The Werewolf’s Cousin: The Werebear

Many months ago I switched things up a bit and wrote about werefoxes, the werewolf’s “cousin,” and I hadn’t thought about until recently when a reader asked me why I hadn’t covered werebears as well. So thanks to that reader I am adding some more variety to the mix by giving you werewolf fans another shifter to fall in love with – the werebear.

Unlike wolves, who have often been feared throughout history, the bear is an animal adored by many cultures throughout the ages, particularly the Northern folks, like the Finns. Here, the bear was worshiped in several Finnish pagan religions, which were huge long before Christianity. The early Finns viewed the bear as a higher being with supernatural powers, which descended from the sky (some would even point out the Great Bear in the stars as a place where the holy creature came from) and therefore worthy of worship. They also believed that the spirit of the bear resided in its skull and was called kallohonka. When a bear died, the spirit was thought to transfer itself from the skull and into something else, like a forest, a tree, a river, or even a person. The kallohonka would stay in such a place until it was ready to be reincarnated as another bear. If it entered the body of a human, that person might then take on the traits and behavior of a bear. In some areas, bear skulls were placed in high trees in the hopes that the kallohonka would protect the locals. In other areas, the bear was considered to be the physical manifestation of the sky god Ukko, who switched from an old man to a vicious beast.

The bear was also like a totemic symbol is parts of Russia and among the Sami people (Lapland). It was believed that Sami shamans sometimes took on the attributes of the bear to ensure success in hunting. In order to do this, the shaman was “possessed” by the spirit of the bear and gained bear-like behavior and characteristics.

There is also some evidence that bear cults existed among the Neanderthals (around 70,000 years ago). Neanderthal remains, coupled with bear caves found at Drachenloch (Dragon’s Cave) in Switzerland suggest this.

Then there’s North America, who is rich in shapeshifting tales. Native Americans treasure the bear and address it often as “Grandfather.” One widespread Native belief is that the spirit of the bear never dies. It is also common tradition that Native American medicine priests adopt “bear” as part of their name. It’s also said that shapeshifting shamans often took the shape of a bear because of their powers.

As for other stories of bear transformation, well, some are very similar to werewolf stories. Remember the stories about wolf-belts (or wolf-strap) – belts made of wolf fur that, when worn, would transform one into a wolf? Well, there are also stories of bear-belts that would also cause transformation. Also, just as the ancient Norsemen believed that donning the hide of a wolf would turn them into a wolf, they also believed that same for bear pelts.

The supernatural beliefs surrounding the bear are incredibly vast and there’s absolutely no way I could cover every detail. However, I hope you enjoyed this small peek into the world of bear worship and werebears. As you can see,  bear beliefs are very similar to wolf beliefs – bear-belts, shamans…etc.

What do you guys think of these posts on other shifters? Let us know in a comment below.

– Moonlight

By moonlight

One of the writers for werewolves.com, as well as vampires.com.

18 comments

  1. now for the were-crocodiles, tigers, lions, pumas, jaguars, leopards, coyotes, and snakes. enough to keep anyone busy.

      1. What were-jackals? Interesting that you take “were-foxes” and “were-bears”, but no “were-dogs”. What’s up? Running out of real information?

        1. You should pay closer attention to this site kid. We’ve covered dog myths as well. Like I have said a million times to you now, we cover more than just werewolves here, because it adds variety and our readers enjoy it. Apparently you’re too dense to grasp that. If you continue to make the same pointless comments over and over again, I’m simply going to delete them. You don’t own this site and therefore have no say it what we can and cannot post. If it bothers you soooo much, then stop coming here.

          https://www.werewolves.com/the-dog-headed-st-christopher/
          https://www.werewolves.com/black-shuck/
          https://www.werewolves.com/michigans-dogman/

          And on and on.

          Also, keep in mind that just because you know one thing, doesn’t mean you know everything.

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  3. What about werehumans? For lack of words to call it, because that basicly means humanhuman, but im sure you get the idea.

  4. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post. It’s helped me get an even better understanding of werebears. Thank you :)

  5. You just reminded me of a Grimm’s Fairy Tale called Bearskin… he doesn’t actually change into a bear, but he wears a bear skin.

    For more bear into man, there’s another fairytale called “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” that the author Dennis McKiernan uses in his novel “Once Upon A Winter’s Night”. Same author also has a werebear character Urus in his Mithgar series. Notably “Eye of the Hunter.”

  6. Bears are supposedly from the sky, eh? Sounds like they could have had Extra-Terrestrial origins. Perhaps the product of gene splicing?

  7. werebears r slightly more dangerous then werewolves and weretogers and cause there big they have more change of catching u trust me

    1. Each of those animals have different fighting and killing techniques. Do your research before saying one is more than the other.

  8. Thank you for the info on werebears. i am trying to get info for a book on different types of weres and this site helped a lot.

  9. I asked a friend what supernatural creature he would be or liked best and he said werebear, but I didn’t know what it was. Thanks for the post.

  10. Is this common info, or is someone’s personal intellectual property? I have been researching this info for a book, and really like the direction this goes in.

  11. You forgot the most obvious connection. Many northern cultures also had a particular style of combat. They were known do don the “shirt” or in their tongue “Sark” of the bear in order to use the power of the bear in battle. These warriors were known as barsarkers….a name handed down to us in the common form as berserkers.

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