Bastet/Sekhmet, Bastet and Sekhmet were described as two parts of a similar Goddess, with Sekhmet representing the ground-breaking fighter and defender figure and Bastet, who was often portrayed as a feline, speaking to a gentler viewpoint. Because they were four-footed, the mouse-like creatures first asked if they could play with the animals, which included a bear, a deer, and a terrapin. In Jamaica, the bat and the owl were very important symbols in Taino mythology and death. Also known as Hunbatz, One Monkey A Monkey, not a Bat One of the Monkey Twins, hes the son of Hun Hunahpu and Xbaquiyalo. In Makira, Solomon Islands, local people value traditional currency for transactions, such as bride price, and use the canine teeth of flying foxes as a traditional currency [47]. 11022198. We may never know how these early humans viewed their small flying co-habiters. Interestingly, giant bat stories have persisted in these flying-fox-less societies, which evolved from western Polynesians cultures where flying foxes have been prevalent [45]. Creative commonsWikimedia. It is greedy for fragile human living creatures and sings a resonating tune to itself as it feasts. The oldest age group (5170years old) of 150 respondents were mostly aware of the bat conservation efforts. They were then ashamed to meet the other birds and are now active only at night, returning to the temples in the daytime and praying to be turned back into birds. I am a bird. According to the Serer myth, the creation of the earth began from a swamp. In Western culture, bats are also associated with vampires causing hysteria and wrong nomenclature of non-sanguivorous bat species such as Large Flying Fox Pteropus vampyrus. Upset at his death, and possibly the ruining of the soup, she went straight to the king. To summarize shortly the various findings: In the West, bats have been seen as animals of ill omen, alongside other nocturnal hunters such as owls and black cats. As such, the Earl of Cranbrook was able to dispel this silly superstition. In Madurai, worshippers of the Muni god regard Indian Flying Fox Pteropus medius, formerly Pteropus giganteus, as sacred and protect colonies for fear of heavy punishment. Do you know the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to bats? Nearly another third reported actively killing bats or destroying bat roosts, and most respondents associated bats with the destruction of farmers fruits, especially mangoes. In 1332, a French noblewoman, Lady Jacaume of Bayonne [12], was publicly burned to death as a witch because crowds of bats were seen about her house and garden., William Shakespeare (15641616) also equated bats with witches, spells, and curses. What are they? In the past, people have believed that: If a bat got into your house it was a sign someone was about to die; A bat arriving on Halloween meant your house was haunted; A bat tangled in a persons hair will lead to eternal damnation; In fact, around a fifth of all mammals on Earth are bats! WebLegendary creatures from African mythology. Over five hundred species of plants rely on bats for pollination including durian, banana, mango, guava, cocoa and agave. If a bat flies into a house and then escapes, there will be a death in the family. While the English term batty denotes mad in a reasonably innocuous sense. A long time ago, on the opposite side of the earth, the Aztec term for a bat was apparently quimichpapalotl, which means butterfly mouse. In Malaysia, a face-to-face survey was conducted in Penang Island to assess knowledge and awareness level toward bat conservation efforts. From this duality and strangeness evolved a reputation of duplicity and threat, appearing as neither one thing nor the other. The twins had to spend the night in the House of Bats, where they squeezed themselves into their own blowguns in order to defend themselves from the circling bats. Open Access is an initiative that aims to make scientific research freely available to all. Many paintings from western Europe in the middle ages depict the devil with bat wings. Sociocultural definitions of animals as good or evil have persisted throughout the history of human beings. WebTrunko. A modern variation of the myth that bats arose from rodents comes from an Ohio woman of Polish ancestry who attested that the bat was from a mouse that had eaten blessed Easter food. (In Polish tradition, a representative food from the Easter dinner is taken to church to be blessed.) WebAfrican mythology has common threads that run through the various tribe's cultures and stories because rapid migration of people allowed for the spread of language as well as beliefs. The study concluded that conservation-related education should be included in the school curriculum to ensure that students would appreciate not only the importance of bats but of all wildlife [26]. It was called Boman, and it was able to turn into a stone or a snake at will. In many human cultures, caves were seen as gateways to the underworld and bats often emerge from caves at twilight when day merges into night. Most students wanted to participate in bat conservation activities, including some students who disliked bats. In the third book of Moses in the Old Testament, bats were identified as birds, while the world-famous Swedish taxonomist, Carl von Linn (or Linnaeus), only reclassified bats as mammals and not birds as late as 1758 in the 10th Edition of his Systema Naturae [2]. The native-American tribes, like the Thuni Indians, believed that a bat predicted rain. Even cultures that value bats positively may have values conflicting with bat conservation. The Tzotzil Maya lived, and continue to live to this day, on the plateau of Chiapas in southern Mexico. The Global Owl Project Carriage Drive, USA. No content from this site may be used elsewhere without the permission of either #FolkloreThursday or the article Pre-Islamic magical belief in Hunza said that if the lady would once offer the cooked meat of bat to her