GOD OF EVIL WEST AFRICA YORUMBA SERIES
GOD OF EVIL WEST AFRICA YORUMBA WINDOWS

Its kin, Sasabonsam, has huge, bat-like wings, is as tall as a tree and teeth sharp like spears. The Asanbosam is perhaps the most awesome and imaginative of the vampiric creatures: a great ogre with iron teeth and iron claws, hanging from trees, waiting for the prey to come below. Like the Adze, the Obayifo have a special taste for children. The Obayifo is a powerful, malevolent spirit, causing blight to crops, withering fruit, and finally, sucking blood of humans. The possessed human shines light from its mouth, armpits and… other orifices this doesn’t stop it from prowling in the night, searching for prey. Or the Obayifo of the Ashanti, also known as Asiman in Dahomey: this vampire sorcerer travels as a ball of light, able to possess animals and humans.

GOD OF EVIL WEST AFRICA YORUMBA WINDOWS

As a firefly, it can pass through closed doors and windows at night, and, after it turns back into a humanoid form, sucks its victim dry. Take the Adze of Togo and Ghana: a blood-sucking, shape-shifting witch that transforms itself into a firefly. One of the most fascinating creatures of the West African folklore are the vampiric beings which, unlike their European counterparts, seem to have an affinity to the light instead of darkness. In the first episode, I tackle the mythologies of Western and South-Western Africa, a region stretching from Sahara Desert to the jungles of Congo, populated by a complex mix of cultures, nations, tribes and peoples descended from ancient Empires.

GOD OF EVIL WEST AFRICA YORUMBA SERIES

In this series I will attempt to present some of these myths and legends.

Beyond that is the weird territory, with creatures born out of the writer’s own half-deranged mind in an attempt at uniqueness – not that there’s anything wrong with that.īut the world is vast and old, and every culture has its share of strange and fascinating there is a vast stock of ideas out there that you can tap into before running out of inspiration. This seems to be the farthest horizon of our inspiration. Sometimes we venture into the Far East, and populate our worlds with qilin and long dragons, or, even rarer, into India or Persia.

Writing about elves and dwarves is always a safe bet when an author wants to be original and adventurous, they might look into the myths of the Mediterranean: Greek, Roman, Egyptian. Elves, trolls, dwarves, goblins… There’s no denying that the Western fantasy is strongly entrenched in a Northern European mindscape: those ancient myths of the Celtic and Germanic people that inspired Tolkien and his epigones.

God of evil west africa yorumba