In honour of Indigenous People’s Heritage Month, we will be featuring random pieces of information that are sure to enlighten you about the life of Guyana’s first people. Today we will take a look at one of their more popular myths, The Kanaima.
Kanaima are generally known to be shape-shifters which enables them to appear in a variety of forms. They are spirits of revenge that will attack and kill their victims in retaliation for some injustice done to them or a member of his family. In order to accomplish this, Kanaima will possess the bodies of animals or other people. In such a form the host becomes enraged and will violently attack it’s victims. Kanaima will not limit itself from harming or killing the friends, family, and loved-ones of it’s victim. Individuals possessed by the Kanaima do not live among others but will do in the jungle or wilderness while in a feral state. Kanaima are known to track their victims to any location that they may have fled or may be hiding. An interesting aspect of the Kanaima is that it seeks the painful suffering of it’s victim and will not kill it’s victim outright. Instead, the Kanaima works it so that the victim dies a painful death three days after it’s attack.
