Barrio Hollywood

* La Corua was a large water serpent that lived in springs of water and protected them. It had a cross on its forehead and cleaned the veins of water with its teeth. According to Sonoran folk beliefs, if one killed the Corua, the spring would dry up. Vanishing water sources and economic pressures in Mexico have pushed the folktale of La Corua to the dustbin of history on both sides of the border.

Serpents have long been sacred to indigenous peoples throughout the Americas and are respected as guardians of water sources and bringers of rain.

* Beliefs and Holy Places - A Spiritual Geography of the Pimeria Alta - James S. Griffith, University of Arizona Press, 1992

Barrio Hollywood

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