Love, infidelity, infanticide, purgatory - the creepy legend of La Llorona has it all. Join me as I unpack the story and its roots, as well as introduce you to my own illustration and written interpretation of the Mexican tale.
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Selu 2.O - The Goddess Challenge
It’s been three long months since I last uploaded onto this blog, and conveniently that post happened to be my first (and only, so far) from the Goddess Challenge. My plan in January had been to have one Goddess uploaded a week, but things ended up being so busy that plan flew out of the window. I know I’m technically not back with a brand new Goddess here, but I have got some new artwork that I can’t wait to share with you all!
My plan for this challenge was to have one main Goddess illustration, and then have a series of other pieces to go alongside my retellings. It’s hard to read so many stories and not get inspired by them all. I hadn’t gotten round to it the first time with Selu, so I thought it would be best to catch up first before we get too far into the next challenge.
If you want to know more about the main illustration, as well as Selu as a Goddess and where she comes from, then click here to my original post. I’ve added a couple of links at the end of this post to complete my references, and you can find all of them collectively here.
I’m keeping the same story that I featured in my first Selu post, mainly because it inspired me as soon as I read it, and also because I think it’s a charming introduction to her. But I have tweaked it a little so it’s not a full repeat, and it works better with the new additions. She is revered and worshipped by many of the Native American tribes, and consequently her names change, although all loosely translate to ‘Corn Maiden’ or ‘Corn Mother’. I’ve used her association with the harvest a lot in the colour palettes I’ve used, and I’ve tried to capture her wholesome nature in the pieces. She is reassuring and resourceful, feminine, wise and maternal, and these are all elements I worked into the above icon.
Imagine a newly-created world, with luscious blue oceans and untouched green landscapes. Totally untouched - completely unspoiled and uninhabited - and glittering with the magical sparkle that only new things possess.
As we know, the world did not stay this way. Once all of the oceans were filled with enough water, and the landscapes had enough greenery in them, the world was filled with animals. Every kind you can imagine; the rarest of birds, tiniest of fish and the quickest of land mammals, all spread out across the globe. As beautiful as these animals were, the world was not used to having its ground walked on and eaten, or its water lived in or drained. All of the elements that had once made it harmoniously balanced were suddenly thrown out of whack.
So, of course, the only natural thing to do to rectify the situation was to add humans into the mix.
Suffice to say, the world was not happy, but after a while a new order was brought in. There are so many other tales from Native American folklore that explain the way in which hunting became a necessary part of life in order to maintain the balance between the world, the animals and the humans, and maybe we will explore those another time. For now, what you need to be aware of is that the first man on earth was called Kanati, and the first woman was Selu. As we know, Selu was the ‘Corn Mother’, with a natural, magical ability to harvest and produce corn and beans. This made her the perfect match for Kanati - infamous for his skill and carefully considered approach - he was the Guardian of the Hunt. He taught others how to hunt and keep the balance of world order in tact. His name is likely to derive from the Cherokee word for hunter: ‘Kanohalidohi’, and whilst ‘Kanati’ loosely translates to ‘The Lucky Hunter’ in English, it is important to note that it doesn’t mean this at all in Cherokee.
Kanati would spend the day hunting - his success ensuring they never went hungry, and Selu would make delicious food from the meat he brought home. They formed a harmonious partnership, and there are a lot of stories about them as a duo as well as individual entities. Hunting was not the only way to ensure the balance between the world and its inhabitants remained; a law was passed that couples were only allowed to have one child each to keep the population from growing too vastly. I still haven’t found a source that cites the name of Selu and Kanati’s son, but his friend from the village and companion in mischief, ‘The Wild Boy’, is often mentioned.
Like most little boys, they were fascinated by what Kanati did all day at work, and one day they decided to follow him. They kept a safe distance as they crept behind him through the forest, and hid behind some trees when they reached a rocky formation. With wide, eager eyes, they watched as Kanati moved a huge boulder to reveal a hidden cave. He then stepped back into position. An animal, I’m guessing something like an antelope or a deer, bounced out and straight into the path of Kanati’s arrow.
