Between 1981 and 1989, approximately 13,000 fruit bat bodies were imported into Guam for human consumption every year. In northern Guiana, Bat Mountain is the home of killer bats, and there is also a killer bat in folklore from Venezuela. As such, the Earl of Cranbrook was able to dispel this silly superstition. Obviously, these bats were not the only animalsor even the only batsto use these now destroyed habitats. Christianity and the origin of bats are also intertwined in the Mohammedan legend that Christ created a bat while keeping the fast of Ramadan. Liminality aside, many of these myths have obvious roots in the real features of bats. Many mythological stories from different cultures have been passed down throughout the years about bats. 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. Bats are truly remarkable creatures, and fossil records indicate that they first appeared in the Eocene, some 5055 million years ago [1]. His name means literally One Monkey, which is more than fitting as he turned into one. Many people still believe this to be true in Mexico. Camazotz MEMBER OPPORTUNITIES FOR 1994, Bats 101: High School Students and Field Research, Tips on Establishing Research Partnerships Between Schools and Wildlife Agencies, Motorola Supports Bat House Research Project, BCI Helps Protect Pennsylvania Mine for Bats, BCI-Sponsored Education Campaign in Mexico Leads to Cave Protection, Look for Masters of the Night: The True Story of Bats. Finally, his wife realized what he was doing and set fire to the tree and killed her husband and the bats [54]. African final exam review mythology 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]. Home > WebSpirits African mythology is filled with spirits, invisible beings with powers for good or evil. In ancient Egypt it was believed bats could alleviate or cure many ailments including baldness, fever toothache and poor eyesight. Hopefully, now that we know more about these amazing creatures, we can protect them better in the future. Bat Conservation International is a 501(c)(3) organization. In North America, education has had some effect as more people have started to understand how useful bats truly are and how few cases of bat-born rabies transmission to humans there have been in the United States and Canada. IntechOpen Limited Also, in Nilotic Sudan, witchcraft was usually performed at night, and therefore, owls and bats were associated with it. One bat, whose habits may have fostered these tales of decapitating bats, is the false vampire Vampyrum spectrum. There are more than 1000 different species of bats in the world, making them the second-largest order of mammals. The enormous size of the bat and the small human head or body indicate supernatural status for the bat [51]. Having multifaceted anatomy of a lion, hippopotamus, and crocodile, she waited for the opportunity to devour the hearts of 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.) Despite this primate-like gesture, it took quite some time for people to understand that bats are mammals and not birds. Bats have fascinated humans for millennia, and this cultural and spiritual relevance is reflected in the presence of bat symbols in Egyptian tombs from 2000BC [7]. Bat In some places bats were seen more positively. Publishing on IntechOpen allows authors to earn citations and find new collaborators, meaning more people see your work not only from your own field of study, but from other related fields too. He then pretended to demonstrate exactly how he did this. In Caribbean South America and the Antilles, bat images are associated with death rites and burials in archeological context [57], and in Cuba, a Taino ball court was bat-shaped, the ballgame being a sacrificial ritual [58]. The genus Pteropus was first described by Brisson in 1762 from specimens collected on the Reunion Islands. This is because people thought that bats were associated with witches and black magic. On all occasions, the bats were able to escape without becoming entangled. Sometimes bats are husbands as in a Mataco lore from Argentina. Fruit-eating bats such as Jamaican fruit bat Artibeus jamaicensis loves feeding on guavas, which is also the favorite food of the Taino spirits of the dead. It is the largest bat found in continental Africa and was believed to suck the blood of sleeping children until they die. These are Under the influence! Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World. Bldg. However, after offering prayers, dead bats found on the ground can be eaten. UNITED KINGDOM. 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. WebWhen seen as human souls, bats are often imagined as souls of the dead, particularly souls of the damned, or those that are not yet at peace. The idea that carrying a bats eye around with you will allow you to turn invisible. The bat represented the opias (= spirits of the dead people) to the Taino. In medieval Europe, dragons were usually depicted with wings and a barbed tail and as breathing fire. While the English term batty denotes mad in a reasonably innocuous sense. Montfort bat cave entrance in the Philippines with the numerous Geoffroys Rousette fruit bats Rousettes amplexicaudatus. Photo credit to creative commons https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. This pollination syndrome is called chiropterophily. However, the path to protection has been a rocky one for the Flying Foxes. In another tale from Aesop, a bat borrows money for a business venture that fails. One Yupa man in northern Colombia started night after night to drink and flirt with a female bat when he was returning from an evening hunt. Bats are also revered throughout India. Here are some of them: Flying foxes eat fruit, and this has inevitably brought them into conflict with humans, who grow fruit. Their dark reputation is further enhanced with their association with Halloween and Samhain, the time of year when the time of long, light days begins to draw to an end and the dark time of the year begins. But the larger animals made fun of how small the creatures were and drove them away. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46]. Especially when the bats preferred natural resources have been logged out of existence and replanted as a monoculture. A folktale from Southern Nigeria gives a novel explanation of why the bat flies at night while highlighting its supposedly untrustworthy nature. Ammit (from Egyptian Mythology) Ominously translating to devourer or soul eater, the Ammit (also known as Ammut) was an underworld-dwelling ancient Egyptian goddess/demon who personified divine retribution. Bat dung placed over a door opening prevented disease carrying demons from entering. Other than the polar regions, extreme deserts, and a few isolated islands, bats live in every habitat on Earth. considers bat as harm meaning that it is forbidden as food. The tour includes a brief 20-minute conservation education lecture about bats, caves, and the history of the Montford Bat Cave Sanctuary. Samoan people prize flying fox meat as a delicacy and as a gift to elders, but commercial hunting and export of the meat are culturally frowned. Working together, we have the power to end bat extinctions worldwide. Its based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. Cultural traditions and beliefs influence the future of the bats, which is threatened by human exploitation, both directly on bats and indirectly on the environment. In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, The bat populations in Malaysia are decreasing in 26% of species and only 15% are still stable. In this story, Jonayaiyin, a hero who battled the enemies of mankind, killed several eagles and gave their feathers to a bat who had helped him escape from the eagles nest. Over five hundred species of plants rely on bats for pollination including durian, banana, mango, guava, cocoa and agave. 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. is eaten in Laos. Bats were associated with longevity and pleasure in both ancient Chinese and Persian traditions. Nevertheless, it is still a strongly sinister characteristic linking them closely to vampirism. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this. In fact they are mammals of the scientific order Chiroptera, meaning hand wing in ancient Greek, because their forelimbs have become adapted to be wings. The Tongan kings Samoan wife was rescued by flying foxes, and she honored her rescuers later by naming her son Tonumaipea (= rescued by flying foxes) [45]. All rights reserved. Other strange beliefs in European folklore include: In Shakespeares Macbeth (written 800 years ago), the witches brew a potion with: Eye of newt and toe of frog,Wool of bat and tongue of dog.. Contemporarily the bats were divided based upon morphology and behavior into two suborders, Microchiroptera (Microbats) and Megachiroptera (Flying Foxes and Old World Fruit Bats) [4]. The weasel replied, No, I never let mice go! The bat said, Well, look closely at me. - Indigenous Ainu people in Japan worshipped the crafty and wise bat god Kappa kamui, who kept away demons and diseases [44]. And because of this, many myths, superstitions, and folklore have been created about them. 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]. Micro-batswhich include the smaller, familiar snub-nosed batsmainly hunt by echolocation. In some countries such as the UK bats are seen as an indicator species and the stability of their population is monitored to look for changes in biodiversity. African Mythology One clan of the Cakchiquel Maya, of the highlands of Guatemala, was named the Zotzil (=belonging to the bat), whose deity was a bat. The first two references are Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. The Global Owl Project Carriage Drive, USA. In Jamaica, the bat and the owl were very important symbols in Taino mythology and death. Later bats received even more bad publicity when they became linked to Count Dracula and vampires. One reason not to kill bats is that female bats have breasts and are mothers like human females [25]. A world without bats would look very different than the one you know and not for the better. 