Strange and obscure folklore and sayings relating animals

[J I N X]

I would like to learn more about these, are you referring to shrines in the Chitral region and of the Kalash peoples and their religion ? or are these shrines Islamic ones ?

Of course the worship of the crocodile could have predated the arrival of the Shiddi peoples and be completely indigenous in origin as the Indus valley civilization produced seals and tablets that portrayed the gharial.

Don't know much about the Kalasha but I'm sure there's far more anthropomorphism involved. The shrines I'm referring to are located in Punjab, which had a sizeable Hindu and Sikh population before independence and it influenced the Muslim cultures quite a lot and vice versa. At shrine of Pir Abbas in Pattoki, dogs are revered in sharp contrast to the generally mostly impure view of them in Islam. The Pir, as legend goes, lived with a pack of dogs and would feed them whatever he would eat and that has continued to this day with the dogs at the shrine being fed by devotees who come to visit. Similar is the case with Karam Ilahi, a dervish from Gujrat but replace the dogs with crows. There's similar cases in the region with cats (Baba Ghulam Rasool in Lahore) and peacocks (Pir Muhammad Ishaq and Pir Muhammad Yaqub in Kalarkahar) among others.

 

[J I N X]

By the way, not related to crocs and only tangentially related to the subject of the thread but more so on the subject of Pakistan and Peshawar but I've always found the goat / markhor symbol of the ISI intelligence service a bit strange.

That's not an officially sanctioned insignia as far as I'm aware. The No. 60 Squadron, RAF has a markhor on its badge which was, at the time, a common site in the mountains surrounding Peshawar.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

That's not an officially sanctioned insignia as far as I'm aware. The No. 60 Squadron, RAF has a markhor on its badge which was, at the time, a common site in the mountains surrounding Peshawar.

With ISI it is most definitely officially sanctioned insignia though you will obviously rarely see it out in the open due to the nature of that organization and its activities.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

Across most of Europe the arrival of Christianity brought about the downfall of the symbolic and folkloric importance of the gray wolf for pagan cultures.

The wolf thereafter became associated with everything evil, cowardly, gluttonous and bloodthirsty as a killer of the sheep and flocks which served as Christian metaphors for the god fearing Christian people.

However, to a few cultures in Europe the wolf continues to this day to be a revered animal that embodies positive characteristics and one such culture is that of the Chechens in the Caucasus.

In Chechnya the word "betsivan" ("Like a wolf") is used as a compliment to someone who is considered to be courageous, decisive and fearless.

Many other proverbs exist in Chechnya that equate man and wolf and portray this animal in a positive and almost totemic light such as :

"Betsi murul" - "Wolf man" - A brave man.

"Betsi khyavan gyamkhiebikiarnu, sunes bikesilligiib umtsiar" - "A wolf does not bark like a dog, but searches for his sustenance" - Meaning men should focus on performing deeds rather than uttering empty words.

"Betsilisra bertsiibsi khiebirar" - "Roast meat is not for the wolf" - Meaning men should be active and independent in pursuit of their goals rather than expecting it to be handed to them by society / institutions.

"Betsivan duraukhun"- "He came out like a wolf"- Meaning to respond bravely and put up a fight under difficult circumstances and typically in breaking out of an encirclement in battle.

The intelligence and uncanny ability of the wolf to survive and adapt to circumstance even when heavily persecuted is referenced in many Chechen songs and particularly those that deal with the guerilla warfare of the Chechens against the many Russian occupations.

One such song is the following:

"High on the hill The lone wolf began howling, I was listening and thinking to myself— The lot of the wolf is the same as ours. The earth on which I stand is my birth-place, and no matter what misfortune overtakes me here, I will never leave it. The wolf has no other home ... ”

However, the wolf has also been adopted in Chechnya in a wholely negative sense as a metaphor for another far more despicable form of warfare, terrorism.

In recent years brutal terrorist attacks claimed by Islamic fundamentalist groups within the country have been stated by these groups media outlets to have been comitted by "wolves of Islam".

Clearly the metaphorical wolf is as complex and nuanced in Chechen folklore and culture as the real animal is.


Source: "The Face of the Wolf is Blessed, or is It? Diverging Perceptions of the Wolf.", David Hunt, 2008 (Journal: Folklore).

Photo credits to @ro6ca66 and @Zooreviewsuk.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The Northern and Southern muriquis are also known in many rural communities of Brazil by another common name in Portuguese, the "mono carvoeiro" ("The charcoal monkey").

