title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: The following year, it was announced that Shevchenko will be fighting the boxing champion Melissa Hernandez for her WIBA Lightweight belt. This announcement was met with much criticism from boxing pundits and other boxers alike, as Shevchenko was an unranked fighter with only one professional boxing match on her record at the time of the announcement. After allegedly being threatened to be stripped of her title for refusing to defend it against Shevchenko, Hernandez vacated the belt in November, commenting that Shevchenko fighting for a world title is like "a slap in the face" and that "it's time someone stands up for women's boxing". Lightweight fighter and multiple-time boxing champion Ann Saccurato stepped in to fight Shevchenko for the vacated WIBA title, but the event was eventually canceled.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: On December 17, 2011, Shevchenko faced Nerys Rincon at Pueblo Libra Reserclub in Lima, Peru. She won via TKO in the fourth round after sending her opponent to the canvas several times in the third round. Like in her professional debut, she largely fought in a kickboxing stance and frequently used Muay Thai grappling, which Rincon unsuccessfully protested on many occasions during the match.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: It was announced that Shevchenko would face a decorated boxer Mary McGee (boxer) for the vacant WIBA Lightweight championship title on January 14, 2012, in Lima, Peru. However, Shevchenko withdrew from the match for an undisclosed reason later that month and was replaced by Duda Yankovich.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: In 2013, Shevchenko was a contestant on the fourth season of the Peruvian dance and competition reality show "Combate" broadcast by ATV. She placed first in the competition together with her dance partner, South American reality television star Alejandro “Zumba” Benitez. In one of the episodes, she took part in an exhibition wrestling match against Peruvian professional middleweight boxer David Zegarra, which she won by submission in less than a minute.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: In 2015, Shevchenko was elected into the IFMA executive board as a representative of the organization's athletic commission. She was also an ambassador for IFMA's "Sport is Your Gang" initiative in Peru, which offered Muay Thai training to marginalized youth as a way to give them an alternative to joining a gang or participating in a violent lifestyle. The project won the Muaythai Spirit of Sport Award in 2014.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: Shevchenko has been regularly competing in the IPSC, IDPA, and 3-Gun pistol shooting competitions since 2010. She began her firearms training in 2006 under the guidance of her coach Pavel Fedotov, a veteran of the Soviet army.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: Shevchenko is featured as a playable character in the video games "EA Sports UFC 2", "EA Sports UFC 3", and "EA Sports UFC 4".


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: Shevchenko appears in the Netflix sports film "Bruised" starring Halle Berry, in which she plays the role of Lucia "Lady Killer" Chavez, an Argentinian MMA champion and the main rival of Berry's character, Jackie Justice.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: Together with Berry, Shevchenko was featured on the digital cover of the December 2021 issue for "Women's Health" magazine.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: A decorated kickboxer, Shevchenko is primarily known for precise counter-striking. She is recognized for her exceptional ability to gauge the distance of an opponent's attack, then retaliate with a variety of counterattacks. In a 2017 interview, Shevchenko noted the challenges of perfecting this technique in mixed martial arts: "It's different to fight a wrestler and stand-up fighter. To feel the distance of her punch, it's different."


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: After dodging an opponent's strike, Shevchenko will often counter with a fast right hook, a spinning wheel kick, or a spinning back fist. On offense, she makes regular use of forwarding right hooks and two-punch combinations. She also utilizes an outside leg kick, regularly thrown at the end of a flurry, or in the early stages of a round.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: In addition to her striking, Shevchenko is also a highly skilled grappler and has a black belt in Judo, as demonstrated by her multiple take-downs against Holly Holm and Jéssica Andrade, her armbar submission of Julianna Peña, and her rear-naked choke submission over Priscila Cachoeira.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: ! style=background:white colspan=9 |Retains the Kunlun Fight Women's Lightweight Championship -60 kg.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: ! style=background:white colspan=9 |Wins the Kunlun Fight Women's Lightweight Championship and the Kunlun Fight 2014 Female -60kg Tournament.


