The legend of the widow of Tamarindo is a story of Ecuadorian origin that dates back to the years of colonialism. This legend tells the story of a ghostly specter that appeared in the fields scaring the men who used to go after drinking or wanted to conquer many women.
This Ecuadorian story is widely known and its history expands to different countries on the continent. In Venezuela and Colombia this story is called "La sayona" or "La llorona".
This specter appeared in the dark streets, wearing a dark black suit and wearing a veil that covered his face. Men mistook her for a woman of great beauty and followed her path.
This woman attracted the men to a farm in Quinta Pareja where there was a Tamarindo tree, and there, revealing her face, she frightened the men by lying on the ground.
At what time did the story of the widow of Tamarindo begin?
The exact date of the beginning of this legend is not known, however, it was extended by the little knowledge of these subjects and by the mysticism that the story itself attracted.
It is believed that the origin could be in some of the native peoples of Ecuador, possibly in Manabí.
The legend of the black widow begins once the Spanish arrive in Manabí and prohibit the worship of pagan gods by the Indians. Among these gods was one named Umiña who wore a black suit.
The legend tells us that the black widow was the wife of a soldier she murdered, thus being condemned to guard the memory of her husband for all eternity near a Tamarindo tree.
Story variation
Latin America, the mother of indigenous popular culture, has a lot of fables and anecdotes similar to the legend of the Tamarindo widow. For example, in Colombia and Venezuela the story takes another name called "La sayona" or "La llorona".
This story tells the fable of a woman from the plains, the wife of a peasant. The wife learns that her mother was having relations with her husband and that she was expecting a child from her own husband, Severiano. The woman, full of anger, decides to set fire to the house where her mother lived.
Thus, the woman is cursed by her own mother to wander the streets and never find true love. In this way, the terror begins to emerge through the Venezuelan and Colombian plains, scaring the men of many women.
Although she is not dressed in black, this woman wears a white suit that attracts the natives of the place and then shows her true dead face, leaving passersby undaunted.
These stories are part of the folklore and popular culture of Latin American countries, among which other stories such as the Silbón of Venezuelan origin or the widow of Chilean origin also expand.
Carlos Sanoa compiled these fables in his book entitled Glowing in a sea of memories. Product of the collective imagination, the legend of the widow of Tamarindo has remained as part of the cultural heritage of Ecuador, the existence or not of this being is still debated today by the natives of the Ecuadorian peoples.
Other versions
One of the main characteristics of this type of story is that it has a multigenerational character, thus expanding through time. The children of the children of the children will tell this story to their generations, thus remaining indelible from the Ecuadorian mind.
It is also said that the woman appeared in the Ecuadorian town of El Morro, frustrated and crazy for having lost her husband. There are different variations of the same story in the same country, Ecuador, which causes even more mysticism that this ghostly spectrum provokes.
There are other Ecuadorian stories such as the Lady Tapada or the Goddess Umiña. This Goddess Umiña, along with two other beings, the Widow and Tuna, turn out to be the same being to later become one of the most feared specters in Ecuador.
La Dama Tapada appears as a popular belief that revolves around the 1700s in the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador.
This legend tells the story of a lady who appeared around midnight to those drunken men, whom she took to the old cemetery, Boca del Pozo, in the lower part of the Santo Domingo church in Guayaquil.
The young woman wore elegant clothes and a beautiful veil that covered her face, which prevented the men from seeing her face. They followed her hypnotized because she gave off a violet fragrance, without knowing where they were going. Once in the cemetery, the woman revealed her face causing some of the men to die.
This could be a variation of the tale of the widow of Tamarindo by unwrapping almost the same clothing and the same objective. The only thing that varies is the place where this woman scares and the fragrance she gives off her body.
These stories have been collected by several Latin American writers, in addition to being exhibited in various channels and research sites around the world. The popular culture of southern countries is attractive to world personalities, especially those who come from parts of Europe and North America.
The originality and uniqueness of each story still maintains the historical and native roots of the American continent.
Each of these stories are valued and told with enough melancholy by those men who, once as children, heard these stories told by their parents and that undoubtedly caused fear.
References
- Don Carlos Saona. Shimmering in a sea of memories. 2010.