The origin of this name is said to have come from the Portuguese settlers who colonized Brazil and who thought that the dark pigmented skin on the face and hands of this monkey resembled the visage of a soot and smoke engrimed logger who had been burning charcoal.

The tragic irony of this name is that the Atlantic rainforest habitat of these primates continue to be logged at least to some extent for charcoal right up until the present pushing the "mono carvoeiro" even further to the brink of extinction.

Source: "Faces in the forest", Karen Strier, 1990.

Photo credit to @Therabu.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

In Indonesia some indigenous Dayak tribes were recorded by European explorers in the 19th century as having strong taboos against the killing and / or harming of the orangutang.

This was because a strange alliance was believed to have existed between the tribes ancestors and the orangutang in the distant past which was recounted by elders through a folk tale.

The tribes believed that when their ancestors had first settled in the forests they had been vulnerable to continuous attacks by headhunters from other tribal groups.

However, one day the orangutangs took pity on them and their suffering and decided to intervene by silently surrounding the headhunting enemies as they were preparing an ambush / raid.

The enemy warriors happened to look up into the trees and suddenly noticed the faces of countless ferocious looking orangutangs surrounding them and staring menacingly.

Fearing they themselves had been ambushed by headhunters the attackers fled and never again ventured into this tribal territory and thus the intervention of the orangutangs ensured peace.

The tribes apparently honoured what they believed to be this ancient alliance between their ancestors and the great apes through the cultural taboo of never harming or killing an orangutang.


Sources: "Orang-utans, Tribes, and Nations: Degeneracy, Primordialism, and the Chain of Being", Gareth Knapman, 2008 (Journal: History and Anthropology).

Photo credit to @marmolady.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The hill mynah has always been a bird imbued with enormous cultural and religious / spiritual value across the Indian subcontinent.

In the great world religions of Hinduism and Buddhism which arose in India the hill mynah is a sacred animal.

This revered status is because of the strong connection / association of this animal with beliefs regarding the afterlife within these cosmovisions.

The Hindu and Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife posit the existence of a state known as metempsychosis also known as the "transmigration of souls" which is the supposed phenomenon by which a soul journeys to and remains trapped within another body / living organism after death.

The mynah bird, perhaps because of its uncanny ability to imitate / mimic human words and startling intelligence, is believed to be a frequent vehicle / vessel of the transmigrated soul of a deceased human being.


Source: "Vishnu's Mount: Birds In Indian Mythology And Folklore", Praveen Chopra, 2017.

Photo credit to @Keniafan, @Jackwow and @Greenshank.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The green peafowl is a bird imbued with profound cultural and political significance in Myanmar and to the Burmese people.

The peacock due to its spectacularly coloured plumage and the fiesty pugnacious temperament of the male of the species was adopted from ancient times as the symbol and war banner of the Burmese warring kingdoms and elite / nobility.

From the 1920's until the 1940's when Burma's independence was finally declared the bird was once again adopted as the symbol of the underground independence movement from British colonial rule appearing on protest banners and subversive literature and posters.

During the long period of millitary dictatorship the peacock then became a rallying symbol of protest and civil disobediance for the Burmese democratic movement led by Aung Saan Su Kyii who remained under house arrest for decades.

Today with Burma's brief experiment with democracy going up with flames with the return of millitary dictatorship and massive social unrest and protests against this regression into tyranny the green peacock may well once again become a symbol of defiance of the people.


Source: "The Lady and The Peacock: The Life of Aun Saan Su Kyii", Peter Popham, 2013.

Photo credits to @gentle lemur.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

In Southern Africa the black rhino has served as an important cultural symbol and metaphor for the different tribal groups that inhabit the region.

The black rhino because of its more aggressive and temperamental behaviour was associated with aggression which is indicated by its names in several languages.

The name for the black rhino in the Shona tribal language for example makes reference to the black rhino's propensity to trample its attackers to death in self defence:

"The link between the Shona name for the black rhino, chipembere, and the pembera dance is substantiated by early twentieth-century accounts which suggest that it was known to Shona speakers as ‘The Dancer’ on account of “its stamping method of disposing of an enemy”

The black rhino because of this association with hot headedness and aggression was also used as a metaphor for tyrannical chiefs and warlord leaders by the Tswana ethnic group:

" Few made mention of the Ketloa without at the same time showing an inclination to observe upon its character; and those who had sufficient confidence in the party to venture a remark upon a native chief then awfully oppressing that part of the country, spoke of the man and the animal as alike to be feared for their ferocity, and equally dangerous to the former inhabitants of that district."