guests, hiding it behind her back while serving her family would never be without meat for their whole life [25]. Although the bats roost in the sacred forest in Ghana, they are not regarded as sacred animals. In Pakistan, one belief is that if a bat enters ones ear, it can never be removed and contact with bat urine is thought to cause eczema. The police arrested 200 vigilante youth suspected of involvement in gangs that attacked persons allegedly engaged in vampirism. This undoubtedly reflects the loss of other preferred game animals from the habitat. Bats are also used as allegories to denote romantic or parental love in the poetry of Tamil Sangam literature in India [27, 28, 29]. This is bound to threaten the continued existence of local bat populations. #FolkloreThursday 27 Old Gloucester Street, London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3AX. For example, a number of these countries are investing in the burgeoning industry of ecotourism by promoting organized visits to bat caves and bat watching [74, 75]. Out of over 13,000 species, there are only three that feed on blood. Female respondents in this study showed more negative attitudes and a stronger belief in myths about bats than males. Bats - Disease-Prone but Beneficial, Reviewed: December 23rd, 2021 Published: January 18th, 2022, Total Chapter Downloads on intechopen.com. The felling of roosting trees was mentioned as bat death reason by 29% and hunting by 18%. Bats tend to get off on the wrong wing with us humans. They were believed to destroy trees and damage fruits in gardens. Sunset is just the beginning. Han Chinese people attach positive esthetic values to bats but may still hunt bats at unsustainable levels [72]. Megabatslarger bats that include fruit batssearch for food using sight and smell. These are Under the influence! BATS IN FOLKLOREpart six, the conclusion to a series on bats in North American and European folklore. In pre-Columbian Central and South America, the bat played an important role in the religions and social structures of the various cultures, most notably with the Moche people of Peru and the Maya of Guatemala. This was before people knew about germs and how diseases are spread. During the early days of the world, a bat and twelve insects revolved in the darkness. Flying foxs emergence time is believed in Myanmar to indicate the weather: an early or no emergence foretells a coming storm. Monstrous beyond imagining, all-consuming, blacker than blackest night, the hideous Satan in the Night on Bald Mountain section of Walt Disneys animated film Fantasia (1940) spreads gigantic bat wings as it turns fiery eyes toward the lost souls about to be engulfed in wrath and flames [64]. In Indonesia, Iban people in Kalimantan also hunt fruit bats for consumption, and mainly Christian people in North Sulawesi regularly eat flying foxes (Black Flying Fox Pteropus alecto and Sulawesi Fruit Bat Acerodon celebensis) especially during the Christmas season [38, 39]. Sometimes a Mochica bat carries a warclub and a small human captive. By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. Another piece of bat folklore from the Americas includes the Maya believing that the House of the Bat was one of the areas that the soul had to pass through on its way to the land of Death. But where theyre used as an ingredient in a witchs brew, theyre no different to frogs or snails (also common ingredients). Large-bodied old-world fruit bats, like this Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus, are disproportionally targeted to be hunted for bushmeat. 3. People can further move the fungus on their clothing and caving gear and spread the disease into an area that does not currently. They have fur and teeth and nurse their young like other mammals, but they dont walk on four legs. Later bats received even more bad publicity when they became linked to Count Dracula and vampires. Bats were also persecuted because they were believed to be carriers of disease. Similarly, the Ge tribe in Brazil moved through the night following a bat that looked for light toward which to guide the people (Figure 4) [51, 52]. In Indonesia, farmers in South Sulawesi believe that flying foxes roosting near their rice fields guarantee a good harvest [27]. The bat husband then cut off her head and those of other Indians and put all heads in the tree hole where he was living [55]. Although they live near humans and are common, it appears that some of the species have not been described and given scientific names [17]. Throughout Southeast Asia, bats are associated with luck and good fortune and used as spiritual totems [6, 27]. It is also noted that bat tourism has a potential to conserve bat populations while providing social and economic benefits to local people in host communities. In the Bible, the bat is seen to be unclean [8], while its nocturnal activities ally it to malevolent spirits that roam the land when darkness has fallen. Interestingly, blood sucking has been attributed to bats both in Cameroon and Sierra Leone despite the countries being widely separated and when no such type of bat is found in Africa [19]. Then he jumped into it and sat in it for a while and then climbed out. Here are just a few: If a bat flies into your house, look out for bedbugs. The weasel replied, No, I never let mice go! The bat said, Well, look closely at me. When soup was placed before Oyot it was as good and tasty as ever but it was from a different batch the bat had prepared early. This persecution has been quite intense and has had negative effects on the whole environment. Bats are also seen as useful in Iran, India, and Pakistan because people are collecting bat guano as a natural fertilizer. Micro-batswhich include the smaller, familiar snub-nosed batsmainly hunt by echolocation. Bats in Myth and Legend 945ontwerp / Getty Images His name means literally One Monkey, which is more than fitting as he turned into one. All rights reserved. The apparent