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Barbados

The Heart Man

A man who carves peoples hearts out (especially those of the ever popular disobedient children in folkloric stories) and gives them to the devil. Some claim he has no heart of his own and this is why he takes people’s hearts.

Baccoo

A tiny, bearded man in a bottle who is said to be able to do great feats of magic for his owner.

Steel Donkey

A humanoid donkey that also dragged chains behind it.

In reply to nick2020

T&T

'La Diablesse'

(Lajabless), the Devil Woman, roams at night. She has eyes like burning coals and a face resembling that of a corpse, but hides it under a beautiful wide-brimmed hat and a veil over her face. She is dressed exquisitely in a blouse with puffy sleeves and long, petticoat, skirts.


'Douen'

(Dwen) The Douen is a character from Trinidad and Tobago folklore, it is believed they are the lost souls of children that had not yet been baptized or christened. Their most recognized characteristic are their feet that are said to be backwards, with the heel facing the front.


'Emir'

(Arm Hair),a real fukin pain most of the time,old like coals with rheumatic joints and long unkept nails and hairs, he roams diaspora message boards trying to murder T&T's rep! A dose of haul yuh cornt usually keeps him away,then he agreeably goes away for a short time,only to attack again when one's least expecting it. In a twisted way most of the times condemning his threads by way of a reply is what usually breathes it to life in the first place,best to ignore and see him fade away.


'Soucouyant'

(Sookoonyeah) The soucouyant is a shape-shifting character who appears as a reclusive old woman by day. By night, she strips off her wrinkled skin and puts it in a mortar. In her true form, as a fireball she flies across the dark sky in search of a victim. The soucouyant can enter the home of her victim through any sized hole like cracks, crevices and keyholes.

In reply to nick2020

Ask Powen bout de heartman. They say his grandfather was one. Used to frighten people up dey in St. John

Think there is any truth to these stories?

In reply to bravos

Both Guyana and Barbados have a "Baccoo" folklore.

In reply to bravos

In reply to black

This should be your thread though..

In reply to nick2020

In Trinidad we call dem buck...but even so it's known as a Guyanese thing...but we call dem buck.."he hah he buck under he counter"

Oh it could take shape of a pen in your pocket too..

I wish I had a buck though..have been accused already..

In reply to bravos

Which is the one that sucks your blood? One a dem run my mother from Trinidad a long time ago. She woke up one morning with a puncture in her skin. Left TNT the same day saying the next one that comes will have to find here in Barbados.

In reply to Walco

Well I hear my dad and uncle fought and beat one long time and run it...lol.

Soucouyant tales. Would post others..

In reply to bravos

bravos yuh family beat up an old lady?

In reply to nick2020

hahahahahhahahahahaha!!!



**edited No 'ah' old lady'...

In reply to bravos

You think 'Soucouyant' really existed? Because if not dem beat up gran gran.

In reply to nick2020

I think they all had too much to drink,including the old lady who tripped onto the big kerosene lantern in the lighthouse ,slipped over the balcony railing and in a ball of fire crashed into a couple houses in the village at the bottom of the hill on that very windy night.

In reply to bravos

In reply to black

Hmmm so this is a copy cat case...we havta get some copycat repellent asap..

I only have Che repellent..maybe there should be a broad spectrum Bajan repellent?

'Kanaima", also in Guyana. Amerindian evil forest person or spirit. May live in water, and may be a bloodsucker. Could be invisible and take on animal form.

"Bacoo" - already mentioned. The word means "Little brother" or "Little person" in some West African languages. Said to be forever bitter and to possess magical powers, but needs to have a master. He apparently lives a very long time too.

If he does not have a master, the bacoo goes into hiding and falls into a deep sleep until disturbed. The person waking up the bacoo runs the risk of being tormented endlessly if he or she does not accept "ownership" of the bacoo.

The torment would include sleepless nights because of plenty of eerie noise, the breaking of things hurled violently against walls, and bad luck of all sorts.

Bacoo "care" includes feeding and clothing, with milk and banana being the favorite food.

