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inferiarecoming) wrote2011-01-28 05:00 pm
inferiarecoming) wrote2011-01-28 05:00 pm
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for the creepies: grandmere talks about the lou-garrou's
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moonspell made a post about the Dogtown Werewolf. It got me really interested because my family is Mauritian and I grew up hearing stories about things like that. I mentioned this in a comments, and a couple of creepies asked me to ask my Grandmere more about it. So I did. I actually went and filmed it, because I knew I wouldn't remember everything she told me. Below the cut is a transcript of part of the video. English isn't my Grandmere's first language, so sorry if it gets a bit confusing. She also said if anyone has any questions or wants to know more, to ask me and she'll answer them if she can :)
(just a note - the French term for a werwolf is "loup-garou". Mauritian Creole is basically a simpler version of French. Most of the words are spelled phonetically - so "loup-garou" becomes "lou-garrou")
Me: What exactly is a lou-garrou?
Grandmere: A lou-garrou is a person who changes their form from a person to an animal. They do that by killing a cat, and boiling it and then [they] take the bones of the cat. They suck it [the bones] one by one until there's one bone in the cats body that changes them into whatever they want; cats or dogs or a horse or whatever! I don't know if it's true really...
Me: But I always thought that lou-garrou meant 'werewolf'. But there aren't really wolves in Mauritius...
Grandmere: Yes. We haven't got any wolves or animals like that. It's a beautiful little island... You won't meet any animals like that!
Me: And who used to tell you these stories?
Grandmere: Oh, my old auntie, Tante Dede. She was married but she didn't have any kids. She had a boy but he died when he was a baby, so she used to have all her nieces and nephews coming to her place. She had one, one of my uncles, my mother's brother Tonton Emanuel who used to like going out at night and coming back late. And her husband [Tante Dede's husband] used to say "Emanuel! You know, one day you're going to get the lou-garrou, you'll see the lou-garrou!" And Tonton Emmanuel used to tell his uncle "Oh, I don't believe in all these things, they don't exist!" And my great uncle used to say "You'll see! One day you'll see..." And it happens to him.
Me: To who, Tonon Emanuel?
Grandmere: Yes! One day he comes [home] late, his uncle was telling him "Late again Emanuel?" And he just close the door and lock it, and then he heard the horse.
Me: He saw a horse?
Grandmere: No! No, he just heard the horse, the noise of the horse galloping outside. He just... he was so scared. He didn't see anything, but he heard it. And in Mauritius you don't get horses galloping outside. So that was the last time Tonton Emanuel will come out late at night. He was so scared. Finished!
Me: Did you ever see anything?
Grandmere: No. Because in my time, all these things... I [didn't] think they existed, that it's true, it was just a part of growing up.
Me: Tonton Eric told me that there's ways you could tell if an animal was a lou-garrou? Do you know what they are?
Grandmere: I know that if you can catch them, they say, I don't know if it's true... If you want to catch them, at night when they, you know, cause it's at night when they go roaming about the place. You just take a big, a packet of lentils, black lentils, and you throw them at them and say "Count that! count that until morning!" And they say, I don't know if it's true, the next morning when you go outside, you'll see whether if it's a man or a woman, they'll be sitting there counting the lentils. They're naked, because while they were counting they transformed. They don't notice, because they are compelled to count them [the lentils].
Me: Are lou-garrou's dangerous? When they're in their animal form....
Grandmere: I don't know! But they've never been hurting people or things like that, just, it's just for fun, for themselves. I don't think it's a religious thing, it's just something they feel like they want to do.
She then went on to say that everyone in Mauritius knows about lou-garrou's, it's kind of told to scare kids. She also said that she believes it was part of the African culture, and they brought it over from the mainland (Mauritius is a small African island off the coast of Madagascar).
ontdcreepy, moonspell made a post about the Dogtown Werewolf. It got me really interested because my family is Mauritian and I grew up hearing stories about things like that. I mentioned this in a comments, and a couple of creepies asked me to ask my Grandmere more about it. So I did. I actually went and filmed it, because I knew I wouldn't remember everything she told me. Below the cut is a transcript of part of the video. English isn't my Grandmere's first language, so sorry if it gets a bit confusing. She also said if anyone has any questions or wants to know more, to ask me and she'll answer them if she can :)(just a note - the French term for a werwolf is "loup-garou". Mauritian Creole is basically a simpler version of French. Most of the words are spelled phonetically - so "loup-garou" becomes "lou-garrou")
Me: What exactly is a lou-garrou?
