Skinwalker

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Skinwalker ( German about "skin walker"), also called skin-switcher ("skin changer"), is the name of a mythical being, primarily from Navajo folklore . The Navajo themselves call the creature Yeenaldlooshii or Naaldlooshii in their language . According to tradition, it is a witch or a renegade shaman who puts on animal or even human skin. Skinwalkers have mastered the art of shapeshifting and are said to be cannibalistic . They are also known to other North American Indian peoples , for example the Hopi . In modern subcultures and metropolitan legends , they are often compared to werewolves . The skinwalker legends have inspired literary works and horror films .

etymology

The word Yeenaldlooshii comes from the so-called Diné dialect , the main language of the Navajo, and is available in different readings and spellings: Yee-Naaldlooshii , Yee Naaldlooshi and Yenaaldooshii . It is a suitcase word derived from the Navajo words ts'ee ("loose skin") or ye'eh ("to do something like someone else" or "it is done") and naaldlooshii ("that which goes on all fours "; In the sense of" animal "). Naaldlooshii primarily refers to domesticated farm animals and domestic animals. The word can also mean “to trot” or “to step”. In general, the word symbolically refers to paw goers , which deliberately excludes poultry (for example chickens ) and ungulates (such as cattle and pigs ). The full Navajo name can literally best be translated as “walking like an animal on all fours” or “with this skin he walks like an animal”. In fact, the Navajo translate the word Yeenaldlooshii themselves into English as “skinwalker” or “skin-switcher”.

Some Indian tribes also refer to Skinwalkers as Ma'ii Tsoh , which actually means “coyote” or “big wolf”, but also “witch”. The Navajo themselves translate the word Ma'ii Tsoh symbolically as “wolf man” or “wolf man”, but usually also mean coyotes and wolves as animals. In Navajo ceremonies , transformed wolves and coyotes are known as naatl'eetsoh . This is also a suitcase word made up of na'atleh ("to become something"), tl'ee ("trot" or "walk") and ts'ooh ("the big one" or "man").

description

Appearance

Most often, the skinwalker should appear in the form of coyotes and / or wolves. Allegedly, it then attracts attention by its unnatural size and its bright irides . Other skinwalkers are said to have great external similarities with modern werewolf descriptions : They then appear in the form of a who-animal, with the body and legs of a human and with the head and paws of a coyote or wolf. The Skinwalker can also walk and run upright on two legs in animal form; it should then be very fast and agile. Many anecdotes claim that they can also speak as animals. Skinwalkers can allegedly also appear in the form of recently deceased family members.

Emergence

A skinwalker is usually said to be the work of an older woman who works as a witch. Often she is said to be in the service of a shaman, in some traditions the shaman himself exercises black magic. Both should have the ability to take possession of animals, but also of people, in order to control them and use them for mostly criminal tasks, or to hunt people and indulge their cannibalistic desires. In order to acquire the ability to take possession, the witch or shaman withdraws into a cave, puts on an animal or human skin and performs a certain ritual. This should include the fact that the summoner has previously committed a particularly heinous crime, especially incest , murder of one's own family and / or cannibalism . An experienced summoner can supposedly turn other people into skinwalkers. While wearing the fur or the skin, the skinwalker created in this way should be able to transform into the animal or person from whom the fur or skin originates.

behavior

Skinwalkers who are supposed to be in the service of a witch or a shaman are allegedly used as spies and / or contract killers: The possessed sneaks into a designated village at night and peers through the window - if he finds one that is open, the skinwalker climbs not infrequently set up and wreak havoc or attack residents. Alternatively, he silently climbs onto the roof of the Hogan , cleverly damages it and sprinkles a poisonous powder ("magic powder") through the openings (or through skylights). This “magic powder” is supposed to consist of the bones of murdered children and drive the victim insane, bring him misfortune or even kill him.