liminality of bats is also reflected in a legend from the Kanarese of India in which bats were originally a type of unhappy bird. Because mountains obscured the western sky, Jesus could not tell when the sun set. Bat Conservation International 500 N Capital of TXHwy. Half of the students knew that bats are mammals, but 26% believed them to be birds, some thought of them being amphibians (12%) or reptiles (11%); 37% disliked the bats, and 27% liked them remaining seeing them as indifferent. Finally, his wife realized what he was doing and set fire to the tree and killed her husband and the bats [54]. In this article, we will be taking a deep dive into the world of bats in mythology, folklore, and superstition. But it became obvious that the public attitude toward bats has still not been investigated extensively enough throughout the world, namely in contemporary Africa, America, Australia, and Europe. Bats in the house mean a death in the house or is a sign that the occupants will soon be leaving. *Address all correspondence to: heimomikkola@yahoo.co.uk. Bats were associated with longevity and pleasure in both ancient Chinese and Persian traditions. Finally, we discuss shortly the need of education to change attitudes toward bats. They are unquestionably weird beings, appearing as half birds and half rodents, as if they came from a nightmare realm. They believed bats to be able to cross into and out of the unseen realms at will, making them spiritual guides. We will be exploring how different cultures view these creatures and what stories have been told about them throughout the years. Here, using documented narratives, surveys, popular literature, and cinema, we will explore the various myths, legends, and attitudes to bats from around the world. However, the path to protection has been a rocky one for the Flying Foxes. Between Iran and Rajasthan, north-western India, there is the widespread public belief that if a bat lives somewhere in the house or hangs on the roof, this would mean bad luck for the owner [25]. The Adjule is also called a Bush Dog. Stay up to date with the latest news and information about BCI and bats. Also, in Nilotic Sudan, witchcraft was usually performed at night, and therefore, owls and bats were associated with it. Participation by local people is vital to achieving successful conservation programs [35]. Our team is growing all the time, so were always on the lookout for smart people who want to help us reshape the world of scientific publishing. These myths associate killer bats with fire as the bat burns its victims and is, in turn, thrown into the fire [60, 61, 62]. Our CFC number is 12064. The king ordered that Emiong be arrested and thrown into prison. Aboriginal peoples, however, were describing them long before this. From a magical standpoint, bats are associated with workings related to death and dying, communication, and the spirit world. Another belief about bats comes from the Navajo, a Native American tribe from the southwestern United States. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46]. These small creatures wished to participate in a ball game in which the animals challenged the birds. Common vampire bat Desmodus rotundus is the one reason for global Chiroptophobia although it is very small weighing about 55 grams and only occurring in central and South America. These creatures, or more like monsters, were said to be able to transform themselves into bats at will and would fly around looking for victims to drink their blood. We are a community of more than 103,000 authors and editors from 3,291 institutions spanning 160 countries, including Nobel Prize winners and some of the worlds most-cited researchers. This liminality gives bats a supernatural air that further heightens mystery and distrust as they cross the borders between birds and mammals, day and night. It takes the form of a firefly, but if you capture one, it will revert to human appearance. Bats are not associated with any diseases, and it was felt to be safe to eat bat meat, but both studies were conducted before the 2013 Ebola outbreak (Figure 2) [19, 20]. Thereafter, humans and animals may have lived different lives; but like people, the animals still had tribes, councils, and ethics, and they played ball games. Here are some of the other names that people have given bats. Spirits are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions. In many parts of Indonesia, people specifically consume bats livers and hearts as medicine [39]. The decision to include the New Zealand long-tailed bat Chalinolobus tuberculatus also known as pekapeka-tou-roa (Mori) in the 2021 Bird of the Year competition did cause a bit of controversy, some people saying the country had gone batty. However, the long-tailed bat got more than 7000 votes, bringing a clear victory to this critically endangered animal, despite not being a bird [50]. These creatures have had a long and varied history with humans, and it is hoped that this article has helped to increase your understanding of these creatures. But it should come as no surprise that bats figure in most ancient mythologies. The bat begged to be spared but the weasel insisted that he could not do that because he was an enemy of all birds. (Above is from a variety of African mythology not just Sub-Saharan, but it's also the tiniest fraction of it) The idea that carrying a bats eye around with you will allow you to turn invisible. 