La Tumba de Vanushca

Vanushca has many stories known by the people...but here's the compiled version I've gathered:

Vanushca was a Gypsy girl who came to Xela with her family from Russia. She was an ordinary girl, pretty but not extraordinary, except that she had a gift: an ability to see into the future of the love life of couples she passed by in the street. She was known to look at a couple, see their future, and tell them straight up what would happen. "Ahh, she doesn't love you," Vanushca would say, or "Blessings, your love will last through the ages!" For those aroudn her, the predictions always came true! Unfortunately, Vanushca was unable to read her own future in love. As she grew older, she met and fell in love with a Spaniard of a much higher class, but the two had a short romance, because the parents of the Spaniard detested the idea of their marriage and sent the young man back to Spain.

Vanushca waited for him for years without hearing a word from him. Nor would his friends or family give her word of his whereabouts or activities. One story I heard said she found out one day that he had married another, and she soonafter fell ill. All stories state that Vanushca died of love, from a broken heart, as the story goes, in about 1927 (although this date is debateable by some).

After Vanushca died and was buried in Xela's cemetary, her story was passed about the city. At one point, a woman who was in a romantic position much like Vanushca came to beg for Vanushca's help in her love troubles. The woman prayed and cried at Vanushca's grave, bringing her flowers and offerings. One day, the woman's wish was granted: the man she loved came to be her husband. After this event, the word spread like wildfire through Xela, and since then, the young people of Xela come to Vanushca's grave to ask for help with their love lives...to help them get rid of bad luck, to help them find love, to help them entice a lover they've spied.

The tomb is covered by petitions of Xela-ites..although when asked, not many people admit to actually writing on it (especially the boys...although most of the handwriting is male-ish and refers to females). Once a year, on the Day of the Dead (Nov. 1), the tomb is painted afresh, covering all the petitions of the last year in a new bright color.

Did I write on it??? he he he.... MAYbe. :) :)