"Obeah" is a river god in parts of West Africa (mostly Nigeria and Benin), also possessing magical powers. Some magical power was also conferred on worshipers of Obeah. In Guyana, the Obeahman comes without the river god, but the connection to West African tradition is obvious.

Folklore is cultural and ethnic history, with far more than the mere entertainment value it is usually ascribed in the Caribbean.

Ole higue used to suck lil children blood at night. Yuh had to sprinkle rice grains around the children bed or something like that. For some reason the ole higue would have to stop and count the rice grains. And if yuh wake up and ketch her counting is licks in she tail.

In the Yard there was the Rolling Calf.

Sorry that I have no details.

In reply to Drapsey

Rolling calf or Humble Calf?

In reply to sudden

Rolling. The way I heard it.

In reply to JohnDoe

The Old Higue sheds her skin and places it in a calabash, hops onto a broom and flies off to some home with an infant, preferably a newborn. She would then suck the baby's blood, and would return to this activity from time to time.
The desperate mother would have to hide a pair of scissors under the baby's pillow. The scissors would somehow deter or harm the Old Higue. Since she was said to be unable to cross a line of salt, this was another surefire way o defend the home against her.
Best of all though, if you found the Old Higue's calabash with her skin, you should grab a stick and wait for her to return, since sunlight will kill her if she has no skin.
A sound trashing will kill her too, which is totally acceptable and not considered murder! Many old women have been beaten to death in villages decades ago, for being Old Higues, allegedly.
Before being able to get back into her skin, the Old Higue must sing a special song and dance for the skin, which would only go back to its owner if it recognizes her. This, of course, could be risky for the Old Higue, who is very vulnerable to both sunlight and beatings without her skin.
The Old Higue was able to become a ball of fire at times, while flying.
The Old Higue folklore seems to have originated among the Portuguese.

In reply to Norm

Your spin to warding off ole higue is different from what I know and sounds kinda dangerous. Placing a scissors under an infant's pillow???

Never heard of salt either but I guess that could work in place of rice. The thing is she had to pick up each grain and place it in her hand while she was counting them. Inevitably the hand she's holding the grains with would get full and they would fall back to the floor and she would have to start counting all over again. An impossible task which for whatever reason she couldn't abandon and guaranteed she would get ketch when the adults woke up.

But look at me debating like if any of this is real.

Ole Kai after whom Kaieteur falls was named.

Ole Kai is an old man who sacrificed himself to the great spirit Makonaima to save his people by paddling over the falls.

The legend of Ole Kai was resurrected with the recent rash of young women jumping over the falls. Folks claimed they were drawn by the spirit of Ole Kai which still dwells beneath the falls.

In reply to bravos

In reply to black

Link?

In reply to bravos

Well I tell mi muddah dat I dint believ her story and it wuz probably di lady she stayed wid who did dat during her sleep. She did not care who it was. She was on a boat to Barbados post haste

In reply to JohnDoe

In reply to Walco



Lol yeh boy they talk about them as everyday fact..

In reply to JohnDoe

Somehow they all seem to be vulnerable to a good cut ass !

In reply to nick2020

In reply to black

which country have the cunning spider?

and the old man, the guardian of the forest?

The Bajan "Heart Man" and "Steel
Donkey" have much in common with Yard's "Black Heart Man" and "Rolling Calf". Rolling calf was said to be a bull in the form of a ball of fire pulling a huge chain around its neck that would make a lot of noise as the bull cruised around in the middle of the night. Check Bunny Wailer's tune "Black Heart Man", to know what the Black Heart Man is about.

In reply to cricketest

I dunno but T&T have Papa Bois!

In reply to sudden

i was here deadding at Bravos post that lashing at Emir...and then see your blasphemy bout my Grandpappy!

Too bad BIM didn't have a GUTS-MAN...yours could ve been reduced by now

In reply to cricketest

In reply to powen001

In reply to pelon

Kweku Ananse is the original spiderman

Speaking of fables and folklore:

I have also heard of many many stories about "De Devil". In almost all the islands really.

Apparently, you can blame everything evil on him. Take peoples soul and makes them do BADDDD things. As the mythology goes, the only way to avoid the devil is to give yourself to god and "live good"

These fables and folklore have given mankind guidance - though fear - for millenniums. They are all beautiful.

In reply to bravos

OMG!!! The guy is acting dumb, it was not that long ago.

No big deal!

I always loved me some good Ber Anansi stories found in West Indian Readers. Those books are no longer circulated in schools which I find sad and counter productive in fostering our own caribbean culture.

I believe that in most English speaking Islands in the Region people
know about Ber Anansi .

One of the tales that was interesting , is that Ber Anansi claimed that he
could drink hot water and would be
unharmed after drinking the Hot water .
So the hot water was boiling hot , he told them it was not hot enough , so it was to be placed out in the Sun to get hotter . Obviously we all know
what happened .

Anansi was always known for being a very clever person filled with all sorts of Tricks and deceitfulness .

One ah mi bredrin in Jamaica tells this story about a local judge in a Spanish Town courthouse handing down a sentence to a criminal defendant and throwing the book at him. All of a sudden a bull frog (or crappo in Bajan parlance) hops into the doorway with a bell dangling from its neck.

The stunned judge and everyone else in the courthouse stared for about 30 seconds as the frog just sat there in the middle of the courthouse entrance. Hear di judge: "Ahm ... ummm ... on second thought, the court finds the defendant not guilty. Case dismissed."

Some serious obeahman business dat

In reply to Walco

Potent tool. Mission accomplished I suppose.

In reply to pelon

Thanks Pelon

Your opinion usually has weight...barring the Mystery of the God head

In reply to POINT

In reply to powen001

sounds more like Meeeeah

In reply to sudden

ha ha ha ha ha ha

Brer...equates to Masculine..

I know your tolerance and tastes doesn't differentiate but Brer is short for BROTHER...

MEEAH is still a woman...regardless of what you think

In reply to powen001

i think you get the point. BTW which bathroom does Meeeeah use

In reply to steveo

One of the best for me was V.S Naipauls BROTHER MAN.

but I digress...mind you...come to think of it...in that book he has not only the Christ like figure of Bro man but some Obeah too ent?

A nice list from mudland showing what they look like with in-depth explanations

The Moongazer was a funny guy

In reply to Kay

ha ha ha ha

almost in 3-D!!

T&T FOLKLORE

Includes those that bravos already mentioned


It also have Leggo Beast. Ah go let bravos explain dah one....

In reply to bravos
And speaking of folklore..........yuh ever get trap so?

In reply to imusic

quite a few are repeated in Bimshire too...but ahm..let me see if we have one of those webpages...Bajans cant be left out of this

heartman , bacco and duppies

all well known.

We used to have The Bread Van on evenings after school..

supposed Panel Van that carried around the heart man inside...would pull up and grab you and cut out your heart and eat it

ha ha ha ha ha ha

In reply to powen001

Soooooooooo...only ONE really "indigenous" to Bim. De ress wunna teef and claim as wunna own......as usual


The Heartman.....the Spooge of Bajan folklore

In reply to imusic

It have Leggo Beast in Babados tuh

And Jamaica

In reply to imusic

I think it is fascinating that there are similar manifestations of folklore in the different islands.

I think the squatting over a pot of food thing is Guyanese. I am not too familiar with Obeah practices but I bet there is overlap there too in what the local witch doctors did if you wanted someone to marry you.

I have had many arguments with people about this Baccoo thing. How can anyone believe that?

In reply to imusic

When yuh get a sweat rice all in de night you outside by de cook house looking fuh she..


Oh who doesn't like a lil leggo-beast,dem doh say no yinno!!

In reply to powen001

LMAO, too funny

In reply to powen001

boy, i still scare of the heartman and duppy

i could handle the bacco

In reply to JohnDoe

In reply to Walco

In reply to imusic

In reply to nick2020

In reply to Norm

These colourful stories will likely fade away as the next generation is not structured the same way we were.