Title: If An Aye-Aye is Seen: Superstitions and Sympathetic Magic

General Information about Item:

• Language: English
• Country: United States
• Verbal folklore that features superstitions (sign and conversion) along with sympathetic magic

Informant Data:

• Nate Dominy is a Dartmouth professor who has researched several different aspects of aye-aye anatomy and behavior.

Contextual Data:

• Social Context:

This interview lasted nearly an hour and was conducted in the informant’s office with all three group members present, taking notes, and asking questions.

Scholars learn about this folklore in a variety of settings; our informant happened to learn of it in a campfire setting. He was visiting Madagascar for the first time, and every night the academics would gather around a fire and discuss their days, including their research, the animals, and the local’s beliefs. This item came up during one of those talks and is a common thread of conversation when researchers discuss Malagasy people’s interactions with aye-ayes.

• Cultural Context:

This verbal folklore comes from a researcher who has conducted first-hand research with aye-ayes in laboratory contexts. He has never seen an aye-aye in the wild, though he has traveled to Madagascar. His knowledge of aye-aye folklore comes from other scholars’ accounts. Predominately, these scholars are Western intellectuals who are not native to Madagascar. Thus, it is a Western academic perspective that observes and disseminates evidence of this behavior by the Malagasy people of Madagascar. They do not take part, or to any large degree, hear from it directly from the locals (as discussed here); this folklore is spread via observation of behavior and interpretations of attitude.

Item:

If an aye-aye is seen, then a villager will die, unless the aye-aye is killed. This is an example of a conversion superstition that scholars suspect most Malagasy people believe. It is used to thwart the general sign superstition associated with aye-ayes: If an aye-aye is seen, a villager will die. However, more specificity regarding these superstitions can be gleaned by examining the words of an informant:

“So, if an old aye-aye is seen, they may believe that an older member of the community is soon to die. If it is a young aye-aye, then they will think that a younger member is going to die. Someone is going to die. And that’s how awful the sign [superstition] is. So they’re sure to kill it as quickly as possible before this bad luck can be transmitted into some hapless victim.”

As noted above, this passage indicates both sign and conversion superstitions. Interestingly, it also touches on elements of sympathetic magic. There is clearly a homeopathic connection between the old aye-ayes and older community members and young aye-ayes and younger community members. As discussed in another post, there are also elements of contagious magic regarding locals’ dealings with aye-ayes.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Collectors’ Comments:

Collectors’ Names:

Keira Byno, Savannah Liu, and Annie Medina

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