Moo-Sin-A 魔神仔 is a mythological creature endemic to Taiwan. The name Moo-Sin-A is derived from its Taiwanese pronunciation. According to folklores, it is a mischevious creature that enjoys pulling pranks on humans, especially children and the elderlies.
One common prank is to lure people into the hills and mountain, where they lived and get them lost. They may also pull other pranks. For instance, they may invite people to what seemingly look like a delicious human meal which really is bugs and feces. Nonetheless, relatively little accounts indicate the Moo-Sin-A to have any malicious intentions. This is because most people who have encountered a Moo-Sin-A were always found unharmed. However, the Moo-Sin-A was not known to be selective on their human victims. There were accounts when they chose to pull pranks on the sick and the weak, which result in injuries and fatalities. According to folklores, Moo-sin-a fear loud noises, and one way to deter them is to make them.
There were some debates as to how it look. Some say it is a small agile goblin-like creature (like the picture above) while other say it is more man-like. Some say Moo-Sin-A are ghosts of the deceased while others believed they are forest sprites. Currently, no one knows where the folklores of moo-sin-a originated. Ethnographers could not trace the creatures to any peculiar culture or time in Taiwan.
What is interesting is that the folk beliefs of Moo-sin-a were found not only among not Chinese Taiwanese communities but also among aboriginal communities.
Picture Source: 行人文化實驗室
No comments:
Post a Comment