title: Valentina Shevchenko

text: ! style=background:white colspan=9 |Wins the WMC-I.F.M.A. South American Muay Thai Championship -63.5 kg.


title: Business Model Canvas

text: The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management template used for developing new business models and documenting existing ones. It offers a visual chart with elements describing a firm's or product's value proposition, infrastructure, customers, and finances, assisting businesses to align their activities by illustrating potential trade-offs.


title: Business Model Canvas

text: The nine "building blocks" of the business model design template that came to be called the Business Model Canvas were initially proposed in 2005 by Alexander Osterwalder, based on his PhD work supervised by Yves Pigneur on business model ontology. Since the release of Osterwalder's work around 2008, the authors have developed related tools such as the Value Proposition Canvas and the Culture Map, and new canvases for specific niches have also appeared.


title: Business Model Canvas

text: Formal descriptions of the business become the building blocks for its activities. Many different business conceptualizations exist; Osterwalder's 2004 thesis and co-authored 2010 book propose a "single reference model" based on the similarities of a wide range of business model conceptualizations. With his "business model design template", an enterprise can easily describe its business model.


title: Business Model Canvas

text: Osterwalder's canvas has nine boxes: customer segments, value propositions, channels, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. Descriptions below are based largely on the 2010 book "Business Model Generation".


title: Business Model Canvas

text: The Business Model Canvas can be printed out on a large surface so that groups of people can jointly start sketching and discussing business model elements with post-it notes or board markers. It is a hands-on tool that aims to foster understanding, discussion, creativity, and analysis. It is distributed under a Creative Commons license from Strategyzer AG and can be used without any restrictions for modeling businesses. It is also available in web-based software format.


title: Business Model Canvas

text: The Business Model Canvas has been used and adapted to suit specific business scenarios and applications. Examples include:


title: Business Model Canvas

text: The Business Model Canvas has been characterized as static because it does not capture changes in strategy or the evolution of the model nor much detail about the interaction between the components and how this makes the model work. Some limits of the template are its focus on organizations and its consequent conceptual isolation from its environment, whether this is related to the industry structure or to stakeholders such as society and natural environment.


title: 2022 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election

text: Legislative Assembly election was held in Gujarat from 1 to 5 December 2022 in two phases, to elect 182 members of 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly. The votes were counted and the results were declared on 8 December 2022.


text: The Bharatiya Janata Party, won a huge majority of 156 seats, the most ever won by any party in Gujarat's history. The Indian National Congress fell to its lowest count in the state for 3 decades, and the newcomer Aam Aadmi Party gained five seats.


text: The tenure of 14th Gujarat Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on 18 February 2023. The previous assembly elections were held in December 2017. After the election, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) formed the state government, with Vijay Rupani becoming Chief Minister.


text: Vijay Rupani resigned from Chief Minister post on 11 September 2021 and he was succeeded by Bhupendra Patel as the new Chief Minister.


text: Since the last assembly elections, several bypolls were held, most of which were won by the BJP, taking their strength from 99 to 112 seats.


text: BJP swept the 2021 Gujarat local body elections by winning all corporation and district panchayats and Indian National Congress (Congress) gained majority in one municipality and 18 taluka panchayats. On one side BJP increased its strength and on the other side Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made significant inroads to be considered as a contender in the state.


text: In 2017 Gujarat Legislative Assembly election, BJP was lost in some districts of Saurashtra due to farmer and Patidar agitation; notably in Amreli and Gir Somnath where it lost all seats to Congress. However, when panchayat elections were held in Amreli along with other districts, BJP gained a two thirds majority translating to a lead on all five assembly segments of Amreli, while AAP gaining in rural Gujarat indicated that Gujarat is heading towards a three cornered contest.


text: In the Gandhinagar Municipal Corporation elections, BJP got majority by winning 41 out of 44 wards while Congress got two seats. AAP won one seat and was the third largest party in terms of vote share, which indicated increasing acceptance of AAP as a third alternative. Congress dubbed the AAP as a 'B team' of the BJP for by dividing the anti-BJP votes, which ultimately favoured the BJP.


