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Ayida-Weddo

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Tradition / Region: Benin Mythology
Also Known As: Ayida Wedo, Ayida-Wedo
Category: Snake

The Myth

Ayida-Weddo is a great rainbow serpent in Fon mythology, believed to have existed before the creation of the Earth. The serpent served the creator deity Mawu-Lisa and helped shape the world at the beginning of time.

According to the myths, Ayida-Weddo carried Mawu-Lisa in its mouth while the goddess formed the Earth. As the serpent moved across the world, its immense body created rivers, valleys, canyons, and mountains. The serpent possessed two natures: a red male half and a blue female half.

The female aspect of Ayida-Weddo was associated with rainbows, storms, clouds, rivers, springs, and rain. The male aspect coiled beneath the Earth itself, supporting the weight of the world and preventing it from collapsing into the abyss below. Legends say that when the serpent shifts beneath the Earth from exhaustion, earthquakes occur.

Some traditions claim the serpent feeds on iron to maintain its strength. One prophecy warns that if Ayida-Weddo ever consumes all the iron in the world, it will begin devouring its own tail, causing the Earth to sink into chaos and destruction.

In other stories, Ayida-Weddo descends from the heavens together with the first humans created by Mawu-Lisa. The serpent is strongly connected with life, fertility, rain, blood, and creation, and is often portrayed as a cosmic being linking the heavens, the Earth, and the waters beneath the world.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Ayida-Weddo. In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayida-Weddo

Aruan of Udo

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Tradition / Region: Benin Mythology
Also Known As: Arhuanran, Aruanran
Category: Giant, Hero

The Myth

Aruan of Udo is a legendary prince from the ancient Kingdom of Benin, remembered in oral tradition as a giant of enormous strength and size. According to the stories, he was so powerful that he could sweep the entire city of Benin using palm trees.

Born in the 16th century to Oba Ozolua and Queen Ohonmi, the prince was originally named Idubor. Tradition says that he and his younger brother were born on the same day. Although Idubor was born first, he did not cry at birth. His younger brother Osawe, born later to Queen Idia, cried immediately after being born. Because of this, Osawe was considered the rightful heir and later became the famous Oba Esigie.

Having lost the throne despite being the elder brother, Idubor was compensated by his father and granted rule over the town of Udo near Benin City. From that point onward he became known as Aruan of Udo.

Benin oral traditions remember Aruan as a gigantic and powerful figure connected to strength, nobility, and the royal history of the Benin Kingdom.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Aruan of Udo. In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aruan_of_Udo

Ma-Kishi

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Tradition / Region: Angolan Mythology
Alternative Name: Makishi, Ma-kishi
Category: Forest dweller

The Myth

The Ma-Kishi are supernatural beings from Angolan folklore, often associated with the spirit world, forests, and dangerous encounters with humans. In many tales, they appear as mysterious spirit-like people who live apart from ordinary society and interact with humans through deception, hunting, or abduction.

In one story, several girls escaped from the Ma-Kishi and climbed to the top of a tree to hide from them. The Ma-Kishi followed their tracks and surrounded the tree, preparing to cut it down with their hatchets so the girls would fall into their hands. As the tree began to collapse, the girls begged a great Hawk flying overhead to save them. The Hawk carried the girls across the river one by one, rescuing them from the spirits before the tree finally fell.

Other tales portray the Ma-Kishi as beings who lure or capture humans. One legend tells of a spirit called Di-kishi who encountered a young girl named Samba while she was alone near the fields. The spirit brought her into the world of the Ma-Kishi, where the other beings wished to eat her, though Di-kishi instead wanted to marry her. Later, Samba escaped with her children while the Ma-Kishi pursued her across the land.

The Ma-Kishi are frequently portrayed as powerful and dangerous beings connected to wilderness, isolation, and the unseen world. In Angolan folklore they appear as enemies, kidnappers, hunters, or supernatural tribes living beyond ordinary human society.

Sources

Chatelain, H. (1894). Folk-tales of Angola; fifty tales with Kimbundu text, liberal English translation, introduction, and notes. Boston: American Folk-lore Society.



Kituta

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Tradition / Region: Angolan Mythology
Also Known As: Kituta Spirit
Category: Ghost

The Myth

In Angolan folklore, Kituta is a supernatural spirit associated with transformation and the spirit world. One story tells of Ngunza Kilundu kia Ngunza, who was pursued by another man named Kalunga-ngombe.