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. They are unquestionably weird beings, appearing as half birds and half rodents, as if they came from a nightmare realm. Tjinimin wanted to have sex with the Green Parrot-Girls (who were the consorts of the Great Rainbow-Snake) and, of course, the Great Rainbow-Snake objected to this. Bat guano provides one reason for the fertility associations [56]. The way they live their lives and their behaviour places them somewhere betwixt and between, appearing as neither one thing, nor the other. Their well-known agility in flight would make a bat formidable in a ball game against a bear and turtle. He told her he would make some tasty soup like Emiong had taught him for when she returned. In some parts of the world, they are a valuable food source, and their body parts are used in traditional medicine, while their guano is collected and used as agricultural fertilizer [7]. New molecular biology findings indicate that there are two new Suborders, Yinpterochiroptera and Yangochiroptera, not coinciding with the earlier subordinate classification [5]. 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]. The rat now tries to retaliate by climbing tees and eating the flying foxes young, and this is why flying foxes carry their pups with them. See my wings. The weasel replied, Well, so you are! and let the bat go. Should the bat stay and eat the fruit in the house, bad luck will befall the owner [27]. With the help of the bat and the flying squirrel, the birds won the ball game, with the agile bat scoring the winning goal. In South America, the vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus) is persecuted because it transmits the rabies virus to the livestock it feeds off. The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. Spirits are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions. 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. 1, Suite 175 Austin, TX 78746, USA 512.327.9721 1.800.538.BATS. 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]. Both African-Americans and those of European descent from around the United States frequently maintain that No content from this site may be used elsewhere without the permission of either #FolkloreThursday or the article We will be exploring how different cultures view these creatures and what stories have been told about them throughout the years. Large flying fox Pteropus vampyrus suffers from its misleading scientific name as it is not blood-eating species but feeds only fruits and flowers. People would sometimes even burn down whole colonies of bats because they thought that this would stop the spread of disease. Bats, at least the ones that originate from North-western Europe, look a bit like mice with wings. It was called Boman, and it was able to turn into a stone or a snake at will. A little later the same bat was caught by another weasel and begged for mercy. Perhaps now youd like to learn a bit about the bat skeleton. Our collection of global perceptions aims to promote a better biocultural richness for humans and bats as our long-term nocturnal companions. The king ordered that Emiong be arrested and thrown into prison. In Kenya, a bat attitude questionnaire was presented to 394 people living around the Arabuko-Sokoke forest. 15 Interesting Myths And Legends In African Mythology 1. The Serer Creation Myth Like in every creation myth in Africa, the Serer of Senegal, Mauritania and the Gambia have theirs. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. This undoubtedly reflects the loss of other preferred game animals from the habitat. Most students (56%) reported seeing bats in their locality. Their prayers were partially granted and they were given grotesquely humanoid faces, hair and teeth but still had their wings and could fly. The number of Bats seen also has meaning. In shamanism, the bat as well as being a symbol of death and rebirth is able Bats are shot for sport or to eradicate them from fruit plantations. An old engraving of vampire bats described by early explorers such as John Stedman. The Moche people in Peru were aware of the connection between bats and plants. A bat was once known as a flittermouse or fluttermouse, which translates to flying mouse. This phrase is derived from the German word for a bat, Fledermaus. The English term bat is taken from the Old English word bakke, which means to flutter.. The oldest age group (5170years old) of 150 respondents were mostly aware of the bat conservation efforts. When a truce is declared, the bat is rejected by both sides because of this deceitful behavior. Photo credit: Public domain creative commonsWikimedia. In this article, we will be taking a deep dive into the world of bats in mythology, folklore, and superstition. 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. Bats are largely considered to be tricksters in African folklore and mythology. Becoming neither one thing nor the other made them ashamed. There are more than 1400 bat species worldwide, and they make up roughly 20% of the worlds extant mammals [6]. The diversity of South American bats is impressive as there are more bats, and more bat species, than in any other part of the world [51, 52]. A detailed list of all the African gods and goddesses wuld be endless, but these twelve from the Orisha Pantheon are a good placde to start. Tertullian, an early Christian author from Carthage (155220), claimed that the Devil and his angels had wings [10], and around 1314, Dante wrote that the Devils wings had no feathers, but was in form and texture like a bats [11]. Bats are very social animals and often live in colonies of hundreds or even thousands of individuals. Until we provoked the animals hostility because of our aggressiveness and disregard for their rights, humans and all creatures lived together in harmony, mutual respect, and helpfulness. Orchard owners in Myanmar believe