text: In May 2022, AAP announced alliance with Bharatiya Tribal Party for the election. However, the alliance was called off in September 2022.


text: AAP released the first list of 10 candidates on 2 August 2022, the second list of 9 candidates on 18 August, the third list of 10 candidates on 7 September, the fourth list of 12 candidates on 6 October, the fifth list of 12 candidates on 16 October 2022, the sixth list of 20 candidates on 20 October 2022, the seventh list of 13 candidates on 28 October 2022, the eight list of 22 candidates on 1 November 2022, the ninth list of 10 candidates on 3 November 2022, the tenth list of 21 candidates on 5 November 2022, the eleventh list of 12 candidates on 7 November 2022, the twelfth list of 7 candidates on 8 November 2022, the thirteenth list of 12 candidates on 9 November 2022, the fourteenth list of 10 candidates on 10 November 2022 and the fifteenth list of 3 candidates on 12 November 2022. On 13 November 2022, AAP released the sixteenth list of 2 candidates including their Chief Ministerial candidate, Isudan Gadhvi contesting from Khambhalia constituency. AAP released the seventeenth list of 4 candidates on 15 November 2022. AAP candidate from Surat East withdrew his nomination on 16 November. AAP candidate from Abdasa retired his campaign in favour of BJP candidate on 28 November 2022.


text: Congress released the first list of 43 candidates on 4 November 2022, the second list of 46 candidates on 10 November 2022, the third list of 7 candidates on 11 November 2022, the fourth list of 9 candidates on 12 November 2022, the fifth list of 6 candidates and the sixth list of 33 candidates on 13 November 2022 and the seventh list of 37 candidates on 16 November 2022. NCP announced 3 candidates in alliance with Congress. NCP candidate from Devgadhbariya withdrew his nomination on 21 November 2022.


text: BJP released the first list of 160 candidates on 10 November 2022 and the second list of 6 candidates on 12 November 2022. BJP candidate from Wadhwan refused to contest election and was replaced in the third list on 13 November 2022. BJP released the fourth list of 12 candidates on 14 November 2022, the fifth list of 3 candidates on 16 November 2022 and the sixth list of 1 candidate on 17 November 2022.


text: Following the death of 50 people in 2022 Gujarat toxic liquor deaths, alcohol and drug consumption became an issue in the election. Congress demanded a probe by the sitting high court judge in the illegal liquor trade in Gujarat. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi publicly asked which "ruling forces" are "giving protection to these mafia". AAP state president Gopal Italia had demanded an investigation by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the incident.


text: In September 2021, 2,988.22 kilograms (6,587.9 lb) of heroin was seized from two containers which arrived at Mundra Port, from Bandar Abbas in Iran. Heroin was disguised as a consignment of semi-processed talc stones originating from Afghanistan. The incident occurred again in May and July 2022, where 52 kg and 75 kg of drugs were seized from the port respectively. Notably, the Mundra Port was owned by Narendra Modi's ally Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group.


text: The Congress criticized the BJP-led government over their silence right after the September 2021 drug bust and urged the Supreme Court to open a probe, alleging that a drug syndicate was operating from the port. It was also concerned that the drugs were sourced from Afghanistan, saying the illegal sale of these drugs might be used against India by terrorists. In May, when drugs were again seized at the Mundra Port, Congress again criticized the government asking why drugs were repeatedly found in the coastline of Gujarat.


text: Gujarat ATS after seized 350 kg heroin drugs said that since Gujarat being on coast has become a preferred route for drug smuggling, the State and federal agencies have seized drug cargos upon landing.


text: The written examination for recruitment of head clerks was held on 12 December 2021 in which with 88,000 aspirants had appeared for 186 vacancies. The exam was conducted by Gujarat Subordinate Service Selection Board (GSSSB). INC alleged that Asit Vora, a BJP leader served as the chairman of GSSSB is mastermind behind this. A total of 36 people from Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Sabarkantha were arrested in the case, including alleged mastermind Tushar Mer.


