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PONTIANAK \ pän-té- -näk
pontianak [ˌpɒntı'ɑːnæk]
noun (in Malay folklore) a female vampire; the ghost of a woman
who has died in childbirth
[ETYMOLOGY: from Malay]
Source: The Collins English Dictionary © 2000 HarperCollins
Publishers:
What is Pontianak?
In Malaysia, the creature "Pontianak" is believed to exist in real by
certain individual and it is considered a legend by some. The
origination of the word "Pontianak" is unknown. In Malay "anak"
means child but the word "ponti" is unknown.
It is in general believed that "Pontianak" is the soul of a lady
died of child birth. "Pontianak" is basically a female vampire who
appears at night. Sometimes she is accompanied by a baby. Normally
she is seen at the road side or under a tree. She has long hair.
Sometimes she appears young and beautiful to attract male victims.
After the victim falls in her trap, she will turn ugly and old
with sharp teeth. Attacks would be based on claws, and defense
probably on leaping or footwork. She is believed to feed on
intestines and blood. "Pontianak" is believed to be attracted by
child birth when there is a plenty of blood flowing out from human
body. In the olden days, measures are taken by the people to
prevent the vampire from coming during child birth. She is
believed to be scared of thorns.
The legend
It is said that a woman who dies while she is with child will rise
again as a "Pontianak", a fearsome nocturnal undead being who will
bring violent death on anyone she meets. Such a being resides
inside the trunk of ancient trees, but will revert to her old
human nature if an iron nail is driven into her neck. The nail
remains in the woman's neck until she dies and is buried with it
... should the nail ever be removed, she will once again become a
Pontianak and embark on a killing spree. Due to the frightening
fighting prowess of one of these creatures, few are willing to
attempt to tame one. For this reason, it is considered unlucky to
strike a woman, especially a married woman.
Langsuir vs Pontianak in Malay folklore
The Malaysians have a rich mythology involving numerous
"demon-vampire" types of all diverse sorts. One of the more
prominent Malay vampires is known as the Bajang. The Bajang is
generally assumed to be male and takes the form of a huge cat
which mews at night. The female of this species is known as the
Langsuir, or Langsuyar. There are some variations to the Langsuir
tale.
In one version, the Langsuir was a woman of exquisite beauty and
charm who, upon hearing the news of her child's stillbirth, died
of shock and became a demon. Women in Malaysia seem to have this
particularly horrible tendency to suddenly die of shock and become
demon-vampires. Anyway, upon hearing the news, the woman claps her
hands and flies off to a tree where she perches. The stillborn
child becomes the Pontianak. The Langsuir wears a beautiful robe
of green and possesses long, tapering nails and flowing black
hair- which conceals a "feeding hole" in the back of her neck,
which she uses to suck the blood of young children.
In this version, the Langsuir can be stopped or, more precisely,
'domesticated.' To do this, you must catch her, trim her nails and
her hair, and then stuff the hair into the hole in the back of her
neck. Goodness, it'd be hard enough to catch a normal women and do
that, much less one that possesses supernatural powers.
In another telling of the tale, the Langsuir is a woman who has
died during childbirth before the 'forty days of uncleanness have
expired'. In this variation, the Langsuir is a demon-witch that
shrieks and flies about by waving her arms and opening and closing
her hands. To prevent this from happening, immediately after the
woman has died, glass beads are placed into the corpse's mouth,
hen's eggs placed under each armpit, and needles stuck into the
palms. This prevents the Langsuir's ability to shriek and move her
arms and hands.
The tendency for one to become a Bajang or Langsuir seems to be
somewhat hereditary, as the familiar of each is handed down,
heirloom style, from one family member to the next- very similar
to the supposed witch-possessions of European lore.
Still another version of the story has the Langsuir depicted as a
great owl with giant claws that perches itself in trees or upon
rooftops, hooting it's melancholy tune (similiar to a Banshee).
Pontianak or Langsuir, which is which?
Now, the Pontianak, or Madi-anak, also has a few variations. As
stated before, the popular reference to the Pontianak is as the
stillborn child of the Langsuir, and it takes the form of an owl;
just as the mother does in the last variation. Other versions have
the stillborn corpse shrieking a maddening cry and flapping its
arms and flying about. To prevent this, the same procedure with
the beads, eggs, and needles must be performed.
Through some misinterpretation, the Pontianak has also taken on
the role of the Langsuir that is in the form of a beautiful woman
who died in childbirth. The people of Java refer to the Pontianak
as the spirit of a dead virgin, who feeds upon unsuspecting
suitors with the hole in the back of her neck; unless they are
quick and can loose a single strand of her magnificent hair.
In Java and the rest of Indonesia the names of the Languisar and
the Pontianak are reversed such that the Pontianak is the mother
and the Langsuir is the baby. Here they also are night flying
vampires. But on Java the Pontianak also wails at night like a
banshee for the loss of her child.
The origin of Pontianak?
Otherwise known as 'Hantu Kuntilanak among the Indonesians', there
are many stories of the Malay vampire, commonly known to the
locals in Malaysia as Pontianak. They have long hair and are
usually thought of as females. They kill their victims and then
suck their blood. There are, however, different opinions on the
origins of this Pontianak.
The most common belief is that the Pontianak is usually the ghost
of a woman who died during childbirth, and she returns as a
vengeful spirit who hates to see other women have what she
couldn't. So these spirits would seduce men by appearing to them
as a beautiful woman, and once they've lured the unsuspecting
males, will proceed to suck the life out of them. They are also
known to turn up at a childbirth and 'steal' the new-born baby
away. They do steal young women's life too as it is believed that
the latter's blood will keep them going.
An Indonesian informant said that Hantu Kuntilanak are actually
victims of road accidents who had lost a lot of blood in those
accidents. Therefore, they transform themselves into bloodsucking
ghosts.
Perhaps the only reason they are called vampire is because they
suck blood. Otherwise, Pontianaks do not have characteristic of
the Western version of vampire. They have more characteristics
possessed by ghosts but are much more violent. Hence, in my
opinion, the term 'vampire' may not be such a suitable term to
call them but 'Pontianak' should be a more appropriate term.
The Pontianak is the stillborn child of a Langsuir. Langsuir also
sucks the blood of living infants and appears in the form of a
night owl with long claws. The ways to prevent a stillborn child,
whose mother also died at his stillbirth, from becoming a
Pontianak match the ways his mother is prevented from becoming a
Langsuir.
The best source of information on Malaysian vampires is Malay
Magic by William Water Skeat (first published in 1900; reprinted
in 1966 by Frank & Cass Co., Ltd.), TheVampire: His Kith and Kin
by Montague Summers (originally published in 1928, most recently
reprinted under the title The Vampire by Dorset Press in 1991),
and the The Vampire Book by J. Gordon Melton. (Visible Ink Press,
1994, 1999).
Source: Kurt out, 19 April 2000
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