Baobhan Sith

Baobhan sith (baa-van see) is a vampire from the mythology of the Scottish Highlands. They would prowl the countryside at nighttime and would seduce their prey and drink their blood. They could shapeshift, but preferred the form of beautiful women, and would wear long green dresses to cover their legs, as they had the legs of a deer. They are also telepathic, a power which they use to locate men who wished for female company, thought about – or had committed – adultery. The only thing that could stop them was iron, as they were part fairy.

The most famous story of the baobhan sith is about four hunters who took shelter in a bothy. They ate, drank and one of the hunters played the fiddle while the others danced. As the night wore on, the men began to wish that there were women there, except for the fiddle player, who declared that he was content with his wife. Suddenly, four women appeared at their door and asked for shelter. Entranced, the three men invited them in.

With the presence of these “women”, the evening began to grow crazed. The men continued to dance and drink, spurred on by the bewitching presence of the baobhan sith. Soon, however, the fiddler noticed the women’s hooves and blood dripping from their mouths. When they realised they had been discovered, the baobhan sith attacked the men, slashing their necks with their long, talon-like fingernails and draining their blood. Only the fiddler escaped with his life and he managed to hide among their horses, as the iron in their horseshoes kept the women at bay until daytime.

Baobhan sith would also present themselves in the form of a wolf, raven or crow.

_{Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!}

Audre Lorde

Audre Lorde was an American author, poet, feminist and activist. She described herself as “black, lesbian, mother, warrior, poet”. She fought for civil rights and was a champion of intersectionality.

Audrey Geraldine Lorde was born on the 18th of February 1934 to Byron and Linda Lorde, two Caribbean immigrants who lived in Harlem, New York City. She had two older sisters, Phyllis and Helen. Audre was so near-sighted that she was legally blind. She dropped the y from her name at a young age because she liked the symmetry of having both her names end with e.

Audre’s relationship with her parents was strained for most of her life. They spent very little time with their children while trying to run their real estate business, and when they did they were withdrawn and distanced. This was in part due to Linda’s distrust of people with darker skin than hers, which Audre had. Audre’s relationship with her mother is explored in some of her work. She also had difficulty communicating as a child, and turned to poetry as a way to relate to others – in particular those who didn’t fit in.

When she was 17, she graduated from Hunter College High School. During her time there, she published her first poem in Seventeen as it was deemed too inappropriate for the school journal. Her father died two years later from a stroke. She attended the National University of Mexico for a year in 1954, then at Hunter College in New York. Audre was a librarian while she continued her writing on the side. During this time she came more into her own identity as a queer woman and poet. She gained a master’s in library science from Columbia University in 1961. In 1968 she had her first volume of poems (The First Cities) published. Her second was published two years later.

Audre married Edwin Rollins in 1962. He was a white, gay man and the couple had two children (Elizabeth and Jonathan) before they divorced eight years later. She met Frances Clayton in 1968, and the two were together until 1989.

In 1972, Audre moved to Staten Island where, in 1980, she developed Kitchen Table : Women of Colour Press with Barbara Smith and Cherríe Moraga. In 1977, she became an associate of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) and in 1981 she helped start the Women’s Coalition of St Croix. She also helped found the Sisterhood in Support of Sisters (SISA) in South Africa.

It was the publishing of Coal in 1976 that solidified Audre as a powerful voice in the Black Arts Movement and exposed more people to her work. She explored many themes in her volumes, including racial injustice, intersectionality, and her black queer identity.

In 1978, Audre was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy.

Audre was a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin in West Berlin in 1984. While in West Germany, she became involved in the relatively new Afro-German movement (she herself actually came up with the term ‘Afro-German’). During this trip, and subsequent visits, she encouraged the women to fight back with words instead of violence, and became a mentor to a number of women. Her influence not only touched Afro-German women, raised awareness of intersectionality in other areas.

In 1984, she discovered that her cancer had spread to her liver. She died on the 17th of November 1992 in St Croix where she lived with her partner Gloria I. Joseph. Audre chose the name Gamba Adisa in an African naming ceremony before her death as it means “warrior: she who makes her meaning known”.

Audre was the State Poet of New York from 1991 until her death.

You can find Audre’s works here.

_{Author’s Note: this is an incredibly condensed profile of an extraordinary woman. Audre achieved more than I can reasonably write about without going on and on for a long time. If you have the time, I encourage you to look her up so you can fully appreciate how she lived her life – or indeed, read some of her works.}

_{Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!}

Madderakka

Madderakka is the Sami goddess of childbirth. She was responsible for the safe delivery of babies along with her three daughters – Sarakka, Juksakka and Uksakka. She is the mother of all akka spirits in Sami beliefs.

Madderakka is said to receive the soul of a child from the Veralden-raiden (the supreme god) – in some versions, it was her husband Madderatcha that made the soul – and then give it a body so Sarakka could place it in a woman’s womb. She would watch over children from the moment they’re conceived to their early childhood. Her daughter Sarakka was the cleaving woman – she aided with pregnancy and helped women through menstruation. Uksakka was the door woman and helped women in labour, and Juksakka – the bow woman – would look after the child after they were born. Maderakka could also suggest names for the baby.

_{Disclaimer: All of this information comes from my own research and knowledge, so if I have missed anything out or got something wrong please let me know and I’ll try my best to fix it. Thank you!}