The Legend of the Cocay (Kóokay or Firefly)
Have you ever seen lights flickering through the grass on hot nights in Yucatán? They are fireflies, or as they’re known locally, cocayes (from the Maya kóokay, pronounced koe-KIGH). There are several beautiful Maya legends on how fireflies got their light. Let me tell you about one of them.
The man with the green stone
Maya elders tell us that a long time ago, there was a man who was loved by everyone, and who had the gift of curing illnesses. When the sick came to see him, he would take a green stone out of his pocket and whisper a few words while holding it in his hands. That was enough to make any ailment disappear.
One morning, the man went for a walk in the jungle to look at the birds, when all of a sudden a heavy downpour began to fall. As he ran for shelter, he didn't notice that he dropped his green stone; when he arrived home, someone was already expecting him. He wanted to cure a sick child and reached into his pocket, but realized his stone was missing.
To find it, the man enlisted the help of several animals: the deer, the hare, the vulture, and the cocay or firefly. Asking them to search every road, cave, and corner of the jungle, the man offered a reward to whoever found the precious green stone. The animals ran in search of the stone.
The deer found it quickly, but liked it so much that he didn't want to return it and swallowed it instead. The deer then had a terrible bellyache, spat the stone out, and ran away in fear. The vulture got tired of flying high in the sky, never coming close enough to the ground to find the stone. The hare ran very fast and did not stop to look around. In the end, only the most diligent of all the animals, the cocay, kept looking with great care, searching every nook and cranny of the jungle.
The noble cocay or firefly
Suddenly, the cocay imagined a spark of light and flew immediately to the place where he visualized the stone. At the same time, he felt that his body began to glow, lighting his path. He found the stone where he had pictured it would be and took it back to its owner. The man recognized the cocay’s noble efforts, dedication, and perseverance.
“You have your own light, little Kóokay, and from now on, you will always have it to guide your way,” the man told him. That is why today we can see cocayes shining bright in the middle of the night.
Photography by Adam Hlse and Kevin Wong, via Unsplash.
First published in Yucatán Today print and digital magazine no. 404, in August 2021. Last updated in August 2024
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