Public Lecture on Folklore Spirits

A free public lecture on Indian Caribbean Folklore Spirits will be held at NAPA in Port of Spain on Saturday July 2, 2011 at 6.30 p.m.

The lecture will be presented by Dr. Kumar Mahabir as part of The University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) “Distinguished Lecture Series.”

Mahabir is an Assistant Professor in Centre for Education Programmes at UTT. His lecture will be held in Theatre 2 at NAPA.

Mahabir’s lecture will provide details of the presence of a brood of spirits believed to roam the Caribbean since the abolition of slavery. Only a few elderly people in the region are actually aware of them.

These supernatural beings include (1) the raa-khas - a deformed, demonic newborn child, (2) the chu-rile – a spirit of a deceased pregnant woman, (3) the saap-in - a woman who transforms into a snake, (4) Dee Baba – a mythical protector of the house and land, and (5) the jinn, Sheik Sadiq - a spirit that can be captured in a bottle to grant wishes.

Based on his latest book entitled Indian Caribbean Folklore Spirits, Mahabir will reveal the existence of these spirits in the country at the present time.

The lecture will include descriptions of the spirits, documented personal testimonies, related spirits in the Caribbean, and similar spirits in distant cultures. The discourse will be enhanced by illustrations by the artist, Aneesa Khan, the screening of a short documentary film, and a dramatic re-enactment with one of these scary creatures.