text: AAP had alleged that before the examination, the question paper was leaked and sold at cost of Rs 8-12 lakh. Later on Gujarat government annulled the exam and announced re-examination scheduled for March 2022. 500 supporters of AAP staged a protest outside BJP, Gandhinagar Office demanding the removal of BJP leader Asit Vora from the post of chairman of the GSSSB. BJP workers clashed with AAP protestors and the police resorted to lathicharge. BJP leader filed police case against AAP. Ninety-three AAP members were arrested including 28 women. AAP president Italia, AAP women's wing and youth wing presidents were among those arrested. Italia and other AAP leaders spent 10 days in prison before getting bail.


text: AAP highlighted the rampant corruption leading to paper leaks for the examinations conducted by the state government being reported since 2015. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal compared it with the Vyapam scam in Madhya Pradesh and called recruitment exams in Gujarat as Maha Vyapam Scam (great Vyapam Scam). AAP promised to create laws that would punish the paper leaking offence with ten years of punishment.


text: Congress slammed the government over the paper leaks for the recruitment examinations. They also held a mock assembly in Gandhinagar, highlighting the plight of thousands of job-seekers who had taken the now-cancelled head clerk recruitment exam. All Congress MLAs and party leaders took part in the mock assembly. Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Sukhram Rathwa urged the Gujarat government to conduct a judicial inquiry through a sitting HC judge on the series of exam paper leaks, saying it amounts to cheating the youth of Gujarat. He also alleged that the RSS and the BJP were behind the paper leaks. and Congress MLAs protested against the paper leaks in the assembly, standing from their seats and displaying posters in connection with the leak, causing the assembly to be adjourned for 15 minutes. The Congress also staged a protest at Koba, Gandhinagar demanding Asit Vora to resign.


text: In March, thousands of farmers across Gujarat are protesting at their taluka and district headquarters demanding adequate power supply to save standing crops.


text: As per a survey conducted by ABP News, unemployment is the biggest issue for people in Gujarat. Unemployment has been steadily increasing in the state. As per the quarterly bulletin of the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), Gujarat had among the lowest rates of unemployment in urban areas. As per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) estimates - April–June 2022 bulletin, unemployment rate in Gujarat was 3.3%, lesser than the national average.


text: There were four lakh unemployed people registered with state's Employment Exchange Department in March 2021, out of which 3,85,506 were literate and just five percent were semi-skilled. According to state budget figures released in March 2022, there are 3,46,436 educated and 17,816 semi-literate unemployed youth in Gujarat that have been registered with various employment exchanges and the government of Gujarat was able to give jobs to only 0.35% of unemployed youth over the last 2 years.


text: About 700 government schools in Gujarat function with only one teacher each. As many as 8,500 other primary schools have only two teachers each. According to a top study by the Annual Status of Education Report 2014, only 9.8% of the children in rural Gujarat studying in class V could read English sentences, compared to the all-India average of 24%. It was the second lowest amount of class V students able to read English compared to the rural areas of all the other states.


text: According to government statistics, Gujarat had a high annual dropout rate of 24% in secondary classes (grade 9-10) compared to other states.


text: In April, the Congress held protests in several cities throughout Gujarat against rising fuel prices and inflation. In Amraiwadi, Congress workers brought empty LPG cylinders brought a hard paper cutout of a fuel dispenser during their protest against fuel and cooking gas prices. They also held protests in several other cities where they burnt effigies, sat on dharna protest and even clashed with the police. Around a dozen Congress workers were then detained by the police for burning effigy and protesting without permission. On 16 May, Congress workers again held a protest against price rise in Rajkot, led by Rajkot city president Arjun Khatariya. This led to 30 Congress workers being detained by the police, including Khatariya.


text: Aam Aadmi Party, Gujarat started its election campaign for Gujarat on 2 April with a Padayatra. In May 2022, AAP declared its alliance with Bharatiya Tribal Party for the assembly elections. However, the alliance was called off in September 2022.


text: On 2 August 2022, Kejriwal addressed a public rally in Veraval, Saurashtra and announced "guarantees." AAP has announced Rozgaar Guarantee Yatra in three districts of North Gujarat namely Patan, Sabarkantha and Banaskantha. The campaign would appeal to the unemployed youth. On 2 September Kejriwal announced five guarantees for farmers in Devbhumi Dwarka district.


