Thread by @DrWatson_writer

**SARDINIAN FOLK TALES**

Sardinian lore is full of strange and sometimes funny creatures. From religion to paganism, history to superstition, I'll talk a little about the most famous ones. #SardinianFolklore #folklore #Sardinia
📸 S'ainu orriadore, Scano di Montiferro (OR)

▪️Ammuntadore. Thought to be linked to traditional incubi/succubi (and sleep paralysis), s'Ammuntadori was a demon which used to stay over a sleeping person's chest, blocking breath. People were terrified by this creature and invented several magic formulas to protect themselves.

▪️Sùrbile/Cògas/Bruxia/Istrìa. Several names around Sardinia for the same creature: a bloodthirsty witch, kind of a vampire, who fed on newborns. It was a woman during the day and transformed at night.

New mothers has several remedies against her, starting from su kokku-

-to leaving a blade with more than 7 teeth in the cradle (the witch would have had to count them, without managing), making turns with other women to watch over the child. And, obviously, making the child sleep with the mother.

▪️Boe muliache. It was a normal man during the day, but at night he was possessed by the spirit of an ox and started to act as one. It was a curse of divine or diabolic origin.

▪️Erchitu. Same as before but with an actual physical transformation.

▪️Janas. They are Sardinian fairies, very small and very beautiful, both male and female. People think they live in caves or Prenuragic tombs. In some places they're good but in others they're evil. They spin gold thread in golden frames and often lure men.

▪️Panas. They're the ghosts of women who died in childbirth. They are condemned to wash the child's clothes every night by the river for seven years and no one has to speak to them, or they'd have to start over. Also they would burn the person with hot water out of spite.

▪️Orcs. Many nuraghes bear the name of sa domu 'e s'orcu, the house of the orc. They were giant creatures that Sardinians thought inhabited the nuraghes (and hid treasures).

▪️Momotti/Bobotti. It's the classical boogeyman. It was told to kidnap rebellious kids.

▪️Mama 'e su bentu, mother of the wind. Same as Momotti.

▪️Historical. Historical events gave rise to many legends, from Eleonora d'Arborea having mystical powers to the many stories regarding the Moors' incursions of the Modern Era (1500-1800).

Historical figures turned out into ghosts too, like Violante Carroz.

▪️Musca maccedda. It was a giant fly that could be able to end the whole world. It often appears in stories of treasure hunts, where the wrong vase could be filled with Musca maccedda.

Some say it relates to malaria and anopheles, I think grasshopper fits better.

▪️Luxia (or Giorgia) Arrabbiosa. It's the stereotypical woman who does something wrong, acts greedy, and pays for it (usually turned into stone). Sometimes it's an angry ghost too, or a witch. Many menhirs have her name, she was ever-present, the example of what one shouldn't do.

▪️ The Devil. The devil is also ever-present in Sardinian tales, and often made fun of. He's more of a joker than a tempter and sometimes it's Jesus Christ himself (or the Virgin or some saint) who appears and fixes him for good 😆

▪️Morsu de mortu. Sardinians fear the deads' bite. Funeral rituals went ahead soon after death because of the fear of being bitten and even on November 2, when kids went around for the rites of is Animeddas, people feared the dead could bite those who had in spite.

▪️Ghosts. There are plenty of ghost stories and haunted castles. Relating to the tradition of the woman in white, we have for example the ghosts of Casteddu Etzu and Bosa.

▪️ The dead. Sardinians were terrified by the dead 😂 They thought they gathered in churches, or graveyards at night and whoever living person met them, they would have been stuck with them. That's why they invented formulas for that too 😆

▪️ Water spirits. Similar to Janas and Panas, each river, fountain, pit, has its water spirit that can grab people inside.