Kuwait’s older folk-belief record draws on both the seafaring culture of Kuwait City and the Badawin communities of the surrounding desert. Ethnographic work on Kuwaiti folktales records figures such as Tantal, Hemarat Al-Gayla, Al-Seolu, Al-Duaidea, and Bu Darya, while Kuwait City interviewees often remembered these characters only as fragments of older scary stories rather than as beings they personally considered real.[1]
This collection documents approximately 25 reported Kuwaiti superstitions, omens, protective beliefs, dream signs, and folklore motifs. It is not a claim that Kuwait has a fixed total of 25 superstitions. Many entries come from historical field notes gathered in and around Kuwait between 1929 and 1936, so beliefs identified with the ’Awazim, ’Ajman, Mutair, or other Badawin communities are kept in that setting rather than presented as customs of every Kuwaiti household.[2]
Night Creatures, Desert Figures, and Sea Folklore
Tantal, the Towering Night Figure
In older Kuwaiti stories, Tantal is an abnormally tall nocturnal figure whose heavy steps and threatening appearance made him useful in stories told to frighten disobedient children. The name survived in Kuwaiti speech as a description for an exceptionally tall person even as literal belief in the creature faded.
Hemarat Al-Gayla, the Afternoon Donkey
Hemarat Al-Gayla, commonly rendered as the “Afternoon Donkey,” appears in Kuwaiti folklore as a half-human, half-donkey being. Older families could invoke the creature when warning children to obey adults or stay away from unsafe situations, making the tale as much a disciplinary story as a supernatural one.
Um Al-Sa’af Wa-Alleef
This old Kuwaiti figure is portrayed as a frightening woman able to fly on a palm frond. The imagery connects an ordinary material from the Gulf environment—the date palm—with a supernatural child-warning tale. Contemporary recollection of the character appears much weaker than in earlier generations.
Al-Duaidea, the Luring Glow
Al-Duaidea is described in Kuwaiti folklore as a glowing, hot object resembling amber or fire. The light tempts a person to follow it, only for the pursuit to lead toward danger. The motif resembles wider Arabian stories in which deceptive supernatural beings lure travellers away from safety.
Bu Darya’s Cry for Help
Bu Darya belongs to Kuwait’s older maritime folklore. The half-human, half-fish figure was said to cry for help from the sea at night, tricking sailors or fishermen into approaching before pulling them into deep water. The story gave supernatural form to the very real dangers faced at sea.
Al-Seolu and Missing Children
Al-Seolu appears in historical Kuwaiti storytelling as a long-toothed child-snatching creature. One early twentieth-century account even records a drowning being attributed to Al-Seolu. Such attribution belongs to folklore rather than evidence about the actual cause of an accident.
Sehaila Um Al-Khalajeen
Sehaila Um Al-Khalajeen is portrayed as a wandering woman who collects discarded pieces of cloth, sews them together, and trails the oversized rags behind her. In older storytelling, her appearance marked her as someone outside familiar household and social boundaries, turning her into a cautionary figure.
Jinn, Haunted Places, and Protective Beliefs
Avoiding Burial Places After Dark
An ’Awazim informant recorded in Kuwait in 1935 advised avoiding Badawin burial grounds at night, especially around midnight. In that account, spirits of the dead could emerge, sit near their graves, shout at passers-by, or throw stones. This is a historical tribal belief, not a verified property of graveyards.
The Protected ‘Ausaj Bush
Among Badawin communities of Kuwait and Al-Hasa, the ‘ausaj bush was recorded as being under the protection of jinn. Breaking its branches or cutting it could supposedly bring nighttime torment from hostile spirits. People approaching the bush might invoke divine protection and leave stones around its base.
Jinn at Abrag Al-Khalijah
Abrag Al-Khalijah, near the historical Kuwait–Saudi Neutral Zone, was known to Kuwait Badawin as a feared haunt of jinn. Older accounts particularly associate reluctance to approach the site with members of the ’Awazim and ’Ajman, showing that the belief had a specific desert and tribal setting.
The Creature of ‘Ain Al-‘Abd
A sulphurous spring called ‘Ain Al-‘Abd, near the southern edge of the former Neutral Zone, carried a story about a mysterious humanlike creature or jinn living in its pool. Historical companions reportedly kept their distance from the place even when an outside visitor approached it.
Evil Eye and Older Protective Practices
Drawing Out the Evil Eye With Lead
An older Badawin treatment for a supposed evil eye used a bowl of water, metal objects, and molten lead, with the unwanted influence thought to leave the afflicted person and enter the bowl. This is an archival belief, not a treatment to reproduce. Lead is toxic, and exposure should be avoided.[3]
Steel as Protection for a Newborn
Historical Badawin records from the Kuwait area describe steel as a protective material against the evil eye for newborn children. The object could formerly be a dagger or another piece of metal placed nearby. This should be understood only as an old protective belief, not as a safe childcare practice to copy.
Farry and the Skull-Gap Explanation for Headache
A modern clinical study in Kuwait recorded a traditional healer concept called Farry: an opening or gap in the skull was said to let air enter and cause chronic headache. The explanation is a folk medical belief rather than an established cause of headache, and persistent symptoms require proper medical assessment.[4]
Dreams as Signs and Messages
Taking an Unusual Dream to an Interpreter
Historical Badawin accounts from the Kuwait region describe unusual dreams being taken seriously enough to consult a recognised interpreter. Both men and women could perform this role, while older women knowledgeable about healing and protective practices were particularly associated with dream interpretation.