Interests piqued, the boys got up extra early the next day and returned to the cave. I’m assuming it took a lot of struggling and effort, but they eventually managed to move the boulder and open the cave. However, unlike Kanati, they were not experienced hunters and didn’t have a plan as to what would happen next. All they wanted to do was peek inside and see what else was in there. It turned out that there were many, many more animals in that cave than just the one antelope. All the boys could do was watch in horror as thousands of animals rushed out into the forest - elephants and lions and wild boars and eagles to name a few.
Kanati, on his normal walk through to the cave, saw the sight and immediately launched into action. He sent the boys home and tried to kill as many of the animals as he could before they ran rampant and tilted the balance of the world all over again. It varies from tribe to tribe, but this is generally when it became necessary for Kanati to teach the art of hunting to as many of the men as possible in order for the balance to be maintained.
While Kanati was battling the animals, the boys ran back to Selu and filled her in on what had happened. She told them to stay at home while she went to the storehouse, but of course they didn't listen, clearly not done with their spying missions. They watched from behind the door as Selu, thinking she was alone, rubbed her stomach and, out of nowhere, ended up with baskets of corn. In some versions, she can also rub her sides to produces beans. Now, in a couple of versions, it is the discovery of Selu's secret ability that leads to her death; often her in-laws or the villagers are so disgusted by where their corn is coming from that they accuse her of sorcery. It is thought that the cite of her burial will forever produce corn - in a few narratives she warns that the places where her corpse was rubbed or dragged are where corn will sprout from. In this particular tale however, things take a slightly different turn.
Knowing her secret has been discovered, Selu and Kanati sit the boys down for a frank discussion: now that everything was out in the open they were destined to die (I’m not sure why, I couldn’t find an explanation), and a consequence of that would be that the boys would have to fend for themselves. The only possible alternative would be for them to drag Selu's body seven times in a circle, and then seven times over the soil in the circle, If the boys stayed up all night, a crop of corn would appear that morning.
As I'm sure you can guess by now, the boys - who haven't been great at following instructions so far - didn't carry the instructions out properly. The consequence of this is that corn can only grow in certain places around the earth today, and it certainly doesn't appear overnight!
I really love the story of Selu, and I always wanted to try and capture it in a simplistic, but magical way. I chose to do it digitally mostly so I could play around with colours and the comic format, but also because I have a tendency to make my traditional art super detailed, and I was already late in creating these illustrations. I’m quite happy with how they turned out; I was initially thinking to do another page with the events of the end of the story, but I actually think the two pages work better. What do you think?
Thank you so much for reading :) Feel free to leave me a comment telling me what you thought, or if you have any extra information to add! As always, I’ve listed my sources below. Feel free to have a look through my Pinterest Board to see where a lot of my inspiration comes from, and make sure you’re following me on Instagram to see daily updates and uploads of my work!
Sources and Extra Links:
Selu - The Goddess Challenge
I stumbled across Lyfe Illustration’s Goddess Challenge during my Inktober prep towards the end of last year, and I was so inspired by all of the Goddesses on her list that I couldn’t get the idea out of my head - I was itching to try it out for myself! However, I really can’t work a challenge month into my schedule right now without compromising the quality of the pieces, so I’ve decided to post one goddess a week for 31 weeks. With each post on my Instagram, you’ll get a corresponding blog post explaining the Goddess’s story, the culture she is from and my process in creating the piece. Every single goddess will be available to buy in my shop, and I will be working towards compiling a book together later in the year.
The first goddess on our list for this month's challenge is Selu and, like many deities across folklore, there are multiple versions of her story. She is recognised, revered and worshiped by nearly all of the Native American tribes, but she is generally associated with the harvest, wisdom, motherhood, hunting and magic. Depending on the tribe, her name can differ - although they all loosely translate to something along the lines of 'Corn Mother' or 'Corn Maiden'; the Aztecs recognise her as Chicomecoatl, whereas the Hopi call her 'Qocha Mana', and Selu is the Cherokee name, from the Tsalagi language. As I read more and more about her, my head was filled with images of a woman in a corn field, with really earthy colours and a calming, almost magical element, and to accompany my illustration I chose a story about her that incorporated all of those elements perfectly.
