Francisco Toledo and “The legend of the scorpion”

Francisco Toledo and “The legend of the scorpion”

“The legend of the scorpion” is of Nahuatl origin. The Nahuatl were a pre-Hispanic people from Mesoamerica. The myth explains how the scorpion was created, telling the story of Yappan, a priest who lived during the fifth sun (as the stages or cycles of life were called).

Yappan learned that the men of his era would be turned into some kind of animal upon their death, and he tried to earn the favour of the gods so that they would endow him with the finest characteristics. For this, Yappan promised abstinence and chastity, and he retired on a stone called a tehuehuetl, translated as “stone drum”.

The goddesses Citlalcueye and Chalchicueye realised that if the priest carried out his penance he would turn into an animal whose bite would be fatal. To avoid this, they sent women to tempt him, but without success. Finally, it was Xochiquetzal, Yappan’s own sister, goddess of beauty, flowers, love and the arts, who seduced Yappan.

Upon learning this, Yaotl, the god in charge of keeping watch over Yappan, sentenced him to live on earth as an evil creature. He named him colotl, “the crooked one”, which also translates as scorpion.

After sentencing, Yaotl beheads Yappan, who turns into a black scorpion. At this very moment, however, the goddess Citlalcueye determined that his sting would not be fatal.

The goddesses Citlalcueye and Chalchicueye are currently named differently. As the language evolved, Citlalcueye acquired the name Citlallicue, both translated as “she with the skirt of stars”, goddess of the heavens and one of many names for the Milky Way. In the case of Chalchicueye, she derives from Chalchiuhtlicue, also known as Matlalcueye, translated as “she with the jade skirt”, goddess of the sea, rivers, lakes and springs.

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+ The myth in the work

Francisco Toledo is an artist who flees from narrative, representing concepts in his work through figures or icons, known as metamorphic representations. This is also very typical of pre-Hispanic culture.

In the work Mujer con alacranes (“Woman with scorpions”), we see scorpion tails emerging from the woman’s head and limbs. The female figure reminds us of the sexual temptation embodied by the goddess X?chiquetzal in the legend. We can also relate this concept to Christian tradition, as well as to the contemporary myth of the femme fatale.

Toledo shows the semi-human female figure in profile, with a geometric element or form between her hands. This is the same attitude in which the gods were depicted in codices, where it is common to find portrayals of anthropo- morphic divinities with the tail of a scorpion.