The Tswana peoples even likened themselves in a master / servant capacity to their leaders / chiefs with the little oxpecker birds which fed upon the backs of the rhino :

"The Tswana named this bird kala ya tshukudu, meaning the servant of the rhinoceros, an association which enriched the Tswana language with many metaphors. He explained that to the Tswana, addressing someone as ‘you are my rhinoceros’ was the equivalent of telling someone “you are my master; am I not the ‘kala du choukourou’, meaning must I not protect you?” It was said that in return for these good services the rhinoceros nurses such affection towards the oxpecker that it permits the bird to sit in its nostrils and right in the corners of its mouth (Lemue 1847: 111). Analogous to the bond between the rhino and the oxpecker, reciprocal obligations underpinned the relationship between a ruler and his subjects."

Sources: "The cultural and symbolic significance of the African rhinoceros: a review of the traditional beliefs, perceptions and practices of agropastoralist societies in southern Africa", Jan Boeyens and Maria Van der Ryst, 2014 (Journal: Southern African Humanities).


Photo credits to @Joker1706 and @MagpieGoose.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

In many parts of Amazonia where indigenous communities inhabit villages alongside the river the giant otter is an animal imbued with cultural and spiritual significance.

There is perhaps no other South American tribe to which the otter plays such an important and central role within the cosmovision than the Achuar who inhabit the Ecuadorian Amazon.

To the Achuar the giant otter (known as "ankanim") are believed to be primordial spirits of the water known as "Tsunki" who hold magical powers which may be accessed via the ritualised use of hallucinogenic plants such as Ayahuasca.

The Achuar also believe these animals to be the aquatic counterparts of humans and commonly refer to the giant otters as the "people of the water" and as such there is not a large distinction made between humans and the otter.

Such a belief may have arisen due to both the striking resemblance of otter family units to human tribes and the diet of fish caught in the river which also happens to be the staple diet of the Achuar with fishing being their primary subsistence activity.

Source: "Estudio etnozoológico kichwa de la nutria gigante Pteronura brasiliensis (Zimmerman, 1780) en la baja Amazonía central del Ecuador", Iván Jácome-Negrete, 2016 (Journal: Neotropical Biodiversity).

Photo credits to @Bubalus, @Giant Eland, @Big Rob and @Toddy.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

To some Iban Dayak tribes in Indonesia the orangutang is believed to be an animal that possesses a tremendous sense of dignity and therefore care must be taken not to offend it.

For this reason it is believed that it is best for a person not to look an orangutang directly in its eyes in case the orangutang either makes the person laugh or feels it is being mocked or ridiculed.

Source: "Wild Man from Borneo A Cultural History of the Orangutan", Robert cribb et al, 2014.

Photo credit to @Gigit.

 

[Zoofan15]

In Madagascar there is an expression: "Mangatambo hita, miseho tsy tsara." The translation of this statement is "If (the aye aye) is seen, there will be evil".

In rural areas it is believed that if an aye-aye is seen in the forest then either the person who saw it or someone in their family will die. It is also believed that if an aye-aye comes into a village someone will die.

In some regions it was even believed that if an aye-aye comes into a village ill fortune would impact everyone in the village and therefore that everyone in the village should leave to avoid this dark fate. The phenomenon of whole settlements of people moving due to the arrival of the aye-aye in a village was documented as recently as the 1960's by cultural anthropologists.

In some areas of the country there is a "fady" (Malagasy folk belief) that if an aye-aye is seen it must be promptly killed to avoid bad fortune. The dead animal should then be hung by its tail on a pole by a crossroad because a traveller passing by will take on the curse and carry the bad luck away with him / her away from the area.

Source: "Folklore and beliefs about the aye-aye" (Journal "Lemur News"), Elwyn L. Symonds & David M. Meyers, 2001.

I’m going to be writing a piece of fiction on the Aye-aye and have been researching the superstitions regarding them. The only thing I’d add to this is that there’s a belief that if the Aye-aye points it’s longest/middle finger at a person, they’re marked for death. One can only imagine the debate that would break out if a group encountered one, as to which one of them it was pointing at.

 

[Haliaeetus]

They could have inspired the Gremlins and even Master Yoda (Maître Yoda in French) in modern popular culture !