Other skinwalkers who are not under the spell of a summoner (i.e. those with free will) are said to like to roam around cemeteries at night and plunder graves in order to either eat the corpses of recently buried people ( necrophagy ) or to sexually assault them ( Necrophilia ). Other skinwalkers should show themselves in the form of recently deceased family members in order to lure away and attack individual, specifically selected victims (mostly children). Other skinwalkers should make fun of following lonely hikers at night and chasing them away.

Cultural backgrounds

Both human and supernatural shapeshifters are known and feared by indigenous peoples in a surprising number of cultures. In the case of the skinwalker , many ethnic groups see the being as the result of a powerful curse that has been placed on a particular person, mostly as a punishment for a serious crime. Or the summoner puts the curse on himself. Persons (especially members of the tribe) who commit murder and / or incest can be accused of witchcraft and persecuted. Not only the Navajo report the existence of skinwalkers, but also the Hopi and occasionally the Zuñi .

Shapeshifters appear already in the first creation myths . In the traditional Navajo doctrine of origin, all life has a divine beginning. That “primeval world” or “first world” was initially reserved for the gods and ancestors and it produced four new worlds. Especially in the second world ( underworld ) the “first man”, the “first woman” and the “two big coyotes” appeared. And they all knew magic, practiced witchcraft and passed it on through incest . Incest, murder and / or similar shameful crimes would make people evil enough to use rituals to give them black magic powers. Shamanism and witchcraft are deeply rooted in the Navajo (and many other Indian peoples) beliefs. Skinwalkers and witches are seen as “natural counterparts” to healers and shamans. But they are also considered a mythological representation of breaking taboos , chaos and lies .

The skinwalkers represent an extreme: By (allegedly) desecrating corpses and / or attacking people to (fr) eat their meat, they violate the greatest social and religious taboos within various Indian communities. The Hopi and Sioux report something similar, but they also know about "good wolf people". These are supposed to accompany their summoner in order to protect him, or they are sent out to escort members of the tribe in a protective manner. In fact, in the Hopi, Sioux and Cherokee cultures, the wolf in particular tends to have positive connotations .

The Navajo seem to be an exception in this regard: they fear wolves and coyotes from the outset as "witches in disguise". It is noticeable that they refer to wolves as well as coyotes as Ma'ii Tsoh ( Eng . "Big wolf"). The original word Ma'ii stands for both "coyote" and "witch". In any case, coyotes are so common and "popular" as feasting animals because in the traditions of many Indian peoples they are primarily viewed as tricksters who want to harm people. The Navajo and Hopi in particular see coyotes as “messengers of doom, whose words and saliva poison everything they breathe”. Obsessed coyotes are even capable of human speech. Although the Navajo especially fear coyotes because of their supernatural powers, they regard the animal as a necessary part of creation and thus as "sacred". They therefore regard killing a coyote as a crime .

All traditions have in common the way in which a skinwalker is supposed to be created: by wearing or slipping on animal or human skin. In general, skin is a powerful ritual and magic tool in shaman and witch circles. Depending on the spirit of the magician and / or conjurer, both white and black magic can be cast with bewitched skin. Such “ transformation magic ” can be traced back to long-standing hunting and initiation rites, which are intended to allow particularly deserved and high-ranking hunters and shamans to become one with nature and the wild animals to be hunted. The desired effect, which is to be achieved through the transformation, is the acquisition of certain skills and instincts of the chosen fetish animal. In addition to coyotes and wolves , owls , crows , foxes and grizzly bears are other popular fetish animals. It should be noted that the witch or shaman selects his fetish animal according to its most outstanding abilities: crows and owls, for example, are considered good scouts , wolves and coyotes are fast runners and hunters.

In line with this, skinwalkers are also discussed in various ways in the hunting myths and legends of the Navajo. Older Navajo people hand down and tell each other numerous anecdotes and legends in which skinwalkers allegedly haunted their villages, were scared off and finally hunted. Most of these narratives end lightly, with the protagonist narrowly escaping . Other stories end tragically: the protagonist climbs after the skinwalker and has to discover that he has been lured out of the village and that his family has meanwhile been wiped out by other skinwalkers. In yet other anecdotes, a group of hunters accidentally come across a Skinwalker, chase after him, and never return.

