Contributed by Selena Ortega Chiolero
As autumn settles over the Mat-Su Valley and October nights grow longer, the Wasilla Museum and Visitor Center invites the community to gather for an evening centered around one of the most enduring and haunting figures in Mexican and Latin American folklore: La Llorona, the Weeping Woman.
On Saturday, Oct. 24, from 6–8pm, the museum will host a free evening of bilingual storytelling, mocktails, hors d’oeuvres while they last, and raffles, all inspired by the power of stories to carry culture, memory, and tradition across generations. Because some stories and themes may be frightening or unsettling for younger audiences, the event is recommended for ages 14 and older.
For many people with roots in Mexico and throughout Latin America, the cry of La Llorona, “the Weeping Woman,” is immediately recognizable. There is no single version of her story. Instead, La Llorona belongs to a long and evolving oral tradition, with versions changing across communities, families, regions, and generations. In one of the most familiar tellings, she is the spirit of a woman condemned to wander near rivers and waterways, mourning the loss of her children. Her cries are said to carry through the night as she searches endlessly for them.
But La Llorona is more than a ghost story. Her legend reflects layers of Indigenous, Spanish colonial, Catholic, and Mexican cultural traditions that have developed and changed over centuries. Scholars and storytellers have connected elements of the legend to older Indigenous traditions involving powerful female figures, motherhood, water, death, and omens, while later versions reflect the profound social and cultural changes brought by colonization.
Over time, La Llorona has become many things at once: a cautionary tale told to children, a frightening story shared after dark, an expression of grief and loss, and a figure through whom people have explored motherhood, displacement, identity, and cultural memory. Like so many stories passed from one generation to another, La Llorona changes depending on who is telling the story.
Some remember being warned as children not to wander too close to rivers or arroyos after dark because La Llorona might get you. Others remember grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles telling the story at family gatherings. Some versions are terrifying. Others are deeply tragic. As anyone who has spent an evening swapping stories with family knows, not every tale ends with a chill; some end with everyone in the room laughing.
While La Llorona provides the inspiration for the evening, guests shouldn’t expect two straight hours of ghost stories. Storytellers will mix the mysterious and spooky with lighthearted tales filled with humor and laughter, reflecting the many ways storytelling brings people together.
The bilingual event will celebrate Spanish as an important part of the cultural traditions from which many of these stories emerge. Some stories will be shared in Spanish, allowing audiences to hear them in the language in which they may have been heard around family tables and passed between generations. Translations will be available so everyone can follow along and enjoy the stories.
Whether you grew up hearing tales of La Llorona, have family stories that still make you laugh, or are encountering these traditions for the first time, the evening offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in culture through language, folklore, food, humor, and community.
October in Alaska provides just the right setting. Gather together, enjoy something to eat and drink, share a few laughs, and perhaps experience a chill or two along the way.
Just keep an ear open when you leave. If somewhere in the distance you hear a woman crying… well, you can decide for yourself whether it was only the wind.
Event Info: An Evening with La Llorona; Saturday, Oct. 24, 6–8pm; Wasilla Museum and Visitor Center, 391 N. Main St., Wasilla, AK 99654; free; recommended for ages 14 and older; (907) 373-9071.
