SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN TWO MEXICAN FOLK SONGS: THE WEEPING CHRIST STATUE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOUL INTO DOVE
SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTERS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN TWO MEXICAN FOLK SONGS: THE WEEPING CHRIST STATUE AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF SOUL INTO DOVE

Author(s): María Herrera Sobek
Subject(s): Customs / Folklore, Other Language Literature, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, 19th Century
Published by: Instituti Albanologjik i Prishtinës
Keywords: Mestizo; Corridos; Ballads; Mexican; Dove; “El crucifijo de piedra”; “Cu-cu-rru-cu-cu paloma”; Native Americans; Santísima Muerte;
Summary/Abstract: In the article, ‘Mexican Legendry and the Rise of the Mestizo: A Survey,’ (1971), Américo Paredes posits the theory that Mexican legendry is characterized by realism as opposed to the fantastic due to the rise of the mestizo (mixed-race population) acquiring power in the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, the supernatural did not disappear completely and, in fact, in some folk genres such as the ‘aparecido’ or revenant legends, it is very much alive. Two examples of the supernatural appearing in Mexican popular songs are, ‘El crucifijo de piedra’ [The Stone Crucifix] and ‘Cu-cu-rru-cu-cu paloma’ [The Coocoo-rroo-coo-coo Dove]. In the first instance, a man loses his beloved-she leaves him and informs him of her departure in front of a stone crucifix which accompanies the man in his weeping. My study analyzes the two songs cited above with respect to the supernatural and the transformations exhibited therein. It incorporates Native American spiritual beliefs related to the links between the animate and the inanimate world. In my analysis, I highlight the Native American belief system that all matter in the universe is chemically ‘alive,’ and I underscore how the mestizo, although highly conscious of reality, nevertheless inherited belief systems from American Indians. In addition, I also explore the appearances in contemporary society of weeping sacred stone figures or painted images of deities; these underscore the human need for a connection to the sacred and the miraculous.

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