Folktales of Mexico

Mexico has a variety of cultures which came from European and Mesoamerican cultures. This mix of cultures leads to the creation of traditional tales and narrations better known as myths and legends.

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Myths

Myths are narrations that tell us about the origin of gods, of the creation of our world and space. The importance of both types of tales is that they are created inside the context of a group and as a result they can be used to see the different characteristics of the group's culture. They usually show us religion, beliefs or try to explain natural phenomena.


Legends

Legends are stories created by anonymous authors with some basis in history but with many embellishments. They talk about facts that occurred in the near past and which characters can or cannot be human. Legends show us the vision of the world and the life that people had with, historical, political, philosophical, and cultural value.

Colonial Mexico Tales

During Colonial era in Mexico, new narrations began to appear. Many of them created from the mix of religion and past belief tried to mix indigenous and Christian-Catholic beliefs.

Pregnant woman and the Eclipse

In Mexico it is believed that exposure of a pregnant woman to an eclipse will cause her infant to have a cleft lip or palate.

The belief originated with the Aztecs, who thought that an eclipse occurred because a bite had been taken out of the moon. If the pregnant woman viewed the eclipse, her infant would have a bite taken out of its mouth.

An obsidian knife was placed on the woman's abdomen before going out at night to protect her.

This belief remains intact hundreds of years later, the only difference being that today a metal key or safety pin is used for protection.

The transported soldier legend

See also

References
    • Rogelio Álvarez, José. Leyendas Mexicanas 1 (Mexican Legends). (1998). Editorial Evergráficas. España. ISBN 84-241-3537-7
    • Rogelio Álvarez, José. Leyendas Mexicanas 2 (Mexican Legends). (1998). Editorial Evergráficas. España. ISBN 84-241-3537-7
    • Perez Reguera García, Alejandra. Pérez Reguera M. de E. Alfonso. México, nación de mítos, valores y símbolos (Mexico, nation of myths, values and symbols). (2002). Instituto Mexicano de Contadores Públicos. México. ISBN 970-665-108-X.
    • Krickeberg Walter. Mytos y leyendas de los Aztecas, Incas, Mayas y Muiscas (Myths and leyends from Aztecs, Incas, Mayas and Muisca). (2000). Fondo de Cultura Económica. México. ISBN 968-16-0581-0
    • Scheffler Lilian. Cuentos y leyendas de México (Tales and leyends from Mexico). (1991). Panorama editorial. México. ISBN 968-38-0259-1
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