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(Redirected from Skinwalkers)
In Native American and Norse legend, a 'skin-walker' is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires. Similar creatures can be found in numerous cultures' lores all over the world, closely related to beliefs in werewolves (also known as lycanthropes) and other "were" creatures (which can be described as therianthropes). The Mohawk Indian word "limikkin" is sometimes used to describe all skin-walkers. It is also known as the Yenaldooshi.
Main articles: Witch (Navajo)
Possibly the best documented skin-walker beliefs are those relating to the Navajo ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' (literally "with it, he goes on all fours" in the Navajo language). A ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' is one of the several varieties of Navajo witch (specifically an ''’ánt’įįhnii'' or practitioner of the Witchery Way, as opposed to a user of curse-objects (''’adagąsh'') or a practitioner of Frenzy Way (''’azhįtee'')). Technically, the term refers to an ''’ánt’įįhnii'' who is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood then commit the act of killing an immediate member of their family, and then have thus gained the evil powers that are associated with skin-walkers.
The ''’ánt’įįhnii'' are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ''’ánt’įįhnii'' and therefore possibly skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.
Although it is most frequently seen as a coyote, wolf, owl, fox, or crow, the ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' is said to have the power to assume the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need. Witches use the form for expedient travel, especially to the Navajo equivalent of the 'Black Mass', a perverted sing (and the central rite of the Witchery Way) used to curse instead of to heal. They also may transform to escape from pursuers.
Some Navajo also believe that skin-walkers have the ability to steal the "skin" or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skin walker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skin walkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal's when in human form and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal's would.
A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for a coyote skin, or wolf skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches' sing.
Because animal skins are used primarily by skin-walkers, the pelt of animals such as bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars are strictly tabooed. Sheepskin and buckskin are probably two of the few hides used by Navajos, the latter is used only for ceremonial purposes.
Often, Navajos tell of their encounter with a skin-walker, though there may be some hesitancy to reveal the story to non-Navajos, or (understandably) to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the skin-walker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside, and will often bang on the walls of the house, knock on the windows, and climb onto the roofs. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. Other times, a skinwalker may attack a vehicle and cause a car accident. The skin-walkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a skinwalker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded skinwalker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound which reveals them to be the witch.[1]
According to Navajo legend, skinwalkers can have the power to read human thoughts. They also possess the ability to make any human or animal noise they choose. A skinwalker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes.
The legend of the skinwalker tell of god giving the people a gift of transformation and was used only against their enemies. Overtime, the people began to abuse this power, thus bringing god to earth to reclaim it. Some gave the power up and others hid with it and passed the knowledge to others.
Some tribes believe that skinwalkers can use the spit, hair, or shoes and old clothing of a person to make curses that will attack that specific person. For this reason many Navajo will never spit or leave shoes outside. They also take great care to see that any hair or nail clippings are burned. Urine cannot endanger a person because it is considered too acidic.
In ancient Hopi culture there was a ritual ceremony once performed called the Ya Ya Ceremony. In this ceremony members would change themselves into various animals using the hide from the animal they chose, and the members use certain animal attributes like sight, strength,etc. The ceremony was banned after members developed a disease of the eyes.
In Norse folklore, a skin-walker is a person who can travel in the shape of an animal and learn secrets, or take on certain characteristics of an animal. The person is then said to be wearing that animal's hide. The most well-known example of the latter is the warrior who takes on the strength and stamina of a bear, called "bear shirt" or ''ber sarkur'', the origins of the word berserker; similarly, there were wolf-based warriors, called ''ulfheðnar'' or "wolf-coats". They were said, aside from the battle-rage the animal spirit granted, to have the ability to send out their soul in the form of their animal, in a practice called ''hamfarir'' or "shape-journey".
The use of an animal shape for other purposes was considered unholy, and people accused of having such abilities were frequently cast out or summarily executed. Females so charged got off more lightly.
★ The first skin-walker film is ''The Werewolf'', a 1913 lost film.
★ ''Skinwalkers'' (1986) is also the title of a mystery novel by Tony Hillerman.
★ A skin walker is the villain in the movie ''Shadowhunter'' (1993).