that allowing bats to roost and feed in the garden ensures prosperity and well-being. The felling of roosting trees was mentioned as bat death reason by 29% and hunting by 18%. We explore the role that bats play in traditional narratives and the likely reasons for their salience, including their connections with the extraordinary and supernatural. The police arrested 200 vigilante youth suspected of involvement in gangs that attacked persons allegedly engaged in vampirism. Men hunt and consume bats more often than women who have fears that consuming bat meat would give them strange or deformed children. Bats are mentioned three times in the Old Testament. They often live and breed in dark and unusual places such as caves, tunnels and lofts, leaving these at twilight the time between light and darkness in search of food. Similarly, fishermen in the Philippines consider mangrove roosting flying foxes to be guardians of their fishing grounds and to increase fish and shellfish catch [27]. Bats have also been associated with blood-sucking vampires and other dark creatures in stories and movies. Bats, being seen as liminal creatures, were believed to be able to cross this barrier. Also known as Hunbatz, One Monkey A Monkey, not a Bat One of the Monkey Twins, hes the son of Hun Hunahpu and Xbaquiyalo. Despite all the sinister associations bats perform an essential role in the environment, adding greatly to the wellbeing of humanity. 1. Saharan African mythology have legendary Warner Shedd (2000) felt strongly that the level of fear about rabid bats sometimes rises almost paranoid concern in the United States, citing the State of New York as an example [63]. People often perceive bats as anomalous or ambiguous creatures, different from more normal animals. more information Accept. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. The fictional DC Comic Super-hero, Batman relied on the sinister aspect of bats to strike fear into criminals, yet despite the scary myths, bats are an important part of the ecosystems and economies of many parts of the world. Stay up to date with the latest news and information about BCI and bats. They fly at night and so do witches, hence in Western Europe, witches and bats must be associated together. 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]. Oyot boiled the water and jumped in, but the soup, being boiling, killed him. 5 Princes Gate Court, Brief introduction to this section that descibes Open Access especially from an IntechOpen perspective, Want to get in touch? Aesops Fables: The Bat and the Weasel. Because of the resemblance in dentition and such external phenomena as the thoracic position of the mammae, etc., the great Linnaeus himself ended to place the bat along with man in the order Primates [3]. In Jamaican folklore, bats are also perceived as death images [59]. Both these references are the same; they list the birds that the people of God are not allowed to eat the list ends with the bat. Bat (goddess In northern Argentina, a Toba story tells of the leader of the very first peoplea hero bat or batman who was teaching people all they needed to know as human beings. Photo credit: Uwe Schmidt. Dragon Rompo is a legendary monster with the head of a rabbit, arms like a badger, legs like a bear, a skeletal middle and human ears. WebAfrican bats fall into two major categories: large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, neither of which attacks people. Although vampire bats have been known to attack humans and large animals it is usually not fatal, though it has been known to transmit rabies. 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]. My Amazon Author Page can found here for the UK and for the USA, here. Fruit growers may view fruit bats as crop pests [71]. 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. An idea that reflected their ability to fly around so quickly in the dark without hitting anything. Ancient Celtic Cauldrons: The Magical, the Mythical, the Real, Top 5 Trees in Celtic Mythology, Legend and Folklore, Celtic Warrior Women: Queen Boudica of the Iceni, Animism and the Living World of the Ancient Celts, Mixing Animals, Birds, Humans and Gods in Celtic Mythology, Unicorn Lore: Interpreting the Lady and the Unicorn Tapestries, The Legendary Puss in Boots and the Marquis of Carabas, Top Five Mythical Birds in Legend and Folklore, Aesops Fables; a new translation by Aesop, BATS Magazine Article: Folklore and the Origin of Bats, Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, West Africa by Elphinstone Dayrell. They eat insects performing pest control while also pollinating species of plants and spreading seeds. Frustrated, Jonayaiyin eventually told the bat You cannot take care of your feathers, so you shall never have any. Very well, said the bat, I deserve to lose them, for I could never take care of those feathers.. Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World As messengers for the forces of darkness, they become evil omens. WebIn the Popol Vuh, Camazotz are the bat-like spirits encountered by the Maya Hero Twins Hunahpu and Xbalanque during their trials in the underworld of Xibalba. They live in unusual places. During this time eating food between sunrise and sunset is forbidden. Adjule. In 1959, this superstition was still so believed that the Earl of Cranbrook took it upon himself to test the superstitions veracity. The cave prohibits hunting and guano harvesting, while income from this ecotourism chiefly flows into local economy and enhances the sustainability and protection of the cave site (Figures 7 and 8). Just over one-third of the respondents (36%) did not see any benefits of bats to humans. WebMYTH: Bats are blind. He's also a teacher, a poet and the owner of 1,152 books. The recent introduction of a fungal disease (WNS=White-nose Syndrome) from Eurasia to North America has killed millions of bats in North America in the past decade. This allowed the borders to be crossed and the dead and the spirits of the underworld return to visit earth. Bat myths In the Far East, particularly China, the Bat represents good fortune and longevity. Among the Ndop people, bats, owls, and bush-cats are said to be witch shapes. Bats are associated, in many cultures, with death and dying, which makes them a perfect representative of Samhain, the time when the veil is thin. If a man whose wife is nearing childbirth unthinkingly does so, some harm may befall the unborn baby [34]. 2022 The Author(s). bat, (order Chiroptera), any member of the only group of mammals capable of flight. Bat hunting is illegal, but hunters readily admitted to having hunted bats and even directed the research people to other hunters. They called themselves Zotzil uinic (batmen), claiming that their ancestors discovered a stone bat, which they took as their god, and their chief town was named Zinacantlan (=place of the bats) by Nahuatl merchants from Mexico [53]. Category:African legendary creatures In some versions of the myth, the old mice would climb to the top of a tall tree, and when they reached the highest branches, their tails would detach and grow into wings. It is estimated that the current population of most Australian species of Pteropidae is less than 20% of what it was 100 years ago. Test your knowledge with the "Myth or Fact" image sliders below. As PhD students, we found it difficult to access the research we needed, so we decided to create a new Open Access publisher that levels the playing field for scientists across the world. Even cultures that value bats positively may have values conflicting with bat conservation. Belief systems of people have always been closely related to animals, which are symbolized in traditional narratives. Besides the above, hunting of fruit bats in the Indo-Pacific area is also supported by a market in Guamartificially maintained by the higher per capita income on Guam than on the source islands. Of course, in languages other than English, a bat is not called a bat. In other parts of the world, fruit bats are occasionally hunted in small numbers. In Cameroon, the superstition of the vampire is attached to bats. Flying foxs emergence time is believed in Myanmar to indicate the weather: an early or no emergence foretells a coming storm. Bat Conservation International 2023. People sometimes think of them as blind, bloodthirsty flying mice. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The myths grew with the 1927 stage production which further associated Dracula with bats. In the terminology of folklorists, bats are liminal; they dont fit into the normal order of things and are somehow apart or in-between. In many places, blood sacrifice was believed to benefit agriculture, and therefore, bats had agricultural, as well as death, connections for Pre-Columbian peoples and in Oaxaca, Mexico, a bat deity was associated with maize [51]. It is greedy for fragile human living creatures and sings a resonating tune to itself as it feasts. Bat Mythology There is a strong association between bats and death. American Indian legends and Aesop both gave animals human characteristics, including our failings, to teach moral precepts and the consequences of inappropriate behavior. WebWhen seen as human souls, bats are often imagined as souls of the dead, particularly souls of the damned, or those that are not yet at peace. During the early days of the world, a bat and twelve insects revolved in the darkness. 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. In the sandstone caves of Northern Australia, the Northern Territory, and Queensland, there are numerous depictions of flying foxes, some dating back tens of thousands of years. In fact, around a fifth of all mammals on Earth are bats! In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. The Adjule is also called a Bush Dog. Bats have fascinated humans for millennia, and this cultural and spiritual relevance is reflected in the presence of bat symbols in Egyptian tombs from 2000 BC . When Oyot went home his wife had to go out on an errand. (There was no references to bats in the Koran). Why is it then that while in some parts of the world this beneficial creature is seen as a symbol of good luck and good fortune, in many societies it is viewed with fear and loathing? The native-American tribes, like the Thuni Indians, believed that a bat predicted rain. Bats are also seen as useful in Iran, India, and Pakistan because people are collecting bat guano as a natural fertilizer. He has studied bats for many years and is author of the entry on bats in The Encyclopedia of American Folklore and Superstition. Often seen in movies and even written in books, bats have always been portrayed as mysterious creatures throughout the years.