1. Medics said there is no truth or clinical evidence that blood suckers or vampires exist in Malawi, and the United Nations mission withdrew its personnel from the riots-affected areas [24]. WebTraditional Navajo folklore places the origin of bats in the earliest world, when all was dark: twelve insects and the bat revolved in darkness. Bats are very social animals and often live in colonies of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. Although bats already had long had a sinister reputation their addition to European vampire folklore came after that. My Amazon Author Page can found here for the UK and for the USA, here. However, in post-Christian Europe, the bats propensity of flying at night led to its association with the devil. It is no real surprise that in a Christian Europe throughout history, the bat has been associated with the Devil, evil spirits, and witches [9]. There are more than 1000 different species of bats in the world, making them the second-largest order of mammals. In Africa, house bats occur in distinct colors and sizes, but they are usually hard to However, modern science, and hence western Europe, really only learned about them as we traveled out to the tropical world. Since the fourteenth century, Chinese culture has associated bats with good luck and blessings [33]. All day people searched for him and he realised that sooner or later they would catch him unless he changed his ways. This Order name means hand-wing as the bats can hold food between their forearms. Now that we have looked at some of the most popular bat myths from around the globe, lets take a look at some of the superstitions that people have about these creatures. Bats are also considered as wild exotic meat, which is widely consumed in urban areas. Home > Our habit of sharing their ancestral living quarters would inevitably have brought bats to our attention from before the dawn of history. It is the largest bat found in continental Africa and was believed to suck the blood of sleeping children until they die. This North American bat-like depiction should come as no surprise; it is merely another manifestation of the fear, horror, and superstition with which bats have been regarded down through ages [64]. The novel, Dracula, by Bram Stoker encouraged the vampire association which was expanded and embellished later by other writers. Most respondents were less likely to value the importance of bats in the ecosystem, so creating a conservation education to connect people with nature is not easy. While others say bats resemble an unhappy bird who got lost on its way to find the sun, in Greece during the middle ages, there was a myth that bats arose from mice. The Serer Creation Myth Like in every creation myth in Africa, the Serer of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia have theirs. Most students (56%) reported seeing bats in their locality. In China, the bat is a symbol of happiness and good luck and its image is found in art and crafts expressing this. It remains to be seen, however, if this could halt or even reverse the decline of the North American bats [64]. Bats use a form of echolocation to navigate in the dark and to find their prey. Bats lead us to the best opportunities to protect nature anywhere in the world. - He then pretended to demonstrate exactly how he did this. Both African-Americans and those of European descent from around the United States frequently maintain that The official Islamic view is exempting bats from being killed because it would carry bad luck to kill a bat [32]. Hundreds of thousands of bats were needlessly exterminated during the last two decades of the 20th century. The myths grew with the 1927 stage production which further associated Dracula with bats. In India, a total of 3059 high school students from 36 schools were questioned on their bat perceptions. The genus Pteropus was first described by Brisson in 1762 from specimens collected on the Reunion Islands. Bats are interesting animals and have been a part of human culture for a long time. Presented here are different viewpoints from around the world, followed by a short look at the real significance of bats to humankind. Therefore, let us give them the recognition they deserve because if bats were to disappear tomorrow, that would give us something to genuinely fear. Therefore, instead of coming out and feeding in daylight he began to feed at night. It is imperative to obtain more current ethnobiological data to further our understanding of contemporary attitudes and relationships with batsand to document other cultural traditions not covered in this review. The account is linked to the first trees created by roog. Nandi Bear. For example, a bat entering a household was a forewarning of a death in the house. They have wings and fly like birds (actually, in many ways better than birds). Bats are often misunderstood. Bldg. These animals are nocturnal creatures that sleep during the day and come out at night to hunt for food. UNITED KINGDOM. With Gods permission, He fashioned the winged likeness of a bat from clay and breathed life into it. To a shaman the appearance of a bat does not signify actual or physical death, but more the death of old fears or the old ways of doing things that no longer serve you. One of these fables also exists, with slight variation, among tribes in southern Nigeria, among Australian aboriginals, and ancient Romans. It tells how a bushrat named Oyot was friends with Emiong the bat and they would often eat together, taking it in turns to cook. However, consumption was influenced by religious beliefs, food taboos, and some myths about bats. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. In Myths of the Cherokee (1900), James Mooney points out that a general theme in American Indian folklore is that, in the beginning, there were no essential differences between humans and animals. Its unlucky to see a bat in the daytime. The bat serves as mentor of the night and is identified with Talking God, one of the foremost deities. In Macbeth (1605), there is the incantation of the three witches: Eye of newt, and toe of frog, wool of bat, and tongue of dog, while there is Calibans curse on Prospero in The Tempest (16101611): All the charms of Sycorax, toads, beetles and bats, light on you.. 620 B.C. He always finds it a source of fascination discovering and learning how our ancestors perceived the times they lived in and how they have influenced us today.
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