Mythology!

Aksharquarnilik

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Tradition / Region: Inuit Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Spirit

The Myth

Aksharquarnilik is a spirit encountered during shamanic healing rituals, acting as a helping spirit who reveals the hidden causes of illness.

In one account, a woman named Nanoraq, the wife of Måkik, lay gravely ill, suffering pain throughout her body and barely able to stand. She was placed on a bench, and all the people of the village were summoned. The shaman Angutingmarik began a ritual to discover the source of her sickness.

Walking slowly back and forth across the floor, Angutingmarik swung his arms while wearing mittens, breathing heavily and speaking in groans and sighs, his voice shifting in tone. He called upon his helping spirits and addressed Aksharquarnilik directly, asking whether the illness had come from a broken taboo—something eaten improperly, wrongdoing by himself, by his wife, or by the sick woman herself.

The patient answered that the sickness was her own fault. She confessed that she had failed in her duties and that her thoughts and actions had been bad. The shaman continued, describing what he perceived spiritually: something resembling peat, though not peat; something behind the ear like cartilage; something white and gleaming, possibly the edge of a pipe.

At this, the listeners cried out together that the woman had smoked a pipe she was forbidden to smoke. They agreed to forgive the offense and urged that it be ignored. But the shaman declared that this was not the only cause. There were further transgressions responsible for the illness.

Asked again whether the cause lay with him or with the patient, the woman replied that it was entirely her own doing. She said there had been wrongdoing connected to her abdomen, something internal that had brought about the sickness.

Through Aksharquarnilik, the hidden violations and their physical manifestations were revealed, allowing the community to acknowledge the causes of the illness and begin the process of purification and healing.

Source

Rasmussen, K. (1930). Intellectual Culture of the Hudson Bay Eskimos. p. 133.

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Veehaldjas

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Tradition / Region: Estonian Mythology
Alternate Names: Vetevaim; Näkk (in some regions); Vesihaldijas; Merehaldjas; Vee-ema; Vesineits; Mereneid; Merineitsi
Category: Spirit

The Myth

In Estonian folk belief, a Veehaldjas is the guardian spirit of a body of water. Every sea, river, lake, spring, or well was believed to have its own water spirit who ruled and protected it. The vetevaim also appears as a character in the national epic Kalevipoeg.

Closely related to the veehaldjas are beings such as mereemad (sea mothers), meretaadid (sea fathers), järvevanad (lake elders), vete-emad, and their daughters. These figures, especially known in southern Estonia and on the islands, were usually benevolent. They granted abundance and calm waters but could punish those who polluted or disrespected their domain.

In some areas, the veehaldjas was associated with the soul of a drowned person, a ghost, a goblin-like being, or—especially in southern Estonia—with the devil. In this form, the water spirit was dangerous and malicious, dragging people beneath the surface to drown them. The näkk is the most well-known of these hostile water spirits, and parents often frightened children with stories of the näkk to keep them away from water.

The veehaldjas could appear in many forms: most often as a human—usually a woman—but also as a bird, animal, or even an object. Coastal fishermen offered food and drink to water spirits in exchange for good fishing luck.

According to folklorist Matthias Johann Eisen, the name vesihaldijas was most commonly used in Viru, Harju, and Järva counties, while in Läänemaa and other regions the näkk was more often considered the ruler of the waters. Both the vesihaldijas and the näkk were sometimes described as equally fierce, though the merehaldjas was occasionally said to warn humans or refrain from harming them.

To protect themselves from dangerous water spirits, people placed small human-shaped figures near the water’s edge. These effigies were believed to frighten the veehaldjas away, preventing it from harming passersby.

Many female water beings—called vesineitsid, mereneitsid, mereneiud, and the daughters of sea or water spirits—were considered gentle and helpful. Some legends say these beings could appear with sea cows grazing on land. If a human herded them together with ordinary cattle, the sea cows would remain on land, give birth, and produce a strong and valuable breed of dairy animals.

Through these many forms, the veehaldjas embodies both the generosity and the danger of water, guarding life-giving resources while punishing disrespect and carelessness.

Klaas Vaak

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Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology, German Mythology
Alternate Names: Zandmannetje
Category: Spirit

The Myth

Klaas Vaak, also known as the Zandmannetje, is a figure believed to bring sleep to children. He is already mentioned in a poem from 1651, where it is said that he gently strokes people’s eyelids to make them yawn and fall asleep. In this early form, his presence is soothing and quiet, associated with the natural onset of sleep.

By 1767, the name Zandmannetje appears for the first time in a lullaby. In this version of the belief, Klaas Vaak causes sleep by sprinkling sand into people’s eyes, making them rub their eyelids. In the morning, the grains of sand are said to remain in the corners of the eyes as proof of his visit.

