Another of the folk attractions of Guanajuato are its legends, which visitors can enjoy at the House of Legends or from the mouth of a Guanajuato fond of telling unlikely stories. These are the 10 best legends of Guanajuato.
1. The hidden treasure of Las Margaritas
Legend has it that in front of the door of the temple in the town of Las Margaritas in Guanajuato is a treasure that was buried by the Spanish. Those who look for the valuable chest full of gold coins are led to the church by the same blessed souls from purgatory, although apparently most of those who dare to do the pilgrimage at the end flee in fear.
It is said that some young people, perhaps emboldened by some tequilitas, not only followed the souls to the door of the temple, but also dug and found the trunk with the treasure. When they were getting ready to carry the rich find, they felt that a herd of horses was approaching that was coming over them, so they fled in terror. The strangest thing is that the next day, the temple entrance showed no signs of a hole being dug.
2. The girl who asked to change her grave
This legend relates that a 6-year-old girl from the town of San Francisco died after being run over by a truck when they were building the road and was buried in the Jaral de Berrio pantheon, Guanajuato. A few days after the burial, the people who lived near the cemetery began to see a girl who was crying in the cemetery and looked at the entrance, without leaving, while asking to be taken to be buried in the chapel of La Merced de Jaral of Berrio.
The priest was informed and although he stood guard, he could not see the girl, but agreed to take her remains to the chapel at the request of the dead girl's family. The girl was discreetly buried in the chapel and her soul in distress was no longer seen in the Jaral de Berrio pantheon.
3. La Llorona and its monument in Mexico
The legend of La Llorona is one of the most widespread throughout Mexico and all of Latin America. It is about the lost soul of a woman who lost her children and wanders at night crying uncontrollably and terrifying those who see or hear her. The story goes that in the hamlet of 7 Reales, on the highway between Dolores Hidalgo and San Luis de la Paz, in Guanajuato, there was a hacienda through which La Llorona began to emerge.
The owner of the hacienda called the priest and he exorcised the place and suggested erecting a monument. In 1913, the inhabitants of 7 Reales raised the quarry monument dedicated to La Llorona, which can be seen from the road. At the bottom of the figure there is an inscription that indicates that anyone who prays a Hail Mary in front of La Llorona will have as a reward 300 days of indulgence.
4. The Nymph in the Bath
The Marquis of Jaral de Berrio, in the current Guanajuato municipality of San Felipe Torres Mochas, was the largest in Mexico during colonial times. In the bathroom of the big house of the Jaral de Berrio hacienda the artist N. González painted in 1891 a fresco called The nymph. It is believed that the young woman painted in fresco is one of the daughters of Juan Isidoro de Moncada and Hurtado Berrio, IV Marquis of Jaral del Berrio, IV Count of San Mateo de Valparaíso and III Marquis of Villafont.
The story with painting is that there are people who point out that very strange things happen when it is photographed. The girl appears to appear in the photo in a different way than she is in the painting. Sometimes it appears with the face of a boy and other times people who are not in the fresh air appear. All a photographic legend or perhaps some photographers full of pulque and tequila.
5. The young woman turned into stone and serpent
Around the old cave in the city of Guanajuato, where the Saint Ignatius festival used to be celebrated, there is a legend about a very beautiful girl who inexplicably turned to stone. The story indicates that to undo the spell, a strong and brave young man must carry the stone to the altar of the Guanajuato basilica, the place where the enchantment would be broken, the beautiful young woman reappearing, ready to marry her liberator.
The problem is that when carrying it on his shoulders, the porter must resist the temptation to look back to look at the young woman, because if he does so, she turns into a horrible snake, which escapes towards the old cave and turns back to stone. . Apparently no one has been able to reach the altar so far without trying to look at the girl.
