Inguma, no te temo

Inguma, no te temo is a protective formula recited before sleep to keep Inguma, a night spirit, from approaching. It joins an assertion of fearlessness to an elaborate delaying ritual: the spirit is told not to appear until it has counted the stars, the herbs, and the sands. The formula’s force lies in making protection an act of words and time, rather than a direct confrontation.

Threat and Recitation

Inguma was believed able to enter through even the smallest crack and was held responsible for sudden infant deaths during sleep. The formula was therefore recited before bedtime, at the moment when the danger was understood to be greatest. Its opening declaration of fearlessness did not require disbelief in the spirit: the tradition, as described, acknowledged belief in spirits and witches while insisting that they need not be feared.

The Delaying Ritual

The formula names God and Mother Mary as protectors, then bars Inguma from appearing until every star in the sky, every herb on earth, and every grain of sand on the coast has been counted. This impossible-seeming assignment subjects the spirit to a task with no practical end. The speaker does not overcome Inguma by force; the words defer its approach by binding it to a ritual of counting.

Comparison and Significance

The formula is described as a ritual of submission imposed on the demon, comparable to the tradition concerning the eguzkilore: witches must count all its thorns before entering a house, and dawn arrives before they can finish. In both cases, a protective utterance or object turns an imagined supernatural threat against itself, consuming the time it would need to enter. The account also notes that Inguma is among the less-studied spirits of the night, while observing that spirits with precisely similar characteristics appear in other cultures.