A History of Fear
The fear of bats started about the same time as people began fearing evil spirits. The Irish festival Samhain celebrated the harvest and was an early precursor to the current Halloween holiday. As revelers danced around the fire at night, bugs and insects were also drawn to the light. Bats swooped in and expertly completed pest control by eating their fill of bugs. Party-goers, rather than being thankful, were terrified. They did not know what bats were doing since it was dark. Because they were also engaging in some light spirit conjuring, they thought bats might be the evil spirits that come to harm. Since then, bats have been fighting for their good name in the history books. The truth in the story is that bats are nocturnal animals, and they are active and feed at night. Only a few species of bats are sanguineous, and they prefer animal blood. The bats were doing the people a favour. However, the people couldn’t quite see the bats. And since people have a healthy fear of the unknown already, bats got lumped right in. But the Irish and the Celts aren’t the only ones whose opinions about bats were not so great. Other cultures have had similar lore since early civilizations. Mayans recognized the Death Bat God, known as Camazotz. Native Americans have Evaki, the goddess responsible for the sun and the moon; while not fearful, this history does play into the bats being in control of darkness.