As Ngunza fled eastward, Kalunga-ngombe chased after him carrying a hatchet. Ngunza denied having committed any crime and asked why he was being hunted. Kalunga-ngombe replied that he was simply pursuing him toward the east.

During the chase, Kalunga-ngombe threw his hatchet at Ngunza Kilundu kia Ngunza. According to the legend, this event caused Ngunza Kilundu kia Ngunza to become a Kituta spirit.

Sources

Chatelain, H. (1894). Folk-tales of Angola; fifty tales with Kimbundu text, liberal English translation, introduction, and notes. Boston: American Folk-lore Society.

Kianda

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Tradition / Region: Angolan Mythology
Also Known As: Quianda
Category: Mermaid, Spirit

The Myth

Kianda is a powerful water spirit from Angolan folklore, associated with rivers, lagoons, and the underwater world. In many stories, Kianda appears as a supernatural being connected to hidden wealth, mysterious underwater cities, and dangerous encounters with humans.

One Angolan tale tells of a woman with two daughters who encountered a strange skull-like being that wished to marry one of the girls. The mother refused to give either daughter away. The younger daughter then secretly took ashes and covered the skull’s holes with them before throwing it into a lagoon.

The next morning, the waters had transformed, and the being beneath the surface had become Kianda. The spirit returned and demanded the younger daughter as his bride. He dragged her beneath the water into his underwater realm, where she was dressed in fine ornaments and necklaces. Whenever she returned from beneath the waters, she brought wealth, cloth, wine, and valuable goods back with her.

The woman eventually married Kianda and lived between the human world and the spirit world beneath the water. In the story, Kianda is portrayed as both dangerous and supernatural, yet also capable of granting riches and prosperity to those connected to him.

Sources

Chatelain, H. (1894). Folk-tales of Angola; fifty tales with Kimbundu text, liberal English translation, introduction, and notes. Boston: American Folk-lore Society.

Subterranean Algerian Dwarf

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Tradition / Region: Algerian Mythology
Alternative Name: —
Category: Dwarf

The Myth

In Kabyle mythology, beneath the world of humans exists another hidden world beneath the earth. This underground realm is described as a dark and inverted version of the human world — a shadowy place where sterility reigns and where everything exists in opposition to normal life.

The subterranean world is inhabited by many strange beings, including spirits, giants, ogres, ogresses, and swarms of mysterious dwarves sometimes compared to ants because of their numbers and constant movement. Though the landscapes beneath the earth resemble mountains, forests, ravines, and pastures found in the human world, everything there is reversed or corrupted. Sheep are black, goats produce black milk, and productive human activities become twisted parodies.

Legends say that the first humans originally emerged from this underground world before coming to the surface and establishing the fertile world of humankind. Openings such as wells, caves, hidden doors, or iron slabs sometimes allow passage between the two realms. Heroes, serpents, spirits, and even the dead can travel between them.

The underground beings are especially feared at night, when the boundary between worlds weakens and creatures from below wander into human lands. Only the brave or the spiritually protected are believed capable of resisting the dangerous forces that emerge after dark.

One Kabyle myth explains the cycle of day and night through two brothers in the underworld who endlessly unwind two balls of yarn: one made of white thread that brings daylight, and one made of black thread that brings night.

Sources

Tadukli.free.fr. (2006, July 22). Éléments de mythologie kabyle. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://tadukli.free.fr/pages/culture/histoire_01_elements_de_mythologie_kabyle.htm

Talafsa

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Tradition / Region: Algerian Mythology
Alternative Name: —
Category: Dragon, Snake

The Myth

Talafsa is a monstrous female dragon from Kabyle and North African folklore, often described as a many-headed serpent similar to a hydra. In some legends, she possesses seven heads and lives near forests, caves, springs, or sources of water.

According to the myths, Talafsa controls the water of entire regions. Villages and cities suffer from drought because she guards rivers or springs and refuses to release the water unless she receives a yearly sacrifice. The sacrifice is usually a young girl chosen from the local people and offered to the monster to prevent destruction and thirst.

