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LYCANTHROPY (Gr. Man, wolf, avepwaos,...
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See also:LYCANTHROPY (Gr. See also:Man, See also:wolf, avepwaos, man) , a name employed (I) in folk-See also:lore for the liability or See also:power of a human being to undergo transformation into an See also:animal; (2) in See also:pathology for a See also:form of See also:insanity in which the patient believes that he is transformed into an animal and behaves accordingly. I. Although the See also:term lycanthropy properly speaking refers to See also:metamorphosis into a wolf (see See also:WERWOLF), it is in practice used of transformation into any animal. The Greeks also spoke of kynanthropy (KUwv, See also:dog); in See also:India and the See also:Asiatic islands the See also:tiger is the commonest form, in See also:North See also:Europe the See also:bear, in See also:Japan the See also:fox, in See also:Africa the See also:leopard or See also:hyena, sometimes also the See also:lion, in See also:South See also:America the See also:jaguar; but though there is a tendency for the most important carnivorous animal of the See also:area to take the first See also:place in stories and beliefs as to transformation, the less important beasts of See also:prey and even harmless animals like the See also:deer also figure among the wer-animals. Lycanthropy is often confused with transmigration; but the essential feature of the wer-animal is that it is the alternative form or the See also:double of a living human being, while the soul-animal is the vehicle, temporary or permanent, of the spirit of a dead human being. The See also:vampire is sometimes regarded as an example of lycanthropy; but it is in human form, sometimes only a See also:head, sometimes a whole See also:body, sometimes that of a living See also:person, at others of a dead man who issues nightly from the See also:grave to prey upon the living. Even if the See also:denotation of lycanthropy be limited to the animal-metamorphosis of living human beings, the beliefs classed together under this head are far from See also:uniform, and the term is somewhat capriciously applied. The transformation may be voluntary or involuntary, temporary or permanent; the weranimal may be the man himself metamorphosed, it may be his double whose activity leaves the real man to all See also:appearance unchanged, it may be his soul, which goes forth seeking whom it may devour and leaving its body in a See also:state of See also:trance; or it may be no more than the messenger of the human being, a real animal or a See also:familiar spirit, whose intimate connexion with its owner is shown by the fact that any injury to it is believed, by a phenomenon known as repercussion, to cause a corresponding injury to the human being. The phenomenon of repercussion, the power of animal See also:meta-morphosis, or of sending out a familiar, real or spiritual, as a messenger, and the supernormal See also:powers conferred by association with such a familiar, are also attributed to the magician, male and See also:female, all the See also:world over; and See also:witch superstitions are closely parallel to, if not identical with, lycanthropic beliefs, the occasional involuntary See also:character of lycanthropy beingalmost the See also:sole distinguishing feature. In another direction the phenomenon of repercussion is asserted to See also:manifest itself in connexion with the See also:bush-soul of the See also:West See also:African and the nagual of Central America; but though there is no See also:line of demarcation to be See also:drawn on logical grounds, the assumed power of the magician and the intimate association of the bush-soul or the nagual with a human being are not termed lycanthropy. Nevertheless it will be well to See also:touch on both these beliefs here. In North and Central America, and to some extent in West Africa, See also:Australia and other parts of the world, every male acquires at See also:puberty a tutelary spirit (see See also:DEMONOLOGY); in some tribes of See also:Indians the youth kills the animal of which he dreams in his See also:initiation fast; its claw, skin or feathers are put into a little bag and become his " See also:medicine " and must be care-fully retained, for a " medicine " once lost can never be replaced. In West Africa this relation is said to be entered into by means of the See also:blood See also:bond, and it is so See also:close that the See also:death of the animal causes the man to See also:die and See also:vice versa. Elsewhere the See also:possession of a tutelary spirit in animal form is the See also:privilege of the magician. In See also:Alaska the See also:candidate for magical powers has to leave the abodes of men; the See also:chief of the gods sends an See also:otter to meet him, which he kills by saying " 0 " four times; he then cuts out its See also:tongue and thereby secures the powers which he seeks. The See also:Malays believe that the See also:office of pawang (See also:priest) is only hereditary if the soul of the dead priest, in the form of a tiger, passes into the body of his son. While the familiar is often regarded as the alternative form of the magician, the nagual or bush-soul is commonly regarded as wholly distinct from the human being. Transitional beliefs, however, are found, especially in Africa, in which the power of transformation is attributed to the whole of the See also:population of certain areas. The See also:people of See also:Banana are said to See also:change themselves by magical means, composed of human embryos and other ingredients, but in