PORRIDGE HYENA

PORRIDGE HYENA

“The BaKgatla clan of the Tswana believed that witches made their own hyenas moulding the body from porridge and bringing them to life by means of special medicines.” 

Keith Somerville, Humans and Hyenas: Monster or Misunderstood

Hyena's get a bad rap in a lot of Sub-Saharan Africa. They're thought to be bad omens, used as boogeymen to scare children and thought to be the steeds of witches and wizards. This one, however,  is extra bizarre. Not only a hyena but a constructed hyena made of porridge. When I first read this I wanted to double check as to what this porridge was. 

First off, and this should be obvious, Africa is a huge continent, not a country. What we're talking about here is the Tswana people who are an ethnic group in what is now Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe & South Africa. The Bakglatla tribe are from an area just northwest of Johannesburg SA. That being said, it does seem like there's a fairy standardized recipe with some variation. This article by Freda Myuambo was very helpful.

"African porridge often comes in the form of a thick mush, made from milled African cereal grains, the resulting dish being a bit like potato mash. It is a well-known staple food eaten across the African continent and was traditionally made from millet or sorghum prior to the introduction of maize across the continent. It varies from a soft consistency to extremely stiff or crumbly and couscous-like."

With all that said, this quote from Keith Somerville's book is the ONLY source I found on porridge hyenas. So, while it's a great anecdote and was cool to draw, I don't know if this is actually part of folk belief.

This isn't the only association of hyenas and porridge though. All the way on the other side of the continent in Ethiopia, the people of Harar ceremonially feed hyenas porridge in order to prevent them eating their livestock. 



The folklore about this tradition reads like this: 
"In one version of the story, a pure-hearted man dreamed of how the Hararis could placate the hyenas by feeding them porridge, and successfully put it into practice, while another credits the revelation to the town's Muslim saints convening on a mountaintop. The anniversary of this pact is celebrated every year on the Day of Ashura, when the hyenas are provided with porridge prepared with pure butter. It is believed that during this occasion, the hyenas' clan leaders taste the porridge before the others. Should the porridge not be to the lead hyenas' liking, the other hyenas will not eat it, and those in charge of feeding them make the requested improvements. The manner in which the hyenas eat the porridge on this occasion are believed to have oracular significance; if the hyena eats more than half the porridge, then it is seen as portending a prosperous new year. Should the hyena refuse to eat the porridge or eat all of it, then the people will gather in shrines to pray, in order to avert famine or pestilence."

One more bit of personal attachment to this guy. In 2007 I went on a trip to Kenya and saw a bunch of hyenas in Masai Mara National Park. Here's a pic from that trip!

LOOK AT THE BABY!

Ok, tomorrow we're doing one more witchcraft creature from the same region and that'll be the last magical monster....for now!