text: In the months leading to the election, several protests were held in the state where AAP supported the protestors.


text: On 20 September, while flagging off e-bikes for Namo Kisan Panchayat programme in Gujarat, BJP National President J. P. Nadda listed out the welfare schemes for farmers rolled out by the Central government schemes.


text: 12 Union ministers, including Smriti Irani, Kiren Rijiju, Giriraj Singh, and others, will start their poll campaign in Gujarat.


text: Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched the party's campaign in Gujarat on 5 September 2022. On the same day, he visited the Ahmedabad and attended the "Parivartan Sankalp Sammelan" where he criticized the BJP government and promised free electricity, farm loan waiver up to ₹3 lakh, 10 lakh jobs, compensation to families affected by COVID-19 pandemic, LPG cylinder for ₹500, free education for girls, 3,000 new English medium schools and subsidy to dairy farmers.


text: The Congress led a state-wide "bandh" on September 10 in Gujarat as a protest against price rise and unemployment. They led demonstrations in Bharuch and other parts of Gujarat as well regarding price rise and unemployment.


text: On 22 September, the Congress launched the "Yuva Parivartan Yatra" (Youth for Change March) in Gujarat from Ambaji, which passed through several towns and cities across 27 districts of state. It was held in two stages from Ambaji to Umargam and Somanth to Suigam. The yatra travelled more than 2100 kilometres across the state. The Congress distributed door-to-door "Vachan Patras" or promise letters throughout the yatra, which contain 8 promises of the Congress and 4-point failures of the BJP government. It aims to deliver about 1.55 crore (15.5 million) of such promise letters before the elections. The first stage of the yatra moved throughout the tribal belt, where it focused especially on the tribal youth. The second stage of the yatra went through the Saurashtra-Kutch region.


text: On 28 September, the Congress held a day-long yatra in Saurashtra, starting from Rajkot and concluding at Sidsar, Junagadh. The yatra was received by Patidar leader Naresh Patel at Ma Khodiyar Temple, who welcomed the rally with 500 vehicles at the temple in Rajkot.


text: On 31 October. the Congress started the Parivartan Sankalp Yatra in Gujarat, which covered 5 zones of the state, each lead by senior leaders of the party, namely Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, Digvijay Singh, Kamal Nath, and Mukul Wasnik. These programs covered 175 out of the 182 assembly seats in Gujarat. The yatra included 145 public meetings and 95 rallies, with an aim to establish "direct contact" with 45 million (4.5 crore) people. More than 1 million (10 lakh) party workers were expected to join the yatra. It covered more than 5,400 kilometres over a week.


text: On 6 November, the Congress released a 22 point "charge sheet" against the BJP-led state government of Gujarat. The last three decades of Gujarat have been marred by "continuous anti-people governance and mismanagement," the Congress said in the 'charge sheet'. Some highlighted points in the chargesheet were the recent Morbi bridge collapse, the release of the 11 convicted in the Bilkis Bano rape case. It also claimed that GDP rose 18-23% annually under the previous governments of the Congress, whereas the state recorded a GDP decline of 1.35% in 2020-21 under the BJP government.


text: On 21 November, Rahul Gandhi addressed 2 rallies in Gujarat, in Surat and in Rajkot. In his speeches at the rallies he criticized the handling of the Morbi bridge collapse and claimed that the Gujarat government was trying to take away tribals' rights.


text: After Surat AAP Pradesh Pramukh Sorathiya was attacked on August 31, Italia posted a video message in which he allegedly made defamatory remarks, in which Aam Aadmi Party Gujarat President Gopal Italia called Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi Drugs Sanghvi while BJP state president C. R. Patil was called ex bootlegger, following which an FIR was also registered against Gopal Italia at Umra police station.


