Folklore tales and traditions are deeply ingrained in the culture of many countries. I have grown up with imaginative stories about headless horsemen, headless donkeys and Saci-Pererê. The latter has left me with a remarkable awareness of the importance of fables passed down through the generations.
The legend of Saci-Pererê describes a mischievous one-legged character from Brazilian folklore who wears a red cap and smokes a pipe, often appearing in whirlwinds. Like most mythical creatures, he is known for being mischievous and playing tricks on people, and he enjoys bothering travellers; similar to the sirens in myths that lure people into the water with their beautiful singing voices.
For thousands of years, people have been making up stories about creatures as part of their traditions. Tales of mystical beings offer insights into religious beliefs, social structures and values. Stories are rich, and details vary as they are recounted. They can relate to the supernatural or they can reflect the power of gods and devotion; or they can have historical accounts involving heroes and courageous fighters.
In Arabian folklore, the belief in jinn (supernatural beings) is rooted in pre-Islamic Arabian mythology. Early Arab tribes viewed jinn as spirits that inhabited desolate places, such as deserts, ruins and caves. They were thought to have the power to influence human affairs — sometimes positively, often negatively.
I was happy to discover a copy of “Omani Folk Tales”, a book by Hatim al Taie and Joan Pickersgill, published in 2008, among my belongings. The tale about the beautiful woman and the snake, told by Asma al Kindi, from the foothills of the old town of Bausher, caught my attention, as did the story about the tracker and the thief by Mohammed bin Amer al Siyabi, from the Wilayat of Nakhal.
My readings of the tales happened after a visit to the Majlis Al Jinn (assembly of spirits), in Jabal Al Abyad (white mountain), and so, I came to see the meeting place of Arabian mythical creatures and the enigmatic landscape of human experience.
As a group of tourists, we visited only the aboveground area of one of the three small entrances to these vast subterranean caves measuring 310 m in length and 225 m in width and spanning 58,000 sqm, according to official accounts. Majlis Al Jinn in the Sultanate of Oman is recognised as one of the largest cave chambers in the world.
Majlis Al Jinn holds considerable cultural importance, acting as a narrative device to elucidate the unexplainable, especially in circumstances involving sudden misfortune, illness, etc. For whatever reason, the journey back, descending the mountain at night, took an extraordinary amount of time and several back-and-forth drives. Perhaps a Jinn was playing a trick on us.
The portrayal of Jinn and the Majlis Al Jinn in literature and films has grown in popularity recently, often blending traditional and current themes. These representations reflect contemporary societal topics, like the struggle for identity in multicultural societies and the tension between old beliefs and modern values.
The power of storytelling, combined with a tapestry of beliefs and mysteries, offers an opportunity to explore and understand ideas and experiences. Saci-Pererê, the Majlis Al Jinn, the Falak - part of Arabian cosmology - a terrifying mythological creature found beneath the mythical fish Bahmut, mentioned in the fairy tale One Thousand and One Nights, and the ‘laughing snake’ (mar-I qahqahe) that can kill with its gaze are just a few examples that highlight the power of creativity and imagination.
Myths originate from observed lives; they are part of our cultural heritage. Weaving the ordinary with the magical world is captivating, especially given our fascination with the morbid. Folktales about the unknown reveal that humans don’t have sole control over their world, and they often come with a warning.
Sonia Ambrosio
The writer is journalist, academic and researcher in media studies
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