their leopard form they may do no hurt to mankind under See also:pain of retaining for ever the beast shape. In other cases the change is supposed to be made for the purposes of evil magic and human victims are not prohibited. We can, therefore, draw no line of demarcation, and this makes it probable that lycanthropy is connected with nagualism and the belief in familiar See also:spirits, rather than with See also:metempsychosis, as Dr See also:Tylor argues, or with See also:totemism, as suggested by J. F. M'Lennan. A further See also:link is supplied by the Zulu belief that the magician's familiar is really a transformed human being; when he finds a dead body on which he can See also:work his spells without fear of See also:discovery, the wizard breathes a sort of See also:life into it, which enables it to move and speak, it being thought that some dead wizard has taken possession of it. He then See also:burns a hole in the head and through the See also:aperture extracts the tongue. Further spells have the effect of changing the revivified body into the form of some animal, hyena, See also:owl or See also:wild See also:cat, the latter being most in favour. This creature then becomes the wizard's servant and obeys him in all things; its chief use is, however, to inflict sickness and death upon persons who are disliked by its See also:master. Lycanthropy in Europe.—The wolf is the commonest form of the wer-animal (see WERWOLF), though in the north the bear disputes its pre-See also:eminence. In See also:ancient See also:Greece the dog was also associated with. the belief. See also:Marcellus of Sida, who wrote under the Antonines, gives an See also:account of a disease which befell people in See also:February; but a pathological state seems to be meant. Lycanthropy 'in Africa.—In See also:Abyssinia the power of transformation is attributed to the Boudas, and at the same See also:time we have records of pathological lycanthropy (see below). Blacksmiths are credited with magical powers in many parts of the world, and it is significant that the Boudas are workers in See also:iron and See also:clay ; in the Life of N. See also:Pearce (i. 287) a See also:European observer tells a See also:story of a supposed trans-formation which took place in his presence and almost before his eyes; but it does not appear how far See also:hallucination rather than coincidence must be invoked to explain the experience. The Wer-tiger of the See also:East Indies.—The Poso-Alfures of central See also:Celebes believe that man has three souls, the inosa, the angga and the tanoana. The inosa is the vital principle; it can be detected in the See also:veins and See also:arteries; it is given to man by one of the See also:great natural phenomena, more especially the See also:wind. The angga is the intellectual See also:part of man; its seat is unknown; after death it goes to the under-world, and, unlike the inosa, which is believed to be dissolved into its See also:original elements, takes possession of an immaterial body. The tanoana is the divine in man and after death returns to its See also:lord, Poewempala boeroe. It goes forth during See also:sleep, and all that it See also:sees it whispers into the See also:sleeper's See also:ear and then he dreams. According to another account, the tanoana is the sub-stance by which man lives, thinks and acts; the tanoana of man, See also:plants and animals is of the same nature. A man's tanoana can be strengthened by those of others; when the tanoana is See also:long away or destroyed the man See also:dies. The tanoana seems to be the soul of which lycanthropic feats are asserted. Among the Toradjas of central Celebes it is believed that a man's " inside " can take the form of a cat, wild See also:pig, See also:ape, deer or other animal, and afterwards resume human form; it is termed lamboyo. The exact relation of the lamboyo to the tanoana does not seem to be settled; it will be seen below that the view seems to vary. According to some the power of transformation is a See also:gift of the gods, but others hold that werwolfism is contagious and may be acquired by eating See also:food See also:left by a werwolf or even by leaning one's head against the same See also:pillar. The Todjoers hold that any one who touches blood becomes a werwolf. In accordance with this view is the belief that werwolfism can be cured; the See also:breast and See also:stomach of the werman must be rubbed and pinched, just as when any other witch See also:object has to be extracted. The patient drinks medicine, and the contagion leaves the body in the form of See also:snakes and See also:worms. There are certain marks by which a werman can be recognized. His eyes are unsteady and sometimes See also:green with dark shadows underneath. He does not sleep soundly and fireflies come out of his mouth. His lips remain red in spite of betel chewing, and he has a long tongue. The Todjoers add that his See also:hair stands on end. Some of the forms of the lamboyo are distinguishable from See also:ordinary animals by the fact that they run about among the houses; the werbuffalo has only one See also:horn, and the wer-pig transforms itself into an ants' See also:nest, such as hangs from trees. Some say that the werman does not really take the form of an animal himself, but, like the sorcerer, only sends out a messenger. The lamboyo attacks by preference solitary individuals, for he does not like to be observed. The victim feels sleepy and loses consciousness; the lamboyo then assumes human form (his body being, however, still at See also:home) and cuts up his victim, scattering the fragments all about. He then takes