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Revenants · Spectral creatures and night demons

The Hyenas of Harar and the Ashura Porridge

When
since c. 1800 traditional date – cannot be verified
Where
Walls of the old town of Harar (Jugol), Ethiopia
Verdict
Legend

In Harar, Ethiopia, hyenas come into town every night, and once a year they are fed porridge – because, people say, they also devour jinn and evil spirits.

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9.31°, 42.13° · dimmed: other phenomena within 1,500 km

What happened

Harar, the walled holy city of Islam in eastern Ethiopia, has lived alongside spotted hyenas for at least five hundred years. At night they enter the town and eat the refuse. According to local legend, during a great famine in the 19th century, starving hyenas began attacking livestock and people. In one version a pure-hearted man dreamed that they could be placated with porridge; in another, the solution was revealed by the town's saints meeting on a mountaintop. The anniversary of this pact is marked every year on the Day of Ashura, when the hyenas are offered porridge made with pure butter. It is believed that the clan leaders taste it first, and how much they eat foretells the coming year – more than half means plenty; none, or all of it, sends people to the shrines to pray against famine and plague. Hararis also say the hyenas devour the jinn and evil spirits that roam the alleys at night. Since the 1960s, “hyena men” have fed them by hand and mouth.

Witnesses

Residents of Harar and the “hyena men” who feed the animals; the anthropologist Marcus Baynes-Rock, who spent several years studying people and hyenas in Harar; reports by the BBC (2002) and the “Los Angeles Times” (2010).

Explanations and hypotheses

Researchers note that the relationship has very practical roots: the hyenas clear the town of refuse, and feeding them reduces the risk of attacks on people and livestock. According to Baynes-Rock, the porridge offering “reinforces the truce” and is meant to ensure that no one is attacked in the coming year. Daily hand-feeding began only in the 1960s – it was started by a farmer protecting his animals – and today it is also a tourist attraction. The legend of a famine-time pact exists in several versions and cannot be dated. Beliefs about hyenas eating jinn are part of Harar's living religious life.

Legend A story handed down through generations – it can be neither confirmed nor disproved.

Sources

  1. Marcus Baynes-Rock, Among the Bone Eaters: Encounters with Hyenas in Harar (Penn State University Press, 2015)
  2. Daniel W. Gade, Hyenas and Humans in the Horn of Africa (Geographical Review, 2006)
  3. BBC News – The hyena man of Harar (2002)
  4. Los Angeles Times – Ethiopia hyenas: Not biting the hand that feeds them (2010)

More: Wikipedia (en)