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

I’m going to be writing a piece of fiction on the Aye-aye and have been researching the superstitions regarding them. The only thing I’d add to this is that there’s a belief that if the Aye-aye points it’s longest/middle finger at a person, they’re marked for death. One can only imagine the debate that would break out if a group encountered one, as to which one of them it was pointing at.

That sounds quite interesting, is it for a blog post or just creative writing exercise ?

The taboos and cultural views of the aye-aye in Madagascar are definitely an interesting (if depressing) subject.

Yes, have certainly heard of the aye-ayes "finger of death".

Yes, but sadly I think the debate would occur after the animal had been beaten or macheted to death .

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

They could have inspired the Gremlins and even Master Yoda (Maître Yoda in French) in modern popular culture !

I'm not a fan of Star Wars so not sure if I have this right, but I think I remember reading that one of the entities of the first films (the little furry guerilla fighter creatures) were inspired by their callitrichids, possible the pygmy marmoset ? or a prosimian like the tarsier ?

 

[Zoofan15]

I’m going to be writing a piece of fiction on the Aye-aye and have been researching the superstitions regarding them. The only thing I’d add to this is that there’s a belief that if the Aye-aye points it’s longest/middle finger at a person, they’re marked for death. One can only imagine the debate that would break out if a group encountered one, as to which one of them it was pointing at.

That sounds quite interesting, is it for a blog post or just creative writing exercise ?

It was just a creative writing exercise for Zoo Decisions 5 (fantasy game): Zoo Decisions 5 - Phase 1 (1921-1945)

The story’s on Post #721 (first post of Page 37) if you wanna check it out.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

It was just a creative writing exercise for Zoo Decisions 5 (fantasy game): Zoo Decisions 5 - Phase 1 (1921-1945)

The story’s on Post #721 (first post of Page 37) if you wanna check it out.

Cool !

Interesting idea of incorporating this into creative writing !

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

To the indigenous San peoples of Southern African (known commonly as "bushmen") the crested porcupine was an animal which was highly sought after by hunters.

The meat this animal was considered especially good eating and its quills were used for traditional divination and healing rituals.

However, within San culture it was deeply taboo for a hunter to overexploit the porcupine by hunting too many of these rodents as there were believed to be spiritual entities that acted as "porcupine guardians" :

"should the guardian of the porcupines make an animal available to the hunter, the hunter should not attempt to obtain porcupines again soon afterwards. The guardian avenged animals that had been slain improperly, or if too many had been killed, by withholding game."

These porcupine guardians (known as "yster-maxox" in the San language) were believed to live within the burrows of porcupines and closely resembled the animal being covered in an armour of quills:

"A guardian showed a measure of physical similarity with the animals that he protected. Accordingly, quills were described along the middle of the back and on the head of the guardian of porcupines, or hair and thin quills over his entire body. For all such guardians, prominent tails were indicated:14 The guardian of porcupines, or yster-maxox, (the term is a combination of the Afrikaans word for a porcupine, namely y ster vark, and xoxo) had a long tail"

A san elder interviewed as part of an anthropological study described the porcupine guardian in this way :

"There was a porcupine guardian at Springbokpan. He looked like a porcupine, but walked upright on feet, had thin quills and was hairy. He guarded the porcupines at their hole. He whistled through his beard and hit his stick to drive them towards their holes. The guardian does not eat porcupines !"

If a hunter killed too many porcupine such a guardian spirit would either deny the man's tribe the possibility to hunt these animals in the future (and potentially cause starvation in the harsh arid environment) or seek violent revenge and kill the man by bludgeoning him to death with its tail or shoot the transgressor with quill arrows:

"An aggressive guardian could kill a hunter by hitting him on the head with his tail.15 This concurs with views of the Hei-//om of the 'Northern7 San, who believed that, should a hunter abuse an animal or kill it against the wishes of //Gamab, this Lord of the Animals would shoot the hunter with his disease-and-death arrows (Guenther 1999: 112)"

Due to this belief the San hunter-gatherers scrupulously avoided overhunting the porcupine for fear of angering these porcupine guardian and thus effectively conserved population of this game animal through practicing sustainable levels of hunting.



Source: "GUARDIANS OF NATURE AMONG THE/XAM SAN: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY", Ansie Hoff, 2011 (Journal: The South African Archaeological Bulletin).

