mexico, was a man or a transvestite leading to wasted time, more deaths, and unnecessary arrests. Finally, in 2006 Juana Barraza, now known as La Mataviejitas, was arrested for these heinous crimes.
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
Resources:
Susana Vargas Cervantes, The Little old lady Killer: the Sensationalized Crimes of MExico’s First Female Serial Killer (2019)
El Cadejo
A Monster mostly seen in Central and South America, the Cadejo appears to those traveling at night as a big black dog with fire red eyes and huge teeth. Some versions of the cadejo are meant to protect while others scare, attack and even kill the people they encounter.
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
Art by https://www.instagram.com/sayu_gz/
The Cocoliztli Epidemics
Cocoliztli epidemic ranged from roughly 1545-1548 and decimated indigenous communities in what is now Mexico. Symptoms included high fever, vertigo, severe headache, insatiable thirst, red eyes and weak pulse then it advanced to include jaundice, anxiety, dementia, and restlessness.
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Resources:
Rodofo Acuna-Soto, David W. Stahle, Matthew D. Therrell, Richard D. Griffin, Malcolm K. Cleaveland “When half of the population died: the epidemic of hemorrhagic fevers of 1576 in Mexico” (2004)
Curanderas
Curandero comes from the word curar. In spanish curar means to heal, so a curandero is someone that heals. Popular all over Latin America and primarily the U.S. Southwest, curanderos can help with different types of ailments. Sobadores, for example, heal by massaging the body. A yerbero who specializes in herbs and tonics to heal, and a partera or midwife. A Curandero will sometimes go to another specialist for help or advice. There are other types of curanderos that heal spiritual ailments.
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Resources:
Bobette Perrone, Victoria Krueger, H. Henrietta Stockel, Medicine Women, Curanderas, and Women Doctors (2012)
Link: https://amzn.to/2zdvkXA
Dogs of Mesoamerica
10,000 years ago when people walked over the Bering Strait they were accompanied by their dogs, who soon proliferated across the Americas. The Xolo dog pictured here is the national dog of Mexico and was highly regarded by the Aztecs. The blonde dog is the Carolina dog, said to be the closet living relative to the dog that originally traveled to the Americas.
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
Art by Marisol @ marisunrise_art
La Siguanaba
Once a beautiful woman, her lust for power & men cursed her into a horse faced woman who lurks near rivers. If you see her, do not disturb her, or else she will drive you insane.
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