In a darker German version recorded in 1816, the Sandman is described as a frightening figure. Children were told that if they refused to go to bed, he would throw so much sand into their eyes that they would bleed from their sockets. He would then collect their eyes in a sack, carry them to the moon, and feed them to his own children. In this tradition, he becomes associated with the Man in the Moon and functions as a figure used to frighten children into obedience.

Like Sinterklaas, Klaas Vaak is sometimes said to enter homes through the chimney. While it is not known for certain whether the terrifying version of the Sandman was used in the Netherlands, the belief that Klaas Vaak visits at night to bring sleep was widespread and enduring.

Lange Wapper

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Tradition / Region: Belgian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Demon

The Myth

Lange Wapper is a water spirit said to dwell in the black mud of the canals and moats of Antwerp. He hides beneath the water and emerges to wander the city and its outskirts, playing cruel and often dangerous tricks on humans.

According to a legend from Wilrijk dating to the sixteenth century, Lange Wapper was once an ordinary boy. One day, he saved an old woman—revealed to be a witch—from drowning. As a reward, she granted him the power of shapeshifting. With this gift, he could alter his size at will, becoming so enormous that he could leap from one city to another in a single bound. From this ability, he gained his name, meaning “Long Strider.”

Lange Wapper can take many forms. He appears as a cat, a dog, a man, a child, or even as an ordinary object such as a white napkin. He may grow immensely tall, with long legs that allow him to peer into the windows of houses, or shrink himself to a tiny size. He can even duplicate himself. In one guise, he becomes a boy who plays with other children until he provokes a violent quarrel. In another, he transforms into a crying infant; when a young mother, moved by pity, offers him her breast, he suddenly resumes his true form as a large man and mocks her cruelly.

Many of his pranks ended in death. He was said to delay servants sent to fetch a midwife, causing newborns to die before baptism. He strangled drunkards by simply twisting their necks. Because of these acts, people came to regard Lange Wapper as a devil rather than a mere spirit.

When his mischief was complete, Lange Wapper would announce himself with a horrific, unmistakable laugh, so that people knew who had tormented them. According to tradition, his presence in Antwerp ended only after statues of the Virgin Mary were placed on street corners throughout the city. After this, Lange Wapper fled Antwerp and was seen no more.

Chii-uya (Nursing Parent)

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Tradition / Region: Japan (Okinawa Prefecture, Sanbara region)
Alternate Names: Chi-uya, Chi-nu-uya
Category: Yōkai / spirit of the dead

The Myth

Chii-uya, also known as the Nursing Parent, is a spiritual being spoken of in the Sanbara region of Okinawa. She appears in the form of a woman with an extremely gentle face, long black hair that looks freshly washed, and unusually large breasts.

It is believed that when an infant or a child under the age of six dies, the Chii-uya takes the child under her care after death. She breastfeeds and raises the deceased child in the spirit world. Because of this belief, when a young child dies, families hold a ritual in which a tiered box of food is placed on a table and prayers are offered to the Nursing Parent. In the villages of Kunigami and Ōgimi, children are buried in special graves, and it is said that the Chii-uya dwells in these burial places.

In Nakijin Village, it is said that showing a mirror to an infant is forbidden. Infants may mistake the surface of water for a mirror and wander toward rivers or the sea, where they are believed to be pulled beneath the water by the Chii-uya.

One story from the Kijoka area of Ōgimi Village tells of a woman whose second child fell ill after growing quickly in infancy. One night, as the mother left the bedroom door slightly open, she saw a woman with large breasts standing there, smiling gently and beckoning her inside. The figure vanished moments later. Soon after, the child’s condition suddenly worsened, and he died that night.

Another tale tells of a mysterious woman who visited a sweets shop every night carrying a freshly washed baby. She would buy sweets for the child and leave quickly. At the same time, villagers began hearing a child crying from an old grave outside the village, even during the day. When the grave was finally opened, a living baby was found inside. The money the woman had used to buy sweets was discovered to be burned paper money reduced to charcoal. From then on, people said that the woman who visited the shop had been the spirit of the child’s mother, acting under the influence of the Chii-uya.

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Yukijorō (Snow Lady)

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Tradition / Region: Japan (Yamagata; Miyagi Prefecture)
Alternate Names: Yuki-joro, Yuki-onna (related)
Category: Snow spirit / yōkai

The Myth

Yukijorō is one of the names used for a type of Yuki-onna, spoken of in various regions as a supernatural presence connected to snow and winter nights.

In the Yamagata region, Yukijorō are said to appear to people and make them hold a baby, much like the figure known as Ubu-onna. When this happens, the person holding the child is granted superhuman strength. In other stories from the same region, Yukijorō are said to kidnap and eat human children.

In Ichisako, in present-day Kurihara City, Miyagi Prefecture, it is said that during the depths of winter people sometimes encounter a pale and beautiful woman dressed entirely in white. She appears near Tagawa Bridge, at the boundary between the villages of Masaka and Nagasaki. If a passerby doubts her presence or becomes suspicious, the woman suddenly vanishes. In this area, this apparition is known as Yukijorō.

