Soucouyant

Second of my Trinidad Folklore series

Soucouyant

The Soucouyant (Sukuya), also called Old Hag, is a supernatural being who has made a pact with the devil to be able to change herself into all kinds of different forms. At night she sheds her human skin and changes into a ball of fire and casts spells on people to turn them into animals, but she has to slip back into that skin before dawn breaks and the cock crows, otherwise she will not be able to get back into it. So it may happen, that, when people suspect that an old woman neighbour of theirs is, in fact, a soucouyant, they may trick her by going to her house at night and destroying the skin she left behind by putting salt on it so that it will shrink and she will not be able to get back into it and thus die. In Trinidad, if somebody walks around with a "hicky" (soukie) on his neck, he may get remarks from his friends like: " Eh, Eh, Soucoyant suck yuh or wha ? "

Old people talk: If you wish to discover who the Soucouyant in your village is empty 100 lbs of rice at the village crossroads where she will be compelled to pick them up, one grain at a time - that is how you'll know the Soucouyant.

Trinidad Folklore 1 - Mama Glow