Photo credits to @ThylacineAlive and @Hanjo.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

To the indigenous Dogon peoples of Mali there is no animal within their animist cosmovision which is more significant than the little pale fox (known as "Yourougo").

Like many cultures around the world the fox is considered a trickster figure, a rebel and an anarchic agent of social distruption and sower of chaos within the cosmovision of these peoples :

"The pale fox is the enigmatic principle of disorder in Dogon cosmology. He is anti-society, anti-law, the disobedient son of the creator"

However, it was precisely this symbolic relation to chaos that made the pale fox sacred and elevated it in cultural and mythological importance to the Dogon who believed that this animal was the condemmed spirit of one of the first children of the creator god :

"The creator god, first made two androgynous twins; one of these revolted against paternal authority and committed incest with the Earth, its mother. The other saved the world by his self-sacrifice. The first was turned into a pale fox for his crime, the second, "Nommo", brought its human, animal, and plant populations to the earth and took over from the creator the mastery of speech."

"Nommo and the Fox, his brother, are in continual conflict. According to the author, the Fox represents fallen humanity, subject to its own destructive instincts; Nommo represents humanity idealized and triumphant. The speech of Nommo is human speech; the speech of the Fox is mute, a language of signs made by his paws and only able to be interpreted by an initiated diviner."

However, the pale fox as an intermediatary of this world and that of the spirits continues to serve as a guide to humanity and it is through its silent language of paw prints in the sand that mankind can read the future through divination "The word of the fox":

"Reduced to the abased form of the fox, forever to remain a lonely and liminal figure on the periphery of culture. However, Amma (the Dogon creator god) confers upon him the status of an intermediary, serving humanity as the mediator of divination. Through divination, the fox's "word" continues to shape the world as it guides human action."

But to read the mysterious "words of the fox" requires Dogon shamans to be initiated into the ancient secret societies through which they learn the meaning of such footprints:

"Experienced diviners who interpret the "word" of the fox are always initiates of standing in Dogon society - heads of extended families, dignitaries of the society of masks, or healers."

To consult the wisdom of the pale fox the shaman goes to a designated sacred area outside the village and with a stick draws an intricate series of grids and answers into the sand and then scatters peanuts over the grid to lure in the fox.

The footprints left by the fox during the night are then examined by the shaman the morning after who interprets "the word of the fox" and thus divines the future.


Sources: "DOGON CULTURE-PROFANE AND ARCANE", Mary Douglas, 1968 (Journal: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute.)" & "DOGON DIVINATION AS AN ETHIC OF NATURE", Laura Ketekou Grillo, 1992 (Journal: The Journal of Religious Ethics).

Photo credits to @Giant Eland.

 

[Onychorhynchus coronatus]

The hyena is an animal that is much maligned and reviled by many cultures across the world.

However to the Harari peoples of Ethiopia the spotted hyena is an animal whose presence in cities is seen as positive and is in fact actively encouraged.

This attitude towards the hyena ( known as "Waraba") arises because the Harari who are devout muslims believe in the presence of "Jinn " which are malevolent supernatural entities (similar to "evil spirits") that haunt the outskirts of towns and cities and can corrupt humans with madness, illness and ill fortune.

The spotted hyena is believed by the Harari to be singular animal in its ability to catch and eat the harmful Jinn spirits and so a population of hyenas lurking around the outskirts of towns and cities after dark is a sight that is welcome and encouraged because of the belief that it controls the numbers of evil spirits:

"Spotted hyenas are important with respect to Islamic praxis in Harar as they catch and consume jinn (singular: jinni). As unseen, potentially harmful spirits, jinn are a concern to many townspeople who appreciate the presence of hyenas, which are said to control the numbers of jinn in and around the town."

Harari peoples interviewed as part of an anthropological study spoke of the hyena and its role as an "eater of Jinn" in the following way:

"Hyena is a bridge between visible and invisible things. If he comes here, they know that if there is a hyena around. He says, ‘Whoop’; I say, ‘Oh, the whole area will be free of jinn.’"

"When people are coming home from shrines there is a group of hyenas who will see them home safely. A person just needs to say, ‘Derma Sheikh, please accompany me home.’ If there is a hyena you feel safer. You know he is walking you home."


Source: "THE ONTOGENY OF HYENA REPRESENTATIONS AMONG THE HARARI PEOPLE OF ETHIOPIA", Marcus Baynes Rock , 2016 (Journal: Africa).


Photo credits to @Giant Eland.