As always, all of my sources are linked at the end of this post; in order to write my retelling I drew on multiple versions told by different people. If you know of a different version, please feel free to share it in the comments below 🙂
Picture a world just after its Creation: untouched landscapes glittering with a magical purity that had never been seen before and has never been replicated since. It was unspoiled, perfect in every sense of the word, and had just become habitable for animals. The introduction of animals to such an environment caused some issues in how all of the elements balanced together, and an order had to be established in regards to hunting - a story we will revisit another time. After the animals came the humans, and according to the folklore, two of the earliest humans were Kanati, a man whose name meant 'The Lucky Hunter', and Selu which, as you already know, means 'Corn Mother'. Together, they shared a lucrative partnership: Kanati's prowess as a hunter ensured that they never went hungry, and it was Selu's job to prepare the meat he brought home. It is this link to Kanati that explains the associations between Selu and hunting. As the population had grown so rapidly due to humans hunting animals in the wild, a rule was put in place where families were only allowed to have one child, and Kanati and Selu were happy with their little boy. He, in turn, befriended a small boy in the village whom everyone referred to as 'The Wild Boy', and the two of them were often up to something mischievous together. On a side note, I still haven't found a name for their son, so if you happen to know what it is please let me know!
One day, the boys decided to secretly follow Kanati on his hunting expedition; they must have been extremely sneaky for a professional hunter to not notice them! They followed him through the forest until they came to a rocky formation, where Kanati skillfully moved the largest boulder to reveal a hidden cave. As they watched, still undetected, they saw an animal rush out into the path of a deadly arrow released by Kanati.
Interests piqued, the boys returned to the cave the following day without Kanati, and after some struggling, moved the rock concealing its entrance. They hadn't realised that, within the cave, there were a plethora of different animals and they had essentially released them all back into the wild. Kanati, on his way to the cave for his routine hunt, encountered the escaped animals and realised that something disastrous had happened - when he ran into the two boys and heard their tale, his worst fears were confirmed. Sending them home, he tried to kill as many as he could before they all ran out into the world, but most of them had already escaped. Interestingly, this is how the Cherokee's explained the practice of hunting and why it is necessary.
Meanwhile, the boys returned home and told Selu what had happened. She told them to stay at home while she went to the storehouse, but of course they didn't listen, and it was whilst they were spying on her that they uncovered her big secret. Peeking into the storehouse, they saw that she had the ability to rub her stomach and produce corn, which she would fill baskets with. In some versions it is also stated that when she rubbed her sides she was able to produce beans. Now, in a couple of versions, it is the discovery of Selu's secret ability that leads to her death; often her in-laws or the villagers are so disgusted by where their corn is coming from that they accuse her of sorcery. It is thought that the cite of her burial will forever produce corn - in a few narratives she warns that the places where her corpse was rubbed or dragged are where corn will sprout from. In this particular tale however, things take a slightly different turn.
Knowing her secret has been discovered, Selu and Kanati sit the boys down for a frank discussion: now that everything was out in the open they were destined to die, and a consequence of that would be that the boys would have to fend for themselves. The only possible alternative would be for them to drag Selu's body 7 times in a circle, and then 7 times over the soil in the circle, If the boys stayed up all night, a crop of corn would appear that morning.
As I'm sure you can guess by now, the boys - who haven't been great at following instructions so far - didn't carry the instructions out properly. The consequence of this is that corn can only grow in certain places around the earth today, and it certainly doesn't appear overnight!
I was so inspired by the magic in Selu’s story, and I instantly knew that I wanted a watercolour, galaxy-style sky surrounding her to encapsulate that. My brain also came alive with earthy tones, and they make up the majority of the piece. It’s not often I mix watercolours, inks and alcoholic markers, but I really love the way they work together. It was also a lot of fun to use masking fluid again - nothing is more satisfying than peeling that layer off in one go!
What do you think of my interpretation of Selu? Had you heard of her before? Have you done the Goddess Challenge yourself? Let me know your thoughts in the comments :)
Extra Links/Sources:
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/puddlesofink/goddess-challenge-inspiration/ - My Pinterest board with Lyfe Illustration's prompt list (I'll be posting my own on my Instagram), and reference/inspiration images for every goddess in the challenge. I will be adding to it as we go along, so give it a follow if you're interested!