A Bad Dream Can Carry a Good Meaning
One recorded rule of dream interpretation worked through opposites. Something unpleasant happening to the dreamer within a dream could therefore be read as a favourable omen rather than a prediction of comparable trouble in waking life.
Killing a Snake in a Dream
In the dream lore recorded among Badawin communities around Kuwait, killing snakes in a dream was commonly interpreted as triumph over enemies. The snake functioned symbolically; the interpretation was part of local dream-reading tradition rather than a forecast that could be tested as fact.
Extinguishing Fire as a Favourable Dream
Dreaming of putting out a fire was recorded as an auspicious sign. As with other interpretations in the same historical material, the meaning belonged to a symbolic system in which an unsettling image could be given a favourable waking-life interpretation.
Daggers and Swords as Dream Symbols
Older dream interpreters could assign human meanings to weapons seen in dreams. One recorded scheme treated a dagger as representing a woman and a sword as representing a man. These were symbolic associations within a particular tradition, not universal meanings applied by all Kuwaitis.
People Thought to Have Prophetic Dreams
Some individuals were historically regarded as possessing a special ability to experience dreams that later came true. Their accounts could receive unusual attention and respect. The status came from community belief in the dreamer’s gift, rather than from a demonstrable method of predicting future events.
Luck, Decisions, Numbers, and Animal Signs
The Fingertip Test Before a Journey
A historical Badawin method for judging a proposed journey or undertaking involved closing the eyes and trying to bring the tips of the middle fingers together. Exact contact meant good luck; missing the contact warned against proceeding. The test was commonly repeated three times.
Throwing Date Stones for Camel Luck
An account recorded from the Shaikh of Kuwait in 1935 says a Badawin eating dates might throw each stone over his shoulder, imagining each discarded stone as a camel to be acquired during a raid. The belief belongs to the social and economic setting of historical desert life rather than modern Kuwait.
The ‘Awazim Avoidance of Eleven
Dickson recorded an unusual speech taboo among the ’Awazim: instead of using the ordinary Arabic expression for eleven, speakers were said to use a form meaning “ten and one.” His Kuwait note from 1933 states that he could not determine the reason for the avoidance.
Lucky Marks on a Horse
A horse-lore document translated in Kuwait in 1929 treated certain natural hair patterns and coat combinations as favourable. A circular forehead cowlick called sa’ad, paired neck markings, and some markings on a bay horse could be interpreted as signs of luck or protection for the rider.
Unlucky Horse Markings
The same historical horse lore classified other patterns as undesirable: particular throat hair lines, uneven paired cowlicks, certain white-leg combinations, and some coat patterns were associated with grief, failed wishes, or danger to a rider. These judgments were traditional omen readings, not evidence about a horse’s future.
What Survived and What Became Story
The dates and settings of these records matter. Tantal, Hemarat Al-Gayla, Bu Darya, and related figures belong to a recognisably Kuwaiti storytelling tradition, yet fieldwork in Kuwait City found that adults often remembered them as childhood warnings or stories from an older way of life. Remembering a character does not mean believing literally in it.
The desert material requires similar care. Dickson frequently recorded a named tribe, informant, location, and date, which makes the material useful but also shows why a belief associated with the ’Awazim or ’Ajman should not be expanded into a statement about every Kuwaiti. Some ideas have also followed different paths: the clinical record of Farry shows that a folk explanation can remain familiar within traditional healing even when older monster tales have largely shifted into cultural memory.
📚 Roots of Belief
- Kinga Németh — “Kill the Man Who Killed the Dog – Stories Buried under the Skyscrapers: Folktales of Kuwait” — Documents Kuwaiti folklore figures including Tantal, Al-Seolu, Sehaila Um Al-Khalajeen, Um Al-Sa’af Wa-Alleef, Hemarat Al-Gayla, Al-Duaidea, and Bu Darya, together with Kuwait City field interviews about how such stories are remembered. (Published through the University of Debrecen’s interdisciplinary journal and reviewed within its academic editorial process.)
- H. R. P. Dickson — The Arab of the Desert: A Glimpse into Badawin Life in Kuwait and Sau’di Arabia — Provides the historical Kuwait-area records used for burial-place spirits, the ‘ausaj bush, jinn-haunted locations, evil-eye protection, dream interpretation, journey luck, the ’Awazim avoidance of eleven, and horse omens. Dickson states that he gathered material from 1929 through 1936. (A digitised primary ethnographic text preserved by Internet Archive.)
- World Health Organization — Lead Poisoning — Supports the safety note explaining why the historical molten-lead evil-eye practice should not be attempted and why lead exposure should be avoided. (WHO is the United Nations specialised agency for international public health.)
- The Journal of Headache and Pain — “Use of Traditional Medicine for Primary Headache Disorders in Kuwait” — Records the Kuwaiti traditional-healer concept of Farry as a supposed skull opening that permits air to enter and cause chronic headache, while also examining traditional headache treatments and their reported outcomes. (A peer-reviewed open-access clinical study involving Kuwait-based hospital and Kuwait University researchers.)