the See also:liver and eats it, puts the body together again, licks it with his long tongue and joins it together. When the victim comes to himself again he has no See also:idea that anything unusual has happened to him. He goes home, but soon begins to feel unwell. In a few days he dies, but before his death he is able sometimes to name the werman to whom he has fallen a victim. From this account it might be inferred that the lamboyo was identical with the tanoana; the See also:absence of the lamboyo seems to See also:entail a See also:condition of unconsciousness, and it can assume human form. In other cases, however, the lamboyo seems to be analogous to the familiar of the sorcerer. The Toradjas tell a story of how a man once came to a See also:house and asked the woman to give him a See also:rendezvous; it was See also:night and she was asleep; the question was put three times before the See also:answer was given " in the See also:tobacco See also:plantation." The See also:husband was awake, and next See also:day followed his wife, who was irresistibly drawn thither. The werman came to meet her in human form, although his body was engaged in See also:building a new house, and caused the woman to faint by stamping three times on the ground. Thereupon the husband attacked the werman with a piece of See also:wood, and the latter to See also:escape transformed himself into a See also:leaf ; this the husband put into a piece of See also:bamboo and fastened the ends so that he could not escape. He then went back to the See also:village and put the bamboo in the See also:fire. The werman said " See also:Don't," and as soon as it was burnt he See also:fell dead. in another See also:case a woman died, and, as her death was believed to be due to the malevolence of a werwolf, her husband watched by her body. For, like See also:Indian witches, the werwolf, for some See also:reason, wishes to revive his victim and comes in human form to carry off the See also:coffin. As soon as the woman was brought to life the husband attacked the werwolf, who transformed himself into a piece of wood and was burnt. The woman remained alive, but her murderer died the same night. According to a third form of the belief, the body of the werman is itself transformed. One evening a man left the hut in which a party were preparing to pass the night; one of his companions heard a deer and fired into the darkness. Soon after the man came back and said he had been shot. Although no marks were to be seen he died a few days later. In Central See also:Java we meet with another See also:kind of wer-tiger. The power of transformation is regarded as due to See also:inheritance, to the use of spells, to See also:fasting and will-power, to the use of charms, &c. See also:Save when it is hungry or has just cause for revenge it is not hostile to man; in fact, it is said to take its animal form only at night and to guard the plantations from wild pigs, exactly as the balams (magicians) of See also:Yucatan were said to guard the See also:corn See also:fields in animal form. Variants of this belief assert that the werman does not recognize his See also:friends unless they See also:call him by name, or that he goes out as a mendicant and transforms himself to take vengeance on those who refuse him See also:alms. Somewhat similar is the belief of the See also:Khonds; for them the tiger is friendly; he reserves his wrath for their enemies, and a man is said to take the form of a tiger in See also:order to wreak a just vengeance. Lycanthropy in South America.—According to K. F. P. v. Martins the kanaima is a human being who employs See also:poison to carry out his See also:function of blood avenger; other authorities represent the kanaima as a jaguar, which is either an avenger of blood or the familiar of a cannibalistic sorcerer. The Europeans of See also:Brazil hold that the seventh See also:child of the same See also:sex in unbroken See also:succession becomes a wer-man or woman, and takes the form of a, See also:horse, See also:goat, jaguar or pig. II. As a pathological state lycanthropy may be described as a kind of See also:hysteria, and may perhaps be brought into connexion with the form of it known as latah. It is characterized by the patient's belief that he has been metamorphosed into an animal, and is often accompanied by a craving for See also:strange articles of food, including the flesh of living beings or of corpses. In the See also:lower stages of culture the state of the patient is commonly explained as due to possession, but where he leaves the See also:neighbour-See also:hood of man real metamorphosis may be asserted, as in ordinary lycanthropic beliefs. Marcellus of Sida says that in Greece the patients frequented the tombs at night; they were recognizable by their yellow complexion, hollow eyes and dry tongue. The Garrows of India are said to See also:tear their hair when they are seized with the complaint, which is put down to the use of a See also:drug applied to the forehead; this recalls the stories of the witch's salve in Europe. In Abyssinia the patient is usually a woman; two forms are distinguished, caused by the hyena and the leopard respectively. A kind of trance ushers in the See also:fit; the fingers are clenched, the eyes glazed and the nostrils distended; the patient, when she comes to herself, laughs hideously and runs on all fours. The See also:exorcist is a blacksmith; as a See also:rule, he applies See also:onion or See also:garlic to her See also:nose and proceeds to question the evil spirit. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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