text: Kejriwal accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP of trying to "crush" the AAP in the name of fighting corruption as they feared of getting defeated in the election. He said that the Modi government was trying to implicate AAP leaders in false corruption cases as the BJP is "not able to digest the growing popularity of the AAP in Gujarat". He accused that the AAP's growing influence in Gujarat has rattled BJP and that "the prime minister's advisor Hiren Joshi has warned several TV channels owners and their editors not to give coverage to AAP party in Gujarat, threatening them with dire consequences".


text: On 11 September 2022, AAP alleged that the Ahmedabad Police raided its data management center in Ahmedabad, which was denied by the local police. AAP said the ruling party was "extremely rattled" by the "immense support" received by AAP in Gujarat.


text: AAP national joint secretary Isudan Gadhvi alleged that the BJP had been preventing AAP spokesperson from debate by threatening TV Media. He alleged that in order to prevent a rally by Kejriwal in Vadodara, BJP threatened the owners of 13 venues and forced them to cancel programmes. Kejriwal said that stopping the opposition parties from holding election programmes was wrong for the ruling party BJP.


text: AAP's candidate for Bardoli, Rajendra Solanki gave a statement to the Surat Rural Police, admitting that he received Rs 20 lakh in hawala after the said money was found in his car. The statement eventually led to the Gujarat Police busting a poll-related hawala racket in which 30 people outside the state were being hired by the AAP for distributing hawala money during the assembly elections. An income tax probe revealed that the AAP sent Rs 20 crore in hawala money to Gujarat for poll-related uses in the month of October 2022. According to income tax officials, as much as Rs 50 lakh of hawala money was sent daily.


text: The BJP-led Gujarat government has proposed to form a committee to explore implementation of a Uniform Civil Code ahead of elections, which was met with criticism from other parties.


text: The famous cricketer and husband of Rivaba Jadeja, BJP candidate from Jamnagar North, Ravindra Jadeja's father and sister Anirudhsinh Jadeja and Naynaba Jadeja were seen campaigning for Congress in Gujarat.


text: On 21 September 2022, 15 Congress MLAs including Jignesh Mevani were suspended from the Gujarat Assembly for a day following chaos with Leader of Opposition Sukhram Rathva, a Congress leader, demanding a special half-hour on various issues, mainly about agitating government employees, farmers, anganwadi workers and ex-servicemen. When assembly speaker Nimaben Acharya refused Rathva's demand, Congress MLAs shouted slogans and raised placards against the BJP government. The following day another 10 Congress MLAs were suspended for a day (from the assembly) over chaos, as they shouted slogans demanding a discussion on the OBC reservation, after speaker Acharya again declined a discussion. Many MLAs raised slogans and placards such as raised "Give OBCs, 27 per cent reservation" and "We demand caste-based census".


text: On 21 August 2022, former state chief minister Shankersinh Vaghela launched a new party, Praja Shakti Democratic Party, with an intention to contest election. Later he backed the INC instead.


