An obayifo is a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

/witch-like mythological creature from

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

coming from the folklore of the Ashanti. In Ashanti folklore, obayifo are very common and may inhabit the bodies of any man or woman. They are described as having shifty eyes and being obsessed with food. When travelling at night they are said to emit a phosphorescent light from their armpits and

anus In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the ''exit'' end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facil ...

. The obayifo is known as a similar entity to the asiman by the

Dahomey The Kingdom of Dahomey () was a West African List of kingdoms in Africa throughout history, kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in ...

people, a creature that can shapeshift and fly, turning itself into a ball of light and hunting for prey in the night sky.

Origin

In Ashanti Twi, the word used to describe

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

is ''bayi.'' Despite this, the

etymology Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

of ''bayi'' is still uncertain. Another possible variation is ''oba'' meaning "child" and ''yi'' meaning to remove. "To remove a child" in this case highlights a close association of

infant mortality Infant mortality is the death of an infant before the infant's first birthday. The occurrence of infant mortality in a population can be described by the infant mortality rate (IMR), which is the number of deaths of infants under one year of age ...

and

fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

to the likes of witchcraft. Alternatively, ''bayi'' also may have a history in representing blood or family lineage. People, typically women, who practiced bayi turned into the obayifo. Although obayifo is used to describe both the men and women who practiced bayi and turned into the monster, a distinction can be drawn between the men and women who practiced bayi, as ''obansam,'' meaning wizard, was a term used for the males exclusively as obayifo was sometimes only used for women exclusively.

Adaptations

*, 2024 film by Paco Arasanz

References

Allman, Jean Marie, and John Parker. ''Tongnaab: The History of a West African God''. Indiana University Press, 2006.

External links

*: film adaptation by Paco Arasanz (2024) West African legendary creatures African witchcraft Culture of Ghana Culture of Ivory Coast Culture of Togo Vampires {{Africa-myth-stub

Origin

Adaptations

See also

References

External links