★ Skinwalkers were mentioned in the movie ''Arizona Werewolf'', a version of which retitled ''Werewolf'' was shown on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''.
★ Skin-walkers feature prominently in ''Thunderhead'' (1999) a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
★ There is a 2002 TV movie called ''Skinwalkers'', based on Hillerman's novel.
★ ''Skinwalker'' is also the title of a 2003 comic book published by Oni Press written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir with art by Brian Hurtt.
★ ''Skin Walker'' (2004), stars Roxana Zal, RuPaul and Joey Buttafuoco [1]
★ '' (2005), shows two college student investigating an Indian curse. [2]
★ There is also a 2007 film also entitled ''Skinwalkers''.
★ In the television series ''Smallville'', one episode was titled "Skin Walker". It involved a Native American female with the ability to change into a white wolf. She attacked people working on sacred land to protect it. The source of her power was the exposure of her ancestors to Kryptonite (in Smallville parlance meteor rocks) by Kryptonian visitors to Earth in pre-historic times.
★ The television series ''Werewolf'' spotlighted the Skin Walker myth in an episode of the same name.
★ The protagonist, Mercedes ("Mercy") Thompson, in Patricia Briggs' novel, ''Moon Called'' (2006) and its sequels, is a skinwalker with the ability to change into a coyote.
★ In ''Supernatural'', Dean and Sam mention skinwalkers during the episode 'Skin', associating them with other shapeshifters and agreeing that all such creatures can be killed by a silver bullet to the heart.
★ "Birds of the Feather", the first aired episode of the television series ''The Dresden Files'', features a villain referred to as a skinwalker. However, rather than assuming animal forms, it magically flays the skin of humans in order to impersonate them or simply torture them.
★ A song entitled "Skinwalker" appears on the 1998 Robbie Robertson album, ''Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy''.
★ In 2006, Linda Conrad wrote a series of books on skinwalkers for Harlequin's ''Romantic Suspense'' line.
The book 'Kitty Takes a Holiday' by Carrie Vaughn features two skinwalkers that follow the Native American superstition that one must kill a member of the immediate family to become a skinwalker.
★ Wall, Leon and William Morgan, ''Navajo-English Dictionary''. (Hippocrene Books, New York City, 1998 ISBN 0-7818-0247-4)
★ Brady, M.K., ''Some Kind of Power: Navaho Children's Skinwalker Narratives''. (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1984 ISBN 0-87480-238-5)
★ Marika, K.. ''Werewolves, Shapeshifters and Skinwalkers''. (Sherbourne Press, Los Angeles, 1972)
★ Teller, J. ''The Navajo Skinwalker, Witchcraft, & Related Spiritual Phenomena: Spiritual Clues: Orientation to the Evolution of the Circle''. Infinity Horn Publishing, Chinle AZ, 1997 ISBN 0-9656014-0-4)
★ Kluckhohn, Clyde. ''Navaho Witchcraft''. Beacon Press, Boston, 1944. Library of Congress cat. No. 62-13533
1. Kluckhohn, p.27
★ Skinwalker Ranch
★ Raven Mocker
★ Windigo
★ Navajo Witches--Skinwalkers
★ Skinwalkers
★ Navajo Skinwalkers
★ Rare carving of a Skin Walker
★ American Werewolves in Folklore and Mythology
In Native American and Norse legend, a 'skin-walker' is a person with the supernatural ability to turn into any animal he or she desires. Similar creatures can be found in numerous cultures' lores all over the world, closely related to beliefs in werewolves (also known as lycanthropes) and other "were" creatures (which can be described as therianthropes). The Mohawk Indian word "limikkin" is sometimes used to describe all skin-walkers. It is also known as the Yenaldooshi.
| Contents |
| Navajo skinwalker: the ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' |
| Hopi skinwalking |
| Norse beliefs |
| Use in pop-culture |
| References |
| Notes |
| See also |
| External links |
Navajo skinwalker: the ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee''
Main articles: Witch (Navajo)
Possibly the best documented skin-walker beliefs are those relating to the Navajo ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' (literally "with it, he goes on all fours" in the Navajo language). A ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' is one of the several varieties of Navajo witch (specifically an ''’ánt’įįhnii'' or practitioner of the Witchery Way, as opposed to a user of curse-objects (''’adagąsh'') or a practitioner of Frenzy Way (''’azhįtee'')). Technically, the term refers to an ''’ánt’įįhnii'' who is using his (rarely her) powers to travel in animal form. In some versions men or women who have attained the highest level of priesthood then commit the act of killing an immediate member of their family, and then have thus gained the evil powers that are associated with skin-walkers.
