El Coco: biography of an urban legend

El Coco (or Cuckoo) is the oldest version of the Bagman, and possibly the most difficult to trace back to his origins. His job is to threaten all the children who do not want to sleep, and in cases of recidivism, kidnap them.

Enthusiastic anthropologists maintain that Coco has an unfortunate history. Although he has the form of an adult, and appears under it to frighten the little ones, Coco was killed by his mother after giving birth; fact that has led him to despise all infants.

In this sense, the urban legend of the Coconut has similarities with the myth of Lilith, although with different conclusions. Lilith was sentenced to have her children die within hours of life, consequently, she is usually an active killer of children. El Coco, strangely, has not chosen to murder mothers, as some logic from beyond the grave suggests, but rather to attack his peers who benefit most from maternal love.

The name of Coco raises serious questions for the linguist. His fondness for tender meat suggests a link with Latin: coquus, “cook”; but other specialists indicate a very different origin. Pascual, a renowned etymologist, points out that the word Coco designated a great variety of fruits, and that it was eventually used to designate the human head. Basically, Coco refers to a more or less spherical object of regular size. We can find parallels in the Greek kókkos, “grain”; the Italian cucco or còcco, “egg”; the French Coke, “eggshell”, among others.

In much of Latin America, Coco became Cuco, perhaps due to a fusion with Kuku, an African deity brought by slaves, and even with the Mayan god Kukulcán; although these last hypotheses are virtually based on a rather questionable affinity.

A more in-depth review of the legend of El Coco points to issues linked to the Inquisition. The Coco’s clothing, covered by a long robe and a hood similar to that used by medieval monks, clearly indicates his outlaw character. In fact, the Coco is not wearing the clothes of a monk, but the clothes of a person condemned to death.

Those sentenced to the pyre were normally dressed in a robe similar to that of monks, and their heads were covered by a hood, commonly called a cucurucho, to account for their unworthiness and the punishable state of their soul. In this sense, the Coco is someone whose identity is hidden under a hood and who was presumably used by mothers to threaten children. Let us imagine the journey of a man condemned to death walking through the streets, chained and hooded, pointed out by mothers as the inevitable destiny of all those who contradict the mandates of the church.

The image is still powerful for the mind of a child, and it can certainly be very persuasive.

According to Mircea Eliade, the child’s mind is calmed by these stigmata because they help it identify Evil in a defined form. The medieval equation would be the following: Evil, or “the bad guys”, are those subjects who dress in a tunic and hood as a parody of holiness.

Curiously, the Coco transcended the sphere of influence of the inquisition, and adopted new names where its legend was established. In Mexico he is known as Kukui, Spanish speakers in the United States call him Sacoman, Cocoman or Boogeyman; in Cuba it is called Cocorícamo, in Peru: Cucufo, an epithet of the devil; and in different latitudes it appears under the names of Coco, Cuco, Cocón, Cucala, etc.

The Coco’s job is as simple as it is terrifying. He wanders the streets when night has fallen in search of lost or naughty children to take them to his lair, presumably underground. In general terms, the range of action of Coconut is that which exceeds maternal protection, that is, those places and times prohibited by mothers. As an archetype of horror, the Boogeyman leaves a lot to be desired, since he acts only when a rule is transgressed, that is, when the child decides something for himself.

If there is an anthropological methodology to inseminate horror in a mind that begins to discover the world, it must necessarily be transmitted through the maternal line. The legend of the Coconut not only serves as a threat to a transgression, but also in the fatal possibility that it is the threat itself that manages the transgression, or worse still, that it stimulates it and makes it irresistible.

In this sense, it is important to note that under the hood of the Coco hides a horrifying but not unknown face, grotesque and excessive features that, according to witnesses, look remarkably similar to those of a mother in full transfiguration.

Dark legends. I Mythological beings.

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