The Douen is an entity from
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
folklore spelt Dwen in Saint Lucian folklore. Their most recognized characteristic is their feet are said to be backwards, with the heel facing the front and the knees are backwards also being faceless. If they hear a child's name, then they can call to the child in a parent's voice and try to lure the child into the forest. They wear a big, floppy straw hat to hide the fact that they have no face except for a small mouth to speak with. Largely mischievous, they play pranks on people, raid gardens, and seem to enjoy leading children astray until they are thoroughly lost in the woods.
Origins
Trinidad and Tobago folklore is primarily of African foundation, with French, Spanish, and English influences. Religious or semi-religious cults of African origin have undeniably contributed much to the Island's folklore. Many of the supernatural folklore characters are identical with those of African deities. It is exceedingly complicated to draw a line between the stern religious elements and what may be described as traditions. Nevertheless, in the African tradition, stories were meant to instill values in the children.
[Williams, Eric (1993). ''History of the People of Trinidad & Tobago, A&b Publishers Group]
Based on the description of Trinidadian Douen/Saint Lucian Dwen, it seems that this folklore may have originated from the Mayan folklore
Tata Duende or the Latin-American folklore of
duende
A duende is a humanoid figure of folklore, with variations from Iberian Peninsula, Iberian, Ibero-America, Ibero American, and Culture of Latin America, Latin American cultures, comparable to Dwarf (folklore), dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns. ...
.
In popular culture
* Douen feature heavily in ''
Lost and Found
A lost and found (American English) or lost property (British English), or lost articles (also Canadian English) is an office in a public building or area where people can go to retrieve Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property, lost articles th ...
'', a
season 4 episode of the
Syfy television show ''
Haven''.
* Douen are mentioned 12 times in
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar ( ; born Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor Jr. , April 16, 1947) is an American former basketball player. He played professionally for 20 seasons for the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers in the National Basketball Associatio ...
& Anna Waterhouse's
novel
A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...
''Mycroft Holmes''.
* "Douen" is used to describe a sentient species on another planet in
Nalo Hopkinson
Nalo Hopkinson (born 20 December 1960) is a Jamaican-born Canadian speculative fiction writer and editor. Her novels – ''Brown Girl in the Ring (novel), Brown Girl in the Ring'' (1998), ''Midnight Robber'' (2000), ''The Salt Roads'' (2003), ' ...
's novel ''
Midnight Robber'' (Warner Aspect, 2000). The human characters explain that, on foreign planets, douen is used as a threat to frighten children: that these creatures are dead children arisen from the grave.
See also
*
Baptism
Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
*
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...
*
Caribbean
The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
*
Mami Wata
Mami Wata, Mammy Water, or similar is a mermaid, water spirit, and/or goddess in the folklore of parts of Western Africa, Eastern Africa, and Southern Africa. Historically, scholars trace her origins to early encounters between Europeans and ...
*
Madam Koi Koi
Madam Koi Koi (also known as ''Lady Koi Koi'' and ''Madam Moke'' in Ghana) is a Nigerian urban legend featuring a vengeful ghost who haunts dormitories, hallways and toilets in boarding schools at night; in day schools, she haunts toilets and stude ...
*
Papa Bois
*
Duende (mythology)
References
*
*
* {{cite book , title=Folklore & Legends of Trinidad and Tobago , last=Besson , first=Gerard , publisher=Paria Publishing Company Ltd , year=2007 , ISBN= 9789768054470
External links
Trinidad and Tobago Folklore CharactersTrinidad and Tobago Douen
Trinidad and Tobago folklore
Caribbean legendary creatures
Ghosts
Forest spirits