6. Legend of the Alley of the Kiss
This story relates that Ana, the daughter of a wealthy marriage, liked to look out onto the balcony of her room to see the moon and the starry sky. In front of his balcony, on the other side of the alley, lived Carlos, a poor miner who rented a room. The young people fell in love and stretched out on the narrow street until they managed to kiss. Ana's father caught them kissing on one occasion and threatened his daughter with killing her if the act was repeated.
The young men were scared but could not resist the temptation to kiss again and Ana's cruel father entered the bedroom, piercing her with a sharp dagger, while Carlos, who was unarmed, managed to escape. If you go with your partner to the Callejón del Beso in Guanajuato, the scene of legend according to tradition, don't forget to kiss him on the third step of the narrowest part. Supposedly, you will gain 15 years of happiness and prosperity.
7. Legend of the Plazuela de Carcamanes
About 150 years ago, the Spanish brothers and merchants Nicolás and Arturo Karkaman arrived in Guanajuato and settled in a house near the Plazuela de San José. One night the brothers found two young men dead and a woman seriously wounded in the chest. Legend has it that the two men were brothers and they fought for the love of the lady.
After killing his brother, Arturo mortally wounded the girl and then committed suicide. According to the Guanajuato legend, after dark, the three souls in pain of the deceased wander through those directions, lamenting their tragic deaths.
8. Legend of the mummies
Around 1830, a terrifying plague epidemic broke out in Guanajuato that caused a huge number of deaths. Burials of the deceased were held immediately to try to prevent the spread of the disease. Legend has it that many of the infected people went into a kind of shock in which it seemed they were dead. Several of these patients have been buried alive, dying terrified when realizing that they were buried.
These burials of the living that were carried out hastily in makeshift cemeteries would be the reason why some of the mummified corpses that are exhibited in the Museum of the Mummies of Guanajuato they show terrifying gestures on their faces. In this interesting Guanajuato museum there are 111 mummies of men, women and children, some of which have remains of hair and clothing. If you do not see the signs of a horrible death in their features, in any case you can take advantage of the visit to learn about the mummification process.
9. Legend of the alley of the Good Death
This legendary story says that on Alameda de Guanajuato street there was a house where an old woman lived with a grandson. The child fell ill and the old woman prayed to God not to take him away. But it was Death who appeared to the lady, telling her that her grandson would be saved if she agreed to lose her sight. The grandmother agreed to go blind and from then on the boy served as her guide.
Then it was the old woman who fell ill and on one occasion when she fell asleep together with the child, Death appeared to her again. With his skeletal figure, Death announced to the woman that he had come for her. The woman begged him for a little more life and Death asked in exchange for the child's eyes, to which the grandmother did not accept because she did not want her grandson to be blind. Then Death proposed to take them both so that they would always be together, which the woman accepted, putting as a condition that the boy did not wake up so that he would not suffer. According to the residents, at the time of death the bells rang in a strange way, never heard, and Death began to prowl around the place where the house was, until the chapel of the Lord of the Good Trip was built.
10. The haunted hotel
Several cities in the world have their stories of enchanted hotels and the one in Guanajuato would be the Hotel Castillo Santa Cecilia. This hotel operates in a medieval-style building that stands in front of an alley on the side of a hill, just over two kilometers from the Museum of the Mummies of Guanajuato. The rooms have four-poster beds and antique furniture. Some tourists who have stayed at the hotel say that as soon as they enter they feel a heaviness in the environment, the rooms become strangely cold and more than one client has stampeded from the rooms, claiming never to return.
There is talk of crosses marked with oil that appear on the doors of the rooms and on the windows. Doors that open and close with eerie squeaks, keys that open locks without anyone operating them, voices and laughter from beyond the grave, invisible beings that are bumping into guests as they wander the corridors, a bit of everything seems to exist at the mysterious Hotel Castillo Santa Cecilia in Guanajuato. The 1972 Mexican film The Mummies of Guanajuato It was filmed there and they say that even Santo el Mascarado de Plata was scared.
Did you enjoy the legends of Guanajuato? We say goodbye until the next opportunity.
