Category Archives: Myths

Sacred narratives

The Manananggal

Tags: Myth, Mythical Creature, Philippines, Pregnant Woman, Cautionary Tale

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In the Philippines there’s this myth about the Manananggal. She’s this old ratchet girl that lives in a province and she’s addicted to pregnant women. Basically what happens is at night, when you least expect it and you’re pregnant, she can smell you and you’ll find her on your ceiling when you go to bed. Then she’ll pull out this long thing that she sticks in your mouth and eats up the baby inside of you.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: Filipino

Age: 21

Occupation: College Student

Residence: California, USA

Date of Performance: March 2024

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): Tagalog

Relationship: Friend

Context

KM, the informant, is of Filipino descent.

Analysis

This myth is popular in Filipino culture, serving as a warning to women, especially pregnant women, to not walk alone at night. Filipino elders are notorious for using fear as a tool to incentivize the youth and vulnerable to be safe and good.

Origins of the Osage People

Tags: Myth, Origin Story, Osage Tribe, Indigenous Peoples, Northwest Arkansas

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In the Ozarks, there’s an indigenous tribe of people known as the Osage. When they came to Earth, nothing existed except mud. And then, a great elk came and rolled around in the mud, blessing the indigenous people with grass.

Informant Info

Race/Ethnicity: Indian

Age: 22

Occupation: College Student

Residence: Northwest Arkansas, USA

Date of Performance: March 2024

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

Relationship: Friend

Context

AH, the informant, was born and raised in Northwest Arkansas (NWA). NWA exists in a region known as the Ozarks.

Analysis

The Ozarks is home to many indigenous groups, each with their own origin stories. Upon some more research on the origins of the Osage people, I found that the story was more complex than the informant had explained. According to the Arkansas Archaeological Survey[1], they were initially “spirit beings” and came from the sky. In their humility, they called themselves the “Little Ones” and came down to Earth to become people. When they arrived, they found the Earth submerged in water and asked their messenger, the Radiant Star, for help. The Radiant Star sent them a sacred person known as the Great Elk. The Great Elk rolled in the water and lowered it. He then blessed the Osage people with more gifts of grass and landforms.

While the informant AH’s recounting of the origin story of the Osage people contained different details about what medium the Great Elk rolled in, the one similarity was that there existed a Great Elk. In indigenous cultures, a lot of traditions and customs surrounded their spiritual connection with animal figures. The elk, for instance, is often personified as protectors in indigenous cultures. In the origin story of the Osages, this was exemplified through the Osage’s reverence for the sacred Great Elk and the blessings that he brought.

Sources
[1] “Creation of the Work (Osage).” Osage Creation Story, Arkansas Archeological Survey, 3 Feb. 2017, archeology.uark.edu/indiansofarkansas/index.html?pageName=Creation+of+the+World+%28Osage%29.

The Nain Rogue Demon

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AB: From what I know – which isn’t the most accurate account – is that the Nain Rouge is a disgusting hairy and horned demon. The story goes that the first time it showed up was before some battle where the demon danced on the corpses of the dead soldiers and turned the river bloody. Since then, it shows up prior to devastating events in the city as like a bad omen. The 1967 Race Riots were the most common example I heard since my grandparents moved out of the city due to them.

Context:

AB: The Nain Rouge is one of those myths not really in circulation in my family. I know growing up it was used as a boogeyman for a child’s bad behavior, which deviates pretty heavily from the original myth of it being a foreboding omen. I mostly just thought it was my parents needing a local legend derived from their parent’s catholic backgrounds. I lived in the suburbs surrounding Detroit but I did live close enough to the Rouge River for cultural osmosis to propagate. Myth went from chastising bad behavior to a reason to be back home before sundown (I used to bike up and down the Rouge River at Hines Park). Eventually my parents kinda just grew out of it, I didn’t really believe in it so they stopped using it.

