Los Lobos, La Loba

I grew up listening to my father play the Los Lobos album How will the Wolf Survive, and the specific song, "Will the Wolf Survive" not knowing its meaning, but loved the Mexican American roots band. Only later when reading Women Who Run with the Wolves I learned that La Loba in Mexican culture represents the wolf woman, the bone collector, preserving what is in danger of being lost. The album suddenly made sense. I think of La Loba, the wolf woman, and how we try to protect the sacred history of our ancestors from being lost—within our families, cultures, ourselves.

As relatives pass on, we value their possessions, their histories, their stories—what was once not that interesting becomes suddenly precious—a clue to ourselves that feels dangerously close to being lost. As we collect them, we hold on dearly to the bones, the wisdom, the whispers of the past that connect us to ourselves.

Soul-Prompt: What “bones” in our lives need preserving and how will I preserve them? What can my ancestors reveal to me? How can I honor them?

"Wolf Woman" by edenpictures is marked with CC0 1.0.