Modern receptions

Many traditional Navajo and Hopi children's fairy tales have skinwalkers as their theme. In earlier times, these were mostly passed down orally within individual families . Similar to modern fairy tales, the Skinwalker legends contain certain moral chapels : They are supposed to encourage children and young people to never give in to evil and not to try their hand at black magic. Such horror stories should also prevent the children from going it alone at night. Hence, such (and similar) traditions for the Navajo and Hopi have not only a narrative but also an educational value. Today's tradition takes place orally and in writing. And even today, many Navajo and Hopi children and teenagers are said to believe in Skinwalker. In more modern legends , especially from the USA, the skinwalker is often equated with werewolves and described accordingly. This equation is facilitated by the Navajo's most common description of a “classic” skinwalker as a “hybrid of human and coyote / wolf”. Most of the alleged eyewitness reports deal with near-collisions between motorists and skinwalkers on deserted country roads and highways .

The eerie and threatening nature of the skinwalker is often taken up and discussed in horror films , in fiction and in computer games :

Horror films (selection)
Novels (selection)
Computer games (selection)
  • Skinwalker , RPG horror game by SnowOwl Creators .

literature

  • Margaret K. Brady, “Some Kind of Power”: Navajo Children's Skinwalker Narratives . University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City 1984, ISBN 0874802385 .
  • Keith Cunningham: American Indians' kitchen-table stories: contemporary conversations with Cherokee, Sioux, Hopi, Osage, Navajo, Zuni, and members of other nations . August House Publishers, Indiana 1992, ISBN 0874832039 .
  • Steve Pavlik, William Tsosie: Navajo and the Animal People: Native American Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Ethnozoology . Fulcrum Publishing, Golden 2014, ISBN 1938486668 .
  • Mary Shepardson, Bodwen Hammond: The Navajo Mountain Community (= Navajo Indians: Social life and customs series). University of California Press, Berkeley 1970, ISBN 9780520015708 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 27-29.
  2. ^ A b Margaret K. Brady: “Some Kind of Power”. P. 67.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Steve Pavlik, William Tsosie: Navajo and the Animal People. Pp. 56-59 and 61-62.
  4. ↑ Steve Pavlik, William Tsosie: Navajo and the Animal People. P. 94.
  5. ^ A b Margaret K. Brady: “Some Kind of Power”. Pp. 31-34.
  6. ↑ a b c Keith Cunningham: American Indians' kitchen-table stories. P. 92 and 154.
  7. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 21-23.
  8. ^ A b Mary Shepardson, Bodwen Hammond: The Navajo Mountain Community . Pp. 141-144.
  9. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". P. 23 and 71.
  10. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". P. 55.
  11. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 122-124.
  12. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". P. 29.
  13. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 38-40.
  14. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 21-23.
  15. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power". Pp. 23-27 and 86-89.
  16. ↑ Margaret K. Brady: "Some Kind of Power" . Pp. 92-94.
  17. ↑ Wesley Treat, Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman: Weird Arizona: Your Travel Guide to Arizona's Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets (= Weird Series , Volume 1). Sterling, New York 2007, ISBN 1402739389 , p. 87.
  18. ↑ Skinwalker in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  19. ↑ Skinwalker in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  20. ↑ Skinwalker in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  21. ↑ Tony Hillerman: Skinwalkers - A Leaphorn and Chee Novel . HarperCollins Publishers LLC, New York City 2009, ISBN 0061796719 .
  22. ↑ Tracy Cooper-Posey: Skinwalker's Bane (= The Endurance , 6th volume). Cooper-Posey, Toronto 2017, ISBN 9781772632972 .
  23. ↑ Faith Hunter: Skinwalker - Curse of the Blood . LYX, Cologne 2012, ISBN 3802587189 .
  24. ↑ Skinwalker from SnowOwl on gamejolt.com (English).
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on August 25, 2018 .