text: Exit polls were released after 6:30 IST on 5 December, in accordance with the end of polling in the state.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The Aberfan disaster was the catastrophic collapse of a colliery spoil tip on 21 October 1966. The tip had been created on a mountain slope above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, and overlaid a natural spring. Heavy rain led to a build-up of water within the tip which caused it to suddenly slide downhill as a slurry, killing 116 children and 28 adults as it engulfed Pantglas Junior School and a row of houses. The tip was the responsibility of the National Coal Board (NCB), and the subsequent inquiry placed the blame for the disaster on the organisation and nine named employees.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: There were seven spoil tips on the hills above Aberfan; Tip 7—the one that slipped onto the village—was started in 1958 and, at the time of the disaster, was high. In contravention of the NCB's procedures, the tip was partly based on ground from which springs emerged. After three weeks of heavy rain the tip was saturated and approximately of spoil slipped down the side of the hill and onto the Pantglas area of the village. The main building hit was the local junior school, where lessons had just begun; 5 teachers and 109 children were killed.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: An official inquiry was chaired by Lord Justice Edmund Davies. The report placed the blame squarely on the NCB. The organisation's chairman, Lord Robens, was criticised for making misleading statements and for not providing clarity as to the NCB's knowledge of the presence of water springs on the hillside. Neither the NCB nor any of its employees were prosecuted and the organisation was not fined.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The Aberfan Disaster Memorial Fund (ADMF) was established on the day of the disaster. It received nearly 88,000 contributions, totalling £1.75 million. The remaining tips were removed only after a lengthy fight by Aberfan residents against resistance from the NCB and the government on the grounds of cost. The site's clearance was paid for by a government grant and a forced contribution of £150,000 taken from the memorial fund. In 1997 the British government paid back the £150,000 to the ADMF, and in 2007 the Welsh Government donated £1.5 million to the fund and £500,000 to the Aberfan Education Charity as recompense for the money wrongly taken. Many of the village's residents developed medical problems as a result of the disaster, and half the survivors have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder at some time in their lives.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Aberfan is situated toward the bottom of the western valley slope of the Taff Valley, on the eastern slope of Mynydd Merthyr hill, approximately south of Merthyr Tydfil. When the Merthyr Vale Colliery was sunk on 23 August 1869 by John Nixon and partners, Aberfan consisted of two cottages and an inn frequented by local farmers and bargemen. By 1966 its population had grown to approximately 5,000, most of whom were employed in the coal industry. Since the nationalisation of the British coal industry in 1947, Aberfan's colliery had been under the control of the National Coal Board (NCB). Regulation in the coal industry was provided by HM Inspectorate of Mines. The inspectors had worked as engineers in the coal industry and were former employees of the NCB. The River Taff runs north-to-south through the village; at the upper side of the settlement, on the western outskirts, the bed of the disused Glamorganshire Canal and a disused railway embankment run parallel to the river.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The first spoil from the coal mine was deposited on the valley's lower slopes, east of the canal, but during the 1910s the first tip was started on the western slopes, above the canal line and the village. By 1966 there were seven spoil heaps, comprising approximately of waste. Tips 4 and 5 were conical mounds at the apex of the slope, although Tip 4 was misshapen from an earlier slip; the remaining five were lower down; all were directly above the village. Tip 7 was the only one being used in 1966. About high, it contained of spoil, which included of tailings—waste from the chemical extraction of coal, fine particles of coal and ash which took on properties similar to quicksand when wet.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Tip stability is affected by water conditions. Tips 4, 5 and 7 had been sited on streams or springs. The presence of the springs was common knowledge in the area, and they had been marked on the Ordnance Survey and Geological Society maps since 1874. Tip 4 at Aberfan, which had been used between 1933 and 1945, was large, and had been started on boggy ground between two streams. At the time of its planning, the Merthyr Tydfil borough engineer thought that despite the position, it would be unlikely to avalanche. Following some ground movements in the tip in the early 1940s, a drainage channel was dug in early 1944. In November that year part of the tip slid down the mountain to stop approximately above the village. In May 1963 Tip 7 shifted slightly; in November that year there was a more substantial slide. The NCB stated that the movement had not been a "slide", but was instead a "tailings run"—a run-off of tailings from the surface of the tip—which left its stability unaffected. After the slide, the NCB stopped tipping tailings on number 7, but normal spoil continued to be deposited.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Aberfan is in an area of relatively high rainfall, an average of a year. In 1960 it was , the heaviest of recent years in the run-up to the disaster. Between 1952 and 1965, there was severe flooding in the Pantglas area of Aberfan on at least 11 occasions. Residents complained that the flood water was black and left a greasy residue when it receded. Complaints had been made by residents to Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council, who corresponded with the NCB between July 1963 and March 1964 on the topic of the "Danger from Coal Slurry being tipped at the rear of the Pantglas Schools". In early 1965 meetings were held between the council and the NCB at which the Board agreed to take action on the clogged pipes and drainage ditches that were the cause of the flooding. No action had been taken by October 1966 when the tip collapsed.