Across these accounts, Yukijorō is remembered as a winter apparition—sometimes helpful, sometimes deadly—appearing silently in snowbound places and disappearing as suddenly as she arrives.

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Rankweil Geist

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Tradition / Region: Austrian Mythology
Alternate Names: —
Category: Ghost

The Myth

In the region between Dornbirn and Haselstauden, people walking at night often heard sneezing beneath the bridge over the Fischbach. Most ignored the sound and continued on their way. One night, however, a traveler, hearing the sneezing, called out, “God help you, if you need help.”

At once, a man appeared before him and answered that he could indeed be helped—if the traveler would carry him that very night to Rankweil. Though exhausted, the traveler agreed, saying that he would first return home to eat supper and tell his wife of his plan. When he did so, his wife pleaded with him not to keep such a dangerous promise, but he refused to break his word.

The man returned to the bridge, where the spirit awaited him. The ghost leapt onto his back, and the traveler was forced to carry it all the way through the night, bearing its heavy weight until they reached Rankweil. At the steps of the church, the spirit finally dismounted and said, “You have redeemed me, and I will redeem you as well.”

The man, drenched in sweat and weakened by the ordeal, returned home. From that night on, he fell ill, and six weeks later he died. It was said that the ghost had vowed during his lifetime to make a pilgrimage to Rankweil but had never fulfilled his promise. After death, he was forced to wander until someone carried him there, binding his redemption to the life of the one who helped him.

Nachtwerkertjes

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Tradition / Region: Dutch Mythology
Alternate Names: Werkgeesten (related)
Category: Spirit

The Myth

In Dutch folklore, Nachtwerkertjes are mysterious beings heard at night inside workshops and workspaces. When loud hammering, sawing, or other work noises are heard in the middle of the night—without any human present—it is said that the nachtwerkertjes are at work.

Their presence is believed to be a sign of what is to come. Hearing them foretells that there will soon be much work to be done, as if the spirits are preparing in advance. In the Zaan region, where windmills dominate the landscape, the sounds of nachtwerkertjes are specifically taken as a warning that a storm is approaching. Such storms often caused damage to mills, leading to extensive repair work afterward.

Thus, the nachtwerkertjes do not appear directly to people, but announce themselves through sound, acting as unseen workers whose nocturnal activity signals impending labor and disruption.

Bökh

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Tradition / Region: Shamanistic traditions (Central and Inner Asia)
Alternate Names: —
Category: Shaman / spirit intermediary

The Myth

In shamanistic belief, bökh are shamans who stand between the material world and the realm of spirits. They are understood as individuals capable of communicating directly with unseen beings and forces that shape human life.

Through ritual practice, the bökh enters trance states to cross into the spiritual domain. In this state, they encounter various spirits, which may be ancestral spirits of the dead, spirits of animals and natural forces, or celestial beings associated with the sky and higher realms. These spirits are approached for guidance, healing, protection, and knowledge.

The bökh does not command the spirits by force, but negotiates with them through chants, drumming, offerings, and ritual movement. Their role is to carry messages between worlds, restore balance when illness or misfortune strikes, and protect the community from harmful spiritual influences.

In this tradition, the bökh is not merely a healer or priest, but a living bridge between humanity and the spiritual order that surrounds and penetrates the world.

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Baccoo

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Tradition / Region: Guyana Mythology and Suriname Mythology
Alternate Names: Bakru (Sranan Tongo), Bakulu, Bakuu (Saramaccan)
Category: Spirit

The Myth

A Baccoo is a supernatural being found in the folklore of Guyana and Suriname. Descriptions of the creature vary, but it is often said to have an oversized head and a small body, with one half made of wood and the other half of flesh. Some accounts note that it lacks kneecaps, giving it an unnatural way of moving.

Baccoo are believed to exist in two main forms. Some serve humans—usually merchants or individuals seeking success—after a contract is made with them. Others roam freely, haunting the areas where they dwell. Those who keep a baccoo must feed it regularly, most commonly with milk and bananas.

When bound to a person, a baccoo may be sent to perform tasks. It can act as an invisible messenger, carrying information from place to place, or it may be used to torment others by throwing stones, starting fires, or causing unexplained disturbances. These acts are often attributed to unseen forces, though people familiar with the lore recognize them as the work of a baccoo.

The origin of the baccoo is uncertain. Some traditions connect it to the Abiku of Yoruba belief, a spirit associated with children who die before being named, commemorated through small wooden figures. Others trace it to the mmoatia spirits of Akan folklore. Over time, these influences blended, and the baccoo became a shared figure across multiple cultural traditions in the region.

Sources

Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). Baccoo. In Wikipedia, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baccoo