“La Llorona” staged over water in Mexico City

“La Cihuacóatl”, or the Legend of the Weeping Woman, dates back to the Spanish Conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, at the time the Spanish conquerors reached the “Xochimilca” territory in central Mexico and wiped out all of its inhabitants.

“La Cihuacóatl”, mother to the “xochimilca” race, still mourns the death of its children and wanders through the Xochimilco channels and “chinampas”* wailing loudly in search of something lost and never to be found.

The play is staged at night in the Xochimilco channels; here, the audience can board a “trajinera”** and travel over water, through a pathway lit by flares and starlight, that will take them to a stage featuring a lit pyramid.

The audience attending the opening could get some hot drinks and food from the vendors offering their products in their “trajineras” while the play was staged.

After a show full of drama and dance, that reproduced some of the epic battles of the legend, the audience could hear the wailing of a woman dressed in white, who walked over water and disappeared shortly after; then the “trajineras”, carrying a fascinated audience, came back to the Fernando Celada wharf.

The play started on October 7 and will run through November 13. The “trajineras” leave from the Fernando Celada wharf and head to a natural stage near Laguna del Toro in Xochimilco, Mexico City.

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* floating raised areas of fertile land on the lake beds of the Valley of Mexico

** traditional colorful boats from Xochimilco, which are usually named after a woman