The ''’ánt’įįhnii'' are human beings who have gained supernatural power by breaking a cultural taboo. Specifically, a person is said to gain the power to become a ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' upon initiation into the Witchery Way. Both men and women can become ''’ánt’įįhnii'' and therefore possibly skinwalkers, but men are far more numerous. It is generally thought that only childless women can become witches.
Although it is most frequently seen as a coyote, wolf, owl, fox, or crow, the ''Yea-Naa-gloo-shee'' is said to have the power to assume the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need. Witches use the form for expedient travel, especially to the Navajo equivalent of the 'Black Mass', a perverted sing (and the central rite of the Witchery Way) used to curse instead of to heal. They also may transform to escape from pursuers.
Some Navajo also believe that skin-walkers have the ability to steal the "skin" or body of a person. The Navajo believe that if you lock eyes with a skin walker they can absorb themselves into your body. It is also said that skin walkers avoid the light and that their eyes glow like an animal's when in human form and when in animal form their eyes do not glow as an animal's would.
A skinwalker is usually described as naked, except for a coyote skin, or wolf skin. Some Navajos describe them as a mutated version of the animal in question. The skin may just be a mask, like those which are the only garment worn in the witches' sing.
Because animal skins are used primarily by skin-walkers, the pelt of animals such as bears, coyotes, wolves, and cougars are strictly tabooed. Sheepskin and buckskin are probably two of the few hides used by Navajos, the latter is used only for ceremonial purposes.
Often, Navajos tell of their encounter with a skin-walker, though there may be some hesitancy to reveal the story to non-Navajos, or (understandably) to talk of such frightening things at night. Sometimes the skin-walker will try to break into the house and attack the people inside, and will often bang on the walls of the house, knock on the windows, and climb onto the roofs. Sometimes, a strange, animal-like figure is seen standing outside the window, peering in. Other times, a skinwalker may attack a vehicle and cause a car accident. The skin-walkers are described as being fast, agile, and impossible to catch. Though some attempts have been made to shoot or kill one, they are not usually successful. Sometimes a skinwalker will be tracked down, only to lead to the house of someone known to the tracker. As in European werewolf lore, sometimes a wounded skinwalker will escape, only to have someone turn up later with a similar wound which reveals them to be the witch.[1]
According to Navajo legend, skinwalkers can have the power to read human thoughts. They also possess the ability to make any human or animal noise they choose. A skinwalker may use the voice of a relative or the cry of an infant to lure victims out of the safety of their homes.
The legend of the skinwalker tell of god giving the people a gift of transformation and was used only against their enemies. Overtime, the people began to abuse this power, thus bringing god to earth to reclaim it. Some gave the power up and others hid with it and passed the knowledge to others.
Some tribes believe that skinwalkers can use the spit, hair, or shoes and old clothing of a person to make curses that will attack that specific person. For this reason many Navajo will never spit or leave shoes outside. They also take great care to see that any hair or nail clippings are burned. Urine cannot endanger a person because it is considered too acidic.
Hopi skinwalking
In ancient Hopi culture there was a ritual ceremony once performed called the Ya Ya Ceremony. In this ceremony members would change themselves into various animals using the hide from the animal they chose, and the members use certain animal attributes like sight, strength,etc. The ceremony was banned after members developed a disease of the eyes.
Norse beliefs
In Norse folklore, a skin-walker is a person who can travel in the shape of an animal and learn secrets, or take on certain characteristics of an animal. The person is then said to be wearing that animal's hide. The most well-known example of the latter is the warrior who takes on the strength and stamina of a bear, called "bear shirt" or ''ber sarkur'', the origins of the word berserker; similarly, there were wolf-based warriors, called ''ulfheðnar'' or "wolf-coats". They were said, aside from the battle-rage the animal spirit granted, to have the ability to send out their soul in the form of their animal, in a practice called ''hamfarir'' or "shape-journey".
