Pelesit

Overview

The pelesit is a familiar spirit of Malay folk magic, manifesting as a cricket or grasshopper (sometimes with a human head) and traditionally owned by women, who keep it in a bottle and use it to attack victims at the command of its master and its companion spirit, the polong.

Details

Origin:

The pelesit is part of Malay folk magic across Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and Singapore. The tradition is particularly strongly associated with Kedah in northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Regions:

Malay world (alam Melayu), Peninsular Malaysia, Kedah

First Reported:

1800s

Full Account

In Malay folklore, a pelesit is a hereditary familiar spirit kept by a sorcerer or witch (most often a woman) and used to harm enemies. It is most commonly described as a cricket or grasshopper, and the name itself derives from the Malay root lesit ('to buzz or whizz'). The pelesit is closely paired with the polong, another familiar spirit; together they form a working pair, with the pelesit often described as the 'pet' of the polong. To create or inherit a pelesit, the practitioner performs a ritual involving the recitation of incantations and the biting off of the tongue of a dead infant; the preserved tongue, treated with the proper ritual, becomes the pelesit. When not deployed, the pelesit is kept in a small bottle and fed turmeric rice or blood drawn from the ring finger (the 'ghost finger', jari hantu). When directed at a victim, it enters the body tail-first through the mouth and chirps to summon the polong, which can drive the victim mad or unconscious. Treatment is performed by a bomoh (Malay folk healer), who interrogates the victim under the spirit's influence to identify its owner. The tradition is documented across the Malay-speaking world, with particularly strong attestation in the state of Kedah, in northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Also Known As

• Belalang Pelesit (Malay, Malay world)

Etymology

Origin:

Malay. From the root lesit ('to buzz or whizz'), referring to the sound of the cricket/grasshopper form the spirit takes.

Meaning:

'Buzzer' (loosely).

First Use:

Documented in 19th- and 20th-century European-language ethnographies of Malay folk magic, including the works of Walter William Skeat (Malay Magic, 1900); the underlying belief is older.

Timeline

• 1900 — Walter William Skeat publishes Malay Magic, providing the first systematic English-language treatment of Malay folk magic including the pelesit and polong (Foundational ethnographic documentation)

Sightings & Evidence

Cultural Significance

Pelesit attack is treated as a real and serious cause of sudden illness in some Malay communities; defensive practices include consulting a bomoh, the use of Quranic verses, and physical defences such as iron objects.

Related Phenomena

• Polong — The pelesit's paired master spirit, often described as a tiny humanoid kept in a bottle and summoned by the pelesit's chirp
• Bajang — Male equivalent hereditary familiar spirit in Malay folklore, typically appearing as a polecat or civet
• Toyol — Malay child-spirit familiar used for theft
• Hantu Raya — Greater familiar spirit in Malay folk magic

Tags

Sources

• Pelesit — Wikipedia
• Malay Magic: An Introduction to the Folklore and Popular Religion of the Malay Peninsula — Macmillan