Beast and Myth
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Bajang

MalayFamiliar spiritNocturnalJar-spiritChild-protective folklore

Lore

Bajang is a hostile spirit-familiar—small, furtive and bound to a vessel—kept by those who traffic in forbidden charms. Field notes: presence is accompanied by a sour, curdled-milk tang with a faint metallic edge; sound is a high, insectile chitter or soft, wet sucking noises at the edge of hearing; temperature registers as a sudden, localized chill and clamminess around cradles or jars. It moves at night, slipping along bamboo and shadow with an economy of motion that suggests hunger more than brute force.
Origin: Malay • Malay Peninsula / Nusantara
Classification: Spirit (Familiar)

Field Notes

Observations
  • Tiny greasy smears or minute oil-like fingerprints near a baby’s bedding or on a hidden jar; a sudden, high-pitched chitter at dusk.
Encounter Advice
  • avoidance: Keep newborns attended at night; seal or bury placental remains according to local custom; maintain bright threshold light and scatter salt or rice around sleeping areas to discourage approach.
  • defense: Locate and neutralize the vessel or charm that houses the familiar (destroying or exposing it to daylight breaks the bond); employ smoke or strong aromatic herbs, iron implements at doorways, and consult a trusted local ritual specialist to perform purification and removal.
  • offering: Small offerings of milk or sweet rice left at the hearth are recorded in some traditions as appeasement; culturally specific rites performed by a healer are the safer long-term remedy.

Abilities

  • Infant Siphon
    At night the bajang creeps to a newborn and drains the child's life-force through the mouth or nostrils, leaving shallow breathing and sudden infant illness.
  • Placenta-Wrought Familiar
    Created from a dried afterbirth and bound to an owner, the bajang can be sent as a covert malison or spy but remains tethered to its maker.
  • Small and Unseen
    It becomes invisible to most people and can squeeze through tiny openings to reach secluded cradles and rooms.

Weaknesses

  • Proper Afterbirth Disposal
    Burial or destruction of the placenta at birth prevents creation and destroying the originating placenta severs an existing bajang's tether.
  • Owner Recall
    The bajang is bound to its owner and will obey a direct command to return or will hide rather than act against the owner's explicit will.
  • Salt Boundary
    A deliberate ring or line of salt around a cradle or doorway reliably blocks its approach and forces it to retreat.