Analysis:

There are a lot of similar boogeyman type stories in American folklore. Other common examples include stories like the Jersey Devil. The most likely origin for these stories is from somebody who witnessed a tragedy and wants some way to rationalize what occurred. Seeing a battlefield is damaging to the psyche, it isn’t too unbelievable that people would tell stories about the aftermath. As the stories grow popular, there are more “sightings” of the monster because more people know about it. Though, these stories are rarely believed, and like AB mentioned, are mostly used to scare children into behaving.

The Story of the Prague Golem

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AG: The story goes that a rabbi in Prague was fed up with the pogroms and violence against the Jews in their ghetto. He created a man out of clay and imbued him with the word “emet” to describe god and it became a fierce protector of the ghetto. It successfully fought off violent goyim for some time, but eventually turned on its creators, and went on a violent rampage against the ghetto. It was destroyed by scratching off the ‘e’ in “emet” changing god to “death”. The ghetto in Prague was a real place that existed for hundreds of years. The Jews there had once been slaughtered by the local population

Context:

AG: I’d definitely heard the word and the general concepts all over the media since I was a kid. “Golem” is a common association for any sort of creature made out of inorganic materials. I didn’t become more familiar with the specific legend until I played the video game “I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream”, which includes a scenario where the Jews of a Nazi concentration camp have built a golem, and you have to help them complete it. I studied it in more detail when I took an ancient to late middle ages Jewish history class in undergrad.

Analysis:

The story of the golem is prevalent throughout Jewish culture as a protector. While some Jewish people genuinely believe in the creation of the golem, the story more serves as a lesson of how only God can create life. This belief is reflected in other Abrahamic religions as well. In Islam, it is forbidden to draw faces due to a similar belief.

Text: In 2004, a vengeful spirit forces a Bhawanigarh family to abandon their mansion. Decades later, Ruhaan and Reet, mistaken for dead, hide there, uncovering the spirit’s true identity as a family betrayal. The climax reveals a switcheroo between twins Anjulika and Manjulika, leading to a spectral showdown and a plea for forgiveness.

Context: My brother told me about a tale set in Bhawanigarh, where in 2004, a malevolent spirit forced a family to abandon their mansion. Fast forward to 2022, Ruhaan and Reet, who narrowly escape a fatal accident, seek refuge in this very mansion. Ruhaan becomes known as Rooh Baba, believed to communicate with spirits, amid the family’s misconception of Reet’s demise. The spirit’s identity is revealed to be Manjulika, Anjulika’s jealous twin, skilled in black magic. The plot thickens when the family discovers Reet is alive and Ruhaan’s pretended possession by Manjulika, who had been impersonating Anjulika all along. In a dramatic turn, the true Anjulika’s spirit traps Manjulika, advising the family to forgive Reet for her deceit. This tale, weaving through themes of supernatural revenge, mistaken identities, and familial bonds, culminates in a haunting yet poignant resolution, where the spirit’s entrapment brings an end to the family’s curse, leaving a lingering question of forgiveness and redemption.

Analysis:

The tale from Bhawanigarh intertwines supernatural vengeance with familial betrayal, reflecting deep-seated cultural values surrounding family dynamics and redemption. The malevolent spirit, Manjulika, driven by jealousy and skilled in black magic, embodies the dark consequences of familial discord, resonating with Domino Renee Perez’s observation that folklore figures “wield power by making often incomprehensible and at times contemptible choices” (Perez 155). The narrative’s twist, revealing Manjulika’s identity through a twin switcheroo, delves into themes of deception and truth, showcasing the cultural fascination with doppelgängers and the supernatural as mirrors to human psychology.

The climax, marked by a spectral showdown and a plea for forgiveness, underscores the cultural emphasis on reconciliation and the healing potency of forgiveness. This aligns with the belief in redemption’s possibility, highlighting the transformative power of understanding and absolution within personal and cultural realms. Furthermore, the mansion’s role as the story’s backdrop, abandoned due to the spirit’s wrath, emphasizes the significance of space in spiritual beliefs, akin to Ülo Valk’s analysis of how environments shape folklore (Valk 31).