Abiku

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An Abiku is a changeling that comes from the spirit world and is born as a human.

origin

Abiku are known from the stories of the Yoruba people in West Africa, who mainly live in Nigeria . You belong to a spirit people from the world of the invisible (órun), who longs for closer contact with the material world. That is why they send children to people who are then brought into the world by normal human women.

fate

Although the newborn Abiku do not differ at first glance from other infants and later toddlers, they quickly become noticeable because they make contact with invisible playmates from the realm of the spirit world. Some Abiku long to return to the spirit world and try to escape this world by attempting suicide or serious illness. Often, after such a death, Abiku children are reborn again by the same mother, until they are finally used to the human world and are ready to stay. Then they grow up to be ordinary people and lose their magical inheritance.

swell

  • Abiku . In: Microsoft Encarta online
  • Gertrude Jones: Dictionary of Mythology Folklore and Symbols . The Scarecrow Press, New York 1962.
  • Tebea Rosenzweig, Sergej Koenig: Hall of Fame of Creatures .