The use of an animal shape for other purposes was considered unholy, and people accused of having such abilities were frequently cast out or summarily executed. Females so charged got off more lightly.
Use in pop-culture
★ The first skin-walker film is ''The Werewolf'', a 1913 lost film.
★ ''Skinwalkers'' (1986) is also the title of a mystery novel by Tony Hillerman.
★ A skin walker is the villain in the movie ''Shadowhunter'' (1993).
★ Skinwalkers were mentioned in the movie ''Arizona Werewolf'', a version of which retitled ''Werewolf'' was shown on ''Mystery Science Theater 3000''.
★ Skin-walkers feature prominently in ''Thunderhead'' (1999) a novel by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.
★ There is a 2002 TV movie called ''Skinwalkers'', based on Hillerman's novel.
★ ''Skinwalker'' is also the title of a 2003 comic book published by Oni Press written by Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir with art by Brian Hurtt.
★ ''Skin Walker'' (2004), stars Roxana Zal, RuPaul and Joey Buttafuoco [1]
★ '' (2005), shows two college student investigating an Indian curse. [2]
★ There is also a 2007 film also entitled ''Skinwalkers''.
★ In the television series ''Smallville'', one episode was titled "Skin Walker". It involved a Native American female with the ability to change into a white wolf. She attacked people working on sacred land to protect it. The source of her power was the exposure of her ancestors to Kryptonite (in Smallville parlance meteor rocks) by Kryptonian visitors to Earth in pre-historic times.
★ The television series ''Werewolf'' spotlighted the Skin Walker myth in an episode of the same name.
★ The protagonist, Mercedes ("Mercy") Thompson, in Patricia Briggs' novel, ''Moon Called'' (2006) and its sequels, is a skinwalker with the ability to change into a coyote.
★ In ''Supernatural'', Dean and Sam mention skinwalkers during the episode 'Skin', associating them with other shapeshifters and agreeing that all such creatures can be killed by a silver bullet to the heart.
★ "Birds of the Feather", the first aired episode of the television series ''The Dresden Files'', features a villain referred to as a skinwalker. However, rather than assuming animal forms, it magically flays the skin of humans in order to impersonate them or simply torture them.
★ A song entitled "Skinwalker" appears on the 1998 Robbie Robertson album, ''Contact From The Underworld Of Red Boy''.
★ In 2006, Linda Conrad wrote a series of books on skinwalkers for Harlequin's ''Romantic Suspense'' line.
The book 'Kitty Takes a Holiday' by Carrie Vaughn features two skinwalkers that follow the Native American superstition that one must kill a member of the immediate family to become a skinwalker.
References
★ Wall, Leon and William Morgan, ''Navajo-English Dictionary''. (Hippocrene Books, New York City, 1998 ISBN 0-7818-0247-4)
★ Brady, M.K., ''Some Kind of Power: Navaho Children's Skinwalker Narratives''. (University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, 1984 ISBN 0-87480-238-5)
★ Marika, K.. ''Werewolves, Shapeshifters and Skinwalkers''. (Sherbourne Press, Los Angeles, 1972)
★ Teller, J. ''The Navajo Skinwalker, Witchcraft, & Related Spiritual Phenomena: Spiritual Clues: Orientation to the Evolution of the Circle''. Infinity Horn Publishing, Chinle AZ, 1997 ISBN 0-9656014-0-4)
★ Kluckhohn, Clyde. ''Navaho Witchcraft''. Beacon Press, Boston, 1944. Library of Congress cat. No. 62-13533
Notes
1. Kluckhohn, p.27
See also
★ Skinwalker Ranch
★ Raven Mocker
★ Windigo
External links
★ Navajo Witches--Skinwalkers
★ Skinwalkers
★ Navajo Skinwalkers
★ Rare carving of a Skin Walker
★ American Werewolves in Folklore and Mythology
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