Why are huts in Namibia round and have no horns? And this is because so that Tokoloshe cannot bump against his horns, such knocking upsets Tokoloshe and encourages malicious behavior. The round hut also has no corners with shadow, so it makes it difficult for Tokoloshe to hide in the dark.
Tokoloshe is a hairy aquatic creature, a small figure the size of a 3-year-old child with a mischievous and perverse nature. The belief in Tokoloshe comes from Zulu beliefs, but it is firmly rooted in the culture of southern African countries. Tokoloshe is responsible for doing evil, bringing disease and misery.
There are many ideas about where Tokoloshe came from. Some believe that this malignant nature was born from the shadows in order to bring death to people. Others, on the other hand, are sure that Tokoloshe was created by dark magic and evil intentions. Still others believe that Tokoloshea can be created by a shaman dealing with black magic. To create an evil spirit, you need a jealous person who will find a shaman with an evil nature and entrust him with the soul of the closest person in exchange for creating Tokoloshea. The jealous man cannot indicate which person he chooses, Tokoloshe does it himself by taking over the body of an innocent victim. The shaman searches for a dead body that Tokoloshe will take over in order to fulfill the purpose for which he was created. The shaman pierces the brain and eye sockets of a dead person with a red-hot iron rod so that the corpse cannot think for himself. Then he sprinkles the body with a magic powder that shrinks it. Hence, Tokoloshe is of small stature. The possessed body serving Tokoloshe is released into the wild to oppress the indicated victim. He can do this for weeks or months, and during this time he charges a fee for the soul of a loved one indicated by the shaman’s client.
Credo Mutwa, a sangoma specializing in Tokoloshe, believes that the father of all of them was Za-Ha-Rrellel, the ruler of the first men. And the mother of Vatamaraka, the goddess of evil. Sometimes, however, the Mutwa Creed indicates that the true father of the Tokoloshea was a creature called Burumatara, the size of an elephant, with the head of a bull and the tail of a crocodile.
A Tokoloshe may have a hole in its skull that its master can use as a vessel. It can be invisible by drinking water or eating stones.
In the beliefs of the Bantu people, it is common to explain sudden death, especially in sleep as an effect of Tokoloshe. There were many such unexplained deaths of healthy people and they were probably caused by sleeping close to the fire in huts without effective ventilation, which caused carbon monoxide poisoning. This seems to be an appropriate scientific explanation, especially since people who slept higher or in a sitting position avoided death. In mythology, the explanation was Tokoloshe’s short stature, which could not reach people sleeping higher. Hence, in many huts, bricks are placed under the bed, lifting it beyond the reach of the malicious spirit. This explanation is quite popular, although there is also a more prosaic reason for putting beds on bricks – protection against insects and, in the case of 19th-century servants, keeping belongings under the bed.
The Zulu and other peoples of southern Africa believe that the Tokoloshe can bite off the fingers of sleeping people. Those who experience nocturnal paralysis, cannot move, make a sound, and feel a weight on their chest have certainly been attacked by Tokoloshe. Less frightening exploits of the hairy spirit include stealing food, moving things, spoiling milk, stealing cows, and other mischievous mischief.
Tokoloshe can take the form of a cat, dog, baboon or other animal. Sometimes the evil sorcerer enchants the doll, which becomes Tokoloshe. If you put a rosary in the doll, none of your prayers will help to ward off the evil spirit, only the powerful songoma can annihilate Tokoloshe using special wood fished out of the middle of the river. Sometimes a mirror is put in the doll’s eyes or attached to the doll so that Tokoloshe can find you anywhere. If the person sending Tokoloshe on you has added your hair to the doll, the doll may come at night, keep you awake, and have sex with you. That is why Tokoloshe destroy marriages and families. Sometimes Tokoloshe is seen riding a lizard, sometimes he has a beautiful house with many rooms at the bottom of the river.
And there is also a warning for ladies. Tokoloshe can take the form of a handsome and charming young man who tries with all his might to seduce a woman. When he succeeds and the woman falls in love with him, he suddenly transforms into a shrunken, hairy and ugly creature with a nasty character. The beautiful chosen one suddenly turns out to be a small bald cramp with deeply sunken eyes with a malicious glow. The Tokoloshe have very large heads that must contain great intelligence and cunning.
How to defend yourself against Tokoloshe? In addition to the obvious raising of the bed, established methods include calling on apostles or guardian angels for help, or visiting a good healer (sangomas) who has the power to banish Tokoloshe by performing cleansing rituals on the person or their home using herbs and calling upon ancestors for help to undo the spell. Tokoloshe is very dangerous for children, so the best defense against it is to listen to your parents and not stay outside the hut after dark.
In rituals that exorcise or annihilate Tokoloshe, magic salt is of great importance. To enhance its effect, lavender or other herbs with a cleansing purpose are added. This type of salt is not used for cooking, it has only a ritual purpose. It can be scattered around the house, in corners, under beds, on windowsills or by doors. You can also create a salt circle, preferably around the bed. A bath with the addition of salt also has a cleansing effect. Such a bath allows the skin to cleanse itself and sweat out the evil sown in the body by Tokoloshe. Magic salt is created by healers and sangoma in special magical rituals and acquires special power through the prayers and power of the ancestors called upon to enhance the protective effect of salt. The ingredients of salt are selected for its protective or cleansing purpose.
Belief in Tokoloshe reflects fear of the unknown and unexpected, evil, jealousy, and evil deeds. And this fear is not close only to the tribes of southern Africa. The descriptions of Tokoloshe remind me of contemporary stories about phenomena caused by a poltergeist or the centuries-old belief of the Slavs in nightmares and strigas, which attacked people in the Tokoloshe way. Just in case, however, it is worth getting a protective amulet or at least magical salt when you decide to visit the countries of southern Africa.