Stories about Talafsa are part of a wider North African tradition of dragon-slayer myths. In many versions, a hero eventually appears to confront the beast, defeat her, and free the water for the people. These tales were especially widespread in Kabylia, where Talafsa became one of the best-known monstrous beings of local folklore.

Sources

Tadukli.free.fr. (2006, July 22). Éléments de mythologie kabyle. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://tadukli.free.fr/pages/culture/histoire_01_elements_de_mythologie_kabyle.htm

Teryel

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Tradition / Region: Algerian Mythology
Also Known As: Teryalin (plural)
Category: Mountain Dweller, Forest Dweller

The Myth

Teryel is a monstrous ogress from Kabyle mythology, described as a wild and dangerous female being that lives far from human settlements. She belongs to the teryalin, a race of ogresses associated with mountains, forests, and the untamed wilderness beyond civilization.

According to Kabyle myths, in the earliest age of the world, men and women first emerged from the underworld and lived separately. Women were believed to have initiated the first relations between the sexes and originally held power over men. Later, men began building stone houses, creating settled life and human society. Women entered these homes and became tied to domestic life and civilization.

One woman, however, rejected this new way of life. Together with a man, she chose to remain wild and free rather than live among humans. Because of this choice, the pair transformed into creatures of the wilderness. The man became the lion, while the woman became Teryel, the cannibal ogress.

Kabyle folklore often portrays ogresses as more powerful and important than male ogres. The teryalin are described as rulers of the wild world, standing in direct opposition to villages, families, and civilized life. Some legends also claim that one of the ogresses consumed the golden leaves of a magical tree and afterward gave birth to the race of ogres.

Sources

Tadukli.free.fr. (2006, July 22). Éléments de mythologie kabyle. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://tadukli.free.fr/pages/culture/histoire_01_elements_de_mythologie_kabyle.htm

Aicha Kandicha

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Tradition / Region: Moroccan Mythology
Also Known As: Aisha Qandisha, Qandisa
Category: Succubus, Spirit

The Myth

Aicha Kandicha is a feared female spirit from Moroccan folklore, often described as a beautiful young woman with the legs or hooves of a goat or camel. She is strongly associated with rivers, lakes, marshes, canals, and the sea, and is believed to appear near water after dark.

Legends describe her wearing a dark cloak that hides her supernatural form. She uses her beauty and charm to lure men toward her, sometimes appearing as a lost woman or even disguising herself as the victim’s wife. Once alone with her target, she drives him mad, possesses him, or kills him.

Different regions of Morocco describe her differently, but nearly all traditions connect her to water and dangerous seduction. Some stories say she can manipulate water, freeze it, or disappear beneath it. Others claim she fears iron knives or needles.

In certain Moroccan spiritual traditions and possession rituals, Aicha Kandicha is treated as one of the powerful female spirits connected to trance ceremonies and spirit possession. People believed her presence could cause strange behavior, animal-like sounds, nightmares, illness, or madness.

Some later legends claim Aicha Kandicha may have originated from a real woman who fought Portuguese forces during the colonial period by seducing enemy soldiers before leading them into ambushes. Over time, stories about her blended with older supernatural beliefs until she became one of the most famous spirits in Moroccan folklore.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Aisha Qandicha. In Wikipedia. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisha_Qandicha

Mantahungal

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Tradition / Region: Philippines Mythology
Alternative Name: –
Category: Cow

The Myth

The Mantahungal is a terrifying creature from the folklore of the Tagbanua people of Palawan in the Philippines. It is said to dwell deep within remote mountain forests at high altitudes, far from human settlements.

The creature is usually described as resembling a gigantic hornless cow covered in long shaggy hair that hangs almost to the ground. Despite its cattle-like appearance, the mantahungal possesses a monstrous mouth filled with huge fangs and tusk-like teeth, including massive upper and lower tusks used to tear apart its prey.

According to legend, the mantahungal is a violent predator that hunts humans and animals in the mountain wilderness. It chases down victims through the forest before ripping them apart with its enormous teeth.

Stories describe it as a hidden and feared creature of the highlands, rarely seen but associated with danger, disappearance, and death in isolated forest regions.

Sources

Cryptid Archives. (n.d.). Mantahungal. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://cryptidarchives.fandom.com/wiki/Mantahungal

Bestiary.us. (n.d.). Mantakhungal. Retrieved May 10, 2026, from https://www.bestiary.us/mantakhungal/en/