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: During the first three weeks of October 1966 there was of rainfall, nearly half of which was in the third week. During the night of 20–21 October the peak of Tip 7 subsided by and the rails on which the spoil was transported to the top of the tip fell into the resulting hole. The spoil movement was discovered at 7:30am by the first members of the morning shift manning the heaps. One of the workers walked to the colliery to report the slip; he returned with the supervisor for the tips, and it was decided that no further work would be done that day, but that a new tipping position would be decided on the following week.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: At 9:15am a significant amount of water-saturated debris broke away from tip 7 and flowed downhill at in waves high. G. M. J. Williams, a consultant engineer who gave evidence at the subsequent tribunal, stated that the 9:15 am movement:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Approximately of spoil slid down the mountain, destroying two farm cottages and killing the occupants. Around travelled across the canal and railway embankment and into the village. The flow destroyed two water mains buried in the embankment and the additional water further saturated the spoil. Those who heard the avalanche said the sound reminded them of a low-flying jet or thunder.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The avalanche struck Pantglas Junior School on Moy Road, demolishing and engulfing much of the structure and filling classrooms with thick mud, sludge and rubble; 109 children, from 240 attendees, and five teachers were killed in the school. The pupils of Pantglas Junior School had arrived only minutes earlier for the last day before the half-term holiday, which was due to start at 12 midday. The teachers had just begun to record the children's attendance in the registers when the landslide hit. The adjacent secondary school was also damaged, and 18 houses on surrounding roads were destroyed. Mud and water from the slide flooded other houses in the vicinity, forcing many to evacuate their homes. Once the slide material had come to a halt, it re-solidified. A huge mound of slurry up to high blocked the area. The acting headmaster of the secondary school recalled:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Some staff died trying to protect the children. Nansi Williams, the school meals clerk, used her body to shield five children, who all survived; Williams did not, and was found by rescuers still holding a pound note she had been collecting as lunch money. Dai Beynon, the deputy headmaster, tried to use a blackboard to shield himself and five children from the slurry pouring through the school. He and all 34 pupils in his class were killed. When the avalanche stopped, so did the noise; one resident recalled that "in that silence you couldn't hear a bird or a child".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: After the landslide stopped, local residents rushed to the school and began digging through the rubble, moving material by hand or with garden tools. At 9:25 am Merthyr Tydfil police received a phone call from a local resident who said "I have been asked to inform that there has been a landslide at Pantglas. The tip has come down on the school"; the fire brigade, based in Merthyr Tydfil, received a call at about the same time. Calls were then made to local hospitals, the ambulance service and the local Civil Defence Corps. The first miners from the Aberfan colliery arrived within 20 minutes of the disaster, having been raised from the coal seams where they had been working. They directed the early digging, knowing that unplanned excavation could lead to collapse of the spoil and the remnants of the buildings; they worked in organised groups under the control of their pit managers.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The first casualties from the wreckage of the school arrived at St Tydfil's Hospital in Merthyr Tydfil at 9:50 am; the remaining rescued casualties all arrived before 11:00 am: 22 children, one of whom was dead on arrival, and 5 adults. A further 9 casualties were sent to the East Glamorgan General Hospital. No survivors were found after 11:00 am. Of the 144 people who died in the disaster, 116 were children, mostly between the ages of 7 and 10; 109 of the children died inside Pantglas Junior School. Five of the adults who died were teachers at the school. An additional 6 adults and 29 children were injured.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The 10:30 am BBC news summary led with the story of the accident. The result was that thousands of volunteers travelled to Aberfan to help, although their efforts often hampered the work of the experienced miners or trained rescue teams.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: With the two broken water mains still pumping water into the spoil in Aberfan, the slip continued to move through the village, and it was not until 11:30 am that the water authorities managed to turn off the supply. It was estimated that the mains added between of water to the spoil slurry. With movement in the upper slopes still a danger, at 12:00 noon NCB engineers began digging a drainage channel, with the aim of stabilising the tip. It took two hours to reroute the water to a safer place, from where it was diverted into an existing water course.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: An NCB board meeting that morning, headed by the organisation's chairman, Lord Robens, was informed of the disaster. It was decided that the company's Director-General of Production and its Chief Safety Engineer should inspect the situation, and they left for the village immediately. In his autobiography, Robens stated that the decision for him not to go was because "the appearance