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]. WebBat (goddess) Read Bat became the emblem on a sistrum, related to Hathor and which appears on the top of columns of her main temple of Denderah This painted terracotta Naqada figure of a woman is interpreted as representing Bat, c. 35003400 B.C. 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. Between 1985 and 1994, they were removed from the protected fauna list in Queensland. Our tax ID number is 74-2553144. Lately, education seems to have some effect, and more and more people have started to appreciate how useful and amazing bats truly are. Between 1981 and 1989, approximately 13,000 fruit bat bodies were imported into Guam for human consumption every year. Many spirits are associated with geographical features, such as mountains, rivers, wells, trees, and springs. Most students wanted to participate in bat conservation activities, including some students who disliked bats. Bats - Disease-Prone but Beneficial, Reviewed: December 23rd, 2021 Published: January 18th, 2022, Total Chapter Downloads on intechopen.com. Thus, more famine relief food aid is desperately needed to reduce the bush meat use during the food crises, which are nearly annual in the region [22]. Nandi Bear. Bats lead us to the best opportunities to protect nature anywhere in the world. Fruit growers may view fruit bats as crop pests [71]. Folklore from Fiji, in the South Pacific, tells us that flying foxes originated when a rat stole the wings of a heron, while another Fijian tale relates that it was the rat that first had wings while flying foxes walked on four legs. The bat told him that whenever he made soup he always boiled himself in the water because his flesh was so sweet. The five-chambered cave hosts the worlds largest known colony of the Geoffroys Rousette Fruit Bat, Rousettus amplexicaudatus, with an estimated 1.82 million individuals [76]. I am a mouse, not a bird! The weasel looked at the bat and agreed it was a mouse and released it. 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]. 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.
Dragon 11022198. WebAfrican bats fall into two major categories: large fruit bats and smaller, insect-eating bats, neither of which attacks people. People often perceive bats as anomalous or ambiguous creatures, different from more normal animals.
BATS and the Netherworld African Bats Their prayers were answered, but only in part; they were given teeth, hair, and human faces, but otherwise remained bird-like. Bats have been present in folklore and myth for quite some time. To date our community has made over 100 million downloads. The Moche people in Peru were aware of the connection between bats and plants. IntechOpen Limited In the old days, people used to think that bats were evil, and they would often try to kill them. A witch shape is believed to be capable to suck out the life of a sleeping man or woman [18]. 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]. As you can see, bats have been both persecuted and protected through the ages. There are also numerous stories and legends associated with the bat. 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. Its based on principles of collaboration, unobstructed discovery, and, most importantly, scientific progression. During the early days of the world, a bat and twelve insects revolved in the darkness. There are more than 1,300 bat species! However, more recently, the habit has become much more common. Spirits are less grand, less powerful, and less like humans than the gods, who often have weaknesses and emotions. 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]. Then he jumped into it and sat in it for a while and then climbed out. Bat Conservation International 2023. Zteve enjoys researching deep into the folklore, myths and legends that run through society and are part of our everyday lives. In the Far East, particularly China, the Bat represents good fortune and longevity. They are unquestionably weird beings, appearing as half birds and half rodents, as if they came from a nightmare realm. This association between giant bats and vampires continues to the present day through popular fiction and cinema (Figure 1). Despite its scientific name, it feeds exclusively on fruits, nectar, and flowers and not blood (Figure 6) [70]. The flying fox obtained his wings when he borrowed them from the rat and refused to return them. As messengers for the forces of darkness, they become evil omens. In shamanism, the bat as well as being a symbol of death and rebirth is able to guide people through the dark times of their lives. Photo credit: Raniel Jose Castaneda creative commons Wikimedia credit as in Figure 7. Bat in the Cultures of the World | Gotham in . Emiong knew he was in trouble and flew off into the bush. Sometimes bats are husbands as in a Mataco lore from Argentina. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. Africa. 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. These birds went to temples and prayed to be turned into humans. Many paintings from western Europe in the middle ages depict the devil with bat wings. - Among the rambling stories and folklore that make up the tales of the Australian Aboriginal Dream-time, there is one of a confrontation between Tjinimin the Bat God and the Great Rainbow-Snake. These animals are nocturnal creatures that sleep during the day and come out at night to hunt for food. 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]. Appearing as half bird, half mammal at the edge of day and night they are seen as liminal beings and not part of the natural order. 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]. The general attitude is that the flying fox is part of the forest, and the vast majority support the protection of Pteropus samoensis and P. tonganus [45]. Large-bodied old-world fruit bats, like this Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus, are disproportionally targeted to be hunted for bushmeat.
African People sometimes think of them as blind, bloodthirsty flying mice. In the Punjab, northern India, magicians use bat bones to prepare their concoctions, and with the bat blood, they write amulets for malevolent and antisocial magic. A variety of methods have been used to harass and kill these harmless and beneficial creatures, and some people have even gone so far as to dynamite caves and abandoned mines where bats roost or hibernate [64]. When you stand with us, your donation will support critical bat conservation initiatives. In ancient Egypt it was believed bats could alleviate or cure many ailments including baldness, fever toothache and poor eyesight. This ethnic group in Africa is known for its Bat Myths and Folktales from Around the World. 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]. Photo credit: Masteraah. During this time eating food between sunrise and sunset is forbidden. Because mountains obscured the western sky, Jesus could not tell when the sun set. Vampires. When a truce is declared, the bat is rejected by both sides because of this deceitful behavior. 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.) Nevertheless, it is still a strongly sinister characteristic linking them closely to vampirism. However, modern science, and hence western Europe, really only learned about them as we traveled out to the tropical world. Photo credit: Public domain creative commonsWikimedia. Bats are found almost everywhere on Earth! This ability, coupled with the ability to navigate at night by using a system of acoustic orientation (echolocation), has made the bats a highly diverse and populous order. Some bats also pollinate flowers and help disperse seeds. Photo credit: [7] Roy Kabanlit creative commonsWikimedia https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. Bats prefer a variety of daytime hideaways, including rock crevices, caves, old buildings, mines, bridges, and trees. At the end of the story, Tjinimin hangs upside-down in a tree to admire the stars and decides never to try having sex with anyone againwhereupon his nose falls off. In the terminology of folklorists, bats are liminal; they dont fit into the normal order of things and are somehow apart or in-between. According to the Serer myth, the creation of the earth began from a swamp. Theyre passive components, not active agents of change. By making research easy to access, and puts the academic needs of the researchers before the business interests of publishers. When his wife returned she saw the pot was still boiling and no sign of her husband. Home > The lack of feathers, presence of teeth, and activity at night are rooted in basic biology and natural history. 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 first two references are Leviticus 11:19 and Deuteronomy 14:18. In other parts of the world, fruit bats are occasionally hunted in small numbers.
Bat They were believed to destroy trees and damage fruits in gardens. Company registered in England & Wales, no. In Malaysia, ethnic Han Chinese, non-Muslim indigenous groups, and ethnic Malays hunt flying foxes and trade them to the Chinese [27]. From Sierra Leone comes an account of the gruesome habits of the Hammer-headed Fruit Bat Hypsignathus monstrosus. What are they? https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/de/legalcode. In medieval Europe, dragons were usually depicted with wings and a barbed tail and as breathing fire. (Above is from a variety of African mythology not just Sub-Saharan, but it's also the tiniest fraction of it) 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. 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]. 2022 The Author(s). Books > The Symbolism of a Bat. 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. Montfort bat cave entrance in the Philippines with the numerous Geoffroys Rousette fruit bats Rousettes amplexicaudatus. On Mochica pottery, a bat is depicted with the Sweetsop Annona squamosa, a common fruit also known as Sugar Apple or Pinha, the seeds of which are dispersed by bats [51, 52]. 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.
Bat Bats have also been associated with blood-sucking vampires and other dark creatures in stories and movies. While the English term batty denotes mad in a reasonably innocuous sense. With the help of the bat and the flying squirrel, the birds won the ball game, with the agile bat scoring the winning goal. The artificial bat became a shorthand for horror in 1931, jiggled on a fishing line behind a Hungarian-American actor Bla Ferenc Dezs Blask, known professionally as Bela Lugosi in the genre-defining movie Dracula. Creative commonsWikimedia. Liminality aside, many of these myths have obvious roots in the real features of bats. See my wings. The weasel replied, Well, so you are! and let the bat go. Shockingly, US news media recently reported shortages of Halloween decorationsplastic bats among them, doubtlessdue to the world supply crunch [63]. Whereas in China, it was a sign of good fortune. Myth 2: MicroBats are Small, and Megabats are big Bats are broadly divided into two categories, Megachiropetra which are Old World fruit bats, and Michrochiropetra that are echolocating bats. People would sometimes even burn down whole colonies of bats because they thought that this would stop the spread of disease. It is at this time when the veil between this world and the otherworld was believed to thin and a state of liminality existed. In many cultures, they are seen as symbols of good luck, while in others they are seen as omens of bad news. 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 . Bats can be found practically everywhere on the planet, including most parts of the United States. 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 was called Boman, and it was able to turn into a stone or a snake at will. This suggests that the Asia-Pacific region and its cultures contain far more positive associations with bats than most European or American societies and, as such, offer promising examples and opportunities to promote human-bat coexistence.
10 brilliant bat facts 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. and Folkrealm Studies. Do you know the difference between fact and fiction when it comes to bats? They belong to the Order Chiroptera. They then appealed to the eagle, the captain of the bird team. Creative commonsWikimedia. Bats appear in numerous myths throughout the world and are frequently connected with death, darkness, and the supernatural. 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. The third reference is in Isaiah 2:20. GET INVOLVED! Males are called Kelb-el-khela, and females are called Tarhst. Men hunt and consume bats more often than women who have fears that consuming bat meat would give them strange or deformed children. But it should come as no surprise that bats figure in most ancient mythologies. In the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, spirits, devils, and witches had their general name Bitaboh, wood-goblins being specially called Ronga. All the bats were comprehended under the same name, especially the Yellow-winged Bat Lavia frons, formerly Megaderma frons, which flutters about from tree to tree in broad daylight [18]. A bat-headed figure from Costa Rica made by pre-Colombian Diquis people sometimes between 700 and 1530AD.
African Cryptids: 9 Mysterious Monsters of Africa 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. Here, using documented narratives, surveys, popular literature, and cinema, we will explore the various myths, legends, and attitudes to bats from around the world. These names can be misleading as often, megabats can be smaller while microbats can be bigger. Many people still believe this to be true in Mexico. A little later the same bat was caught by another weasel and begged for mercy. In Thailand, bat meat or blood is eaten for muscle pain, increasing virility and longevity [36]. 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]. Bats use a form of echolocation to navigate in the dark and to find their prey. Muslims and Seventh Day Adventists did not consume bat meat. The remaining cultures had combinations of positive, neutral, and negative values. Bat guano provides one reason for the fertility associations [56]. The bat was central to Maya religion and social structure. The bat flew to a nearby cave, but each evening it emerged at sunset, telling Jesus that it was time to take food [see Bats and the Netherworld, BATS, Summer 1993; also, see this same article for the converse notion that the devil created bats.). considers bat as harm meaning that it is forbidden as food. In shamanism, the bat as well as being a symbol of death and rebirth is able When capturing its prey, it grabs the neck, sometimes killing the prey with a single powerful bite [51, 52]. One reason not to kill bats is that female bats have breasts and are mothers like human females [25]. Halloween. In its entire history, the state of New York has recorded only one case of bat-transmitted rabies [64]. Hun Batz Facts and Figures Name: Hun Batz Pronunciation:
Belief systems of people have always been closely related to animals, which are symbolized in traditional narratives. On the other hand, the body fat of Indian Flying Fox is used to make massage oil to cure rheumatic pains, while drinking water from a bats wing is said to sharpen ones memory [30]. The north coast of Peru is one of the South American regions where bat iconography is particularly prominent [51]. In Nagaland between 7000 and 25,000 cave-dwelling bats (Cave Nectar Bat Eonycteris spelaea, Great Roundleaf Bat Hipposideros armiger, and Leschenaults Rousette Rousettus leschenaultii) have been annually harvested until recently [73]. 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.
Bat That nailing a dead bat to your door will protect you from demons, That putting a drop of bats blood under a womans pillow will help her be fruitful. They also don't share behavior with rodents. Also, a Tacana woman in Bolivia was killing a bat while not realizing that it was her husband [34]. In Sri Lanka, it is believed that one may be reincarnated as a bat for denying another person drinking water [31]. WebBats typically live in deep underground caves, which symbolically is the belly of the Mother (Earth), and from these womb-like caves they emerge each evening at dusk - reborn. An old engraving of vampire bats described by early explorers such as John Stedman. In some places bats were seen more positively. In Western Europe, there existed an unfounded superstition that if a bat fell on a woman (who mostly had long hair back then), the bat would become so entangled in her hair that the hair would have to be cut off just to pull it out. 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. Besides hunting, the primary threats to bat species include habitat loss and degradation through logging. 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 police arrested 200 vigilante youth suspected of involvement in gangs that attacked persons allegedly engaged in vampirism. WebBat facts! Bat Conservation International 500 N Capital of TXHwy. The genus Pteropus was first described by Brisson in 1762 from specimens collected on the Reunion Islands. Bats are also seen as useful in Iran, India, and Pakistan because people are collecting bat guano as a natural fertilizer. The bat populations in Malaysia are decreasing in 26% of species and only 15% are still stable. It remains to be seen, however, how effectively the further education efforts could halt or even reverse the decline of the bats around the world. Flying foxs emergence time is believed in Myanmar to indicate the weather: an early or no emergence foretells a coming storm. The myths grew with the 1927 stage production which further associated Dracula with bats. There is a Japanese word for bat, komori, which is said to mean mosquito slaughterer. In Japanese mythology, very old bats can transform into nobusuma, spirit animals resembling flying squirrels that land on their victims faces at night to feed off blood [43]. Because of the mouses pious respect for the holy wafer, God gave it wings so that it would be able to find plenty of food in the future. Most often, they are seen only at night. 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. Not only do they prey upon insects that are harmful to agriculture, but they also prey upon mosquitoes and other virus-carrying insects and play a major role in pollinating and spreading the seeds of many of the fruits we enjoy. Bats, being seen as liminal creatures, were believed to be able to cross this barrier. More than 1,200 species are currently recognized, and many are enormously abundant. Bats, at least the ones that originate from North-western Europe, look a bit like mice with wings. Bats in the house mean a death in the house or is a sign that the occupants will soon be leaving. He told her he would make some tasty soup like Emiong had taught him for when she returned. BUSTED! In southwest Asia, the bat is predominantly perceived as a strange, negative, and demonic animal that should be avoided. The Adjule is also called a Bush Dog. Hundreds of thousands of bats were needlessly exterminated during the last two decades of the 20th century. 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. He then pretended to demonstrate exactly how he did this. The widespread sacrificial association derives largely from the habits of the Common Vampire Bat that feeds exclusively on the blood of vertebrates (Figure 5). We love to hear from our readers.
Bat A legend tells that in Fiji, a giant white vampire bat acts as a messenger, and one finds bats as gods in both Tikopian and Tongan myths. Throughout Southeast Asia, bats are associated with luck and good fortune and used as spiritual totems [6, 27]. dragon, in the mythologies, legends, and folktales of various cultures, a large lizard- or serpent-like creature, conceived in some traditions as evil and in others as beneficent. In Africa, bats were credited with high intelligence. Bats feature in many myths, legends and folklore from diverse cultures around the world, and are often associated with darkness, death and the supernatural. 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. Despite positive associations toward bats, they are widely consumed as food and medicine throughout Asia, except in Brunei and Singapore. People in Vanuatu consider Pacific Flying Fox Pteropus tonganus as their ancestor and claim to be able to communicate with them [46].
Bat myths As with that other iconic nocturnal creature, the owl, the bat has a myriad of very strange old wives tales and superstitions surrounding it [15]. Therefore, they would only come out at night, spending the daylight hours praying to be transformed back into birds.
Bats 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]. The king ordered that Emiong be arrested and thrown into prison. From a magical standpoint, bats are associated with workings related to death and dying, communication, and the spirit world. This apparent ambiguity in the nature of bats is seen in many folktales about how they came to be in the first place and how they acquired their various features. Bats in a church during a wedding ceremony is a bad omen. It could swoop up a whole dugout and everything in it, she told him, with a face of deliberate seriousness. Here, we review documented narratives and surveys from around the world and our ethnographic observations from Europe to analyze beliefs associated with bats.
African Mythology - 15 Myths And Legends That Will In Isaiah 2:19-21, bats are connected with wilderness and heathenism: People will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from the fearful presence of the Lord and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. There are several instances where bats were killed in large numbers. 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. 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. Many mythological stories from different cultures have been passed down throughout the years about bats. How? 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. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode. In Malawi, negative bat superstitions caused recently quite disproportionate behavior when rural people in southern parts of the country killed nine people accusing them to be vampire bats [23]. This Order name means hand-wing as the bats can hold food between their forearms. 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. Large, often man-eating, bats are found in Hawaiian traditions, and there is even a legend of an eight-eyed bat in Hawaii. WebLegendary creatures from African mythology.
BATS and the Netherworld Both African-Americans and those of European descent from around the United States frequently maintain that Surprisingly little folklore exists specifically about Vampire bats, and Pre-Columbian erotic scenes do not involve bats although some folklore portrays female bats as alluring to men. American Indian legends and the fables of Aesop were more than just stories recited around the campfire or bathhouse: they were teaching devices. A bat flying into a building means that is going to rain. In India, bats are revered in many areas, but still large bat-harvesting festivals take place. A noctule bat Nyctalus noctula, a long-eared bat Plecotus auritus, a Natters bat Myotis nattereri and a Daubentons bat Myotis daubentonii. On the other hand, the Tupinamba people believed that the planet would be eaten by a bat at the end of time. Greeks and Romans often referred to people who were active at night as bats. Apparently many of these people had adopted nocturnal behavior to avoid those to whom they owed money. 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]. 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.