Grandmere: A lou-garrou is a person who changes their form from a person to an animal. They do that by killing a cat, and boiling it and then [they] take the bones of the cat. They suck it [the bones] one by one until there's one bone in the cats body that changes them into whatever they want; cats or dogs or a horse or whatever! I don't know if it's true really...
Me: But I always thought that lou-garrou meant 'werewolf'. But there aren't really wolves in Mauritius...
Grandmere: Yes. We haven't got any wolves or animals like that. It's a beautiful little island... You won't meet any animals like that!
Me: And who used to tell you these stories?
Grandmere: Oh, my old auntie, Tante Dede. She was married but she didn't have any kids. She had a boy but he died when he was a baby, so she used to have all her nieces and nephews coming to her place. She had one, one of my uncles, my mother's brother Tonton Emanuel who used to like going out at night and coming back late. And her husband [Tante Dede's husband] used to say "Emanuel! You know, one day you're going to get the lou-garrou, you'll see the lou-garrou!" And Tonton Emmanuel used to tell his uncle "Oh, I don't believe in all these things, they don't exist!" And my great uncle used to say "You'll see! One day you'll see..." And it happens to him.
Me: To who, Tonon Emanuel?
Grandmere: Yes! One day he comes [home] late, his uncle was telling him "Late again Emanuel?" And he just close the door and lock it, and then he heard the horse.
Me: He saw a horse?
Grandmere: No! No, he just heard the horse, the noise of the horse galloping outside. He just... he was so scared. He didn't see anything, but he heard it. And in Mauritius you don't get horses galloping outside. So that was the last time Tonton Emanuel will come out late at night. He was so scared. Finished!
Me: Did you ever see anything?
Grandmere: No. Because in my time, all these things... I [didn't] think they existed, that it's true, it was just a part of growing up.
Me: Tonton Eric told me that there's ways you could tell if an animal was a lou-garrou? Do you know what they are?
Grandmere: I know that if you can catch them, they say, I don't know if it's true... If you want to catch them, at night when they, you know, cause it's at night when they go roaming about the place. You just take a big, a packet of lentils, black lentils, and you throw them at them and say "Count that! count that until morning!" And they say, I don't know if it's true, the next morning when you go outside, you'll see whether if it's a man or a woman, they'll be sitting there counting the lentils. They're naked, because while they were counting they transformed. They don't notice, because they are compelled to count them [the lentils].
Me: Are lou-garrou's dangerous? When they're in their animal form....
Grandmere: I don't know! But they've never been hurting people or things like that, just, it's just for fun, for themselves. I don't think it's a religious thing, it's just something they feel like they want to do.
She then went on to say that everyone in Mauritius knows about lou-garrou's, it's kind of told to scare kids. She also said that she believes it was part of the African culture, and they brought it over from the mainland (Mauritius is a small African island off the coast of Madagascar).
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This makes me think of Harry Potter, if you know what I mean, the Animagus and Boggarts?
If there have never been reports of any person being harmed or menaced by a lou-garrou why are kids frightend? But I guess that's what urban legends are for!
Has it ever been mentioned what would happen if someone came across a lou-garrou? And can you ask your lovely Grandmere if she thinks the stories were based on tribal tales of hunters? In some cultures, animal skins of the kill were worn and the stories woven into dance by the fire and retold etc. It would be really interesting if it evolved from something like that.
Thank you for posting and sharing this! I <3 it :)
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I guess it's because everyone always says it in this horrible voice, like they're talking about the boogeyman. You're always warned about what could happen, and that's enough!
I actually did ask her about animal skins the first time we were talking about it, and she said that while she had heard that some cultures in the world believe that, it's not the case in Mauritius. All they need is that cat bone, and they can turn into any animal they want - apparently it can be a different one every time, which I thought was interesting. She has no idea how it evolved though, just that it probably came over with people from Africa.
Someone on ontdcreepy pointed out something interesting though (well, I thought it was interesting!): the counting of lentils or small beans/objects is pretty common in vampire & witch folklore as well. Here's a link to the comment, he linked me to a site about werewolves as well.
You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed reading it, I'll let Grandmere know.
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I've read children's stories where beans were used, in fact, they seem to play a part in quite a few stories...I wonder what it is about them that makes them so significant??
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I'm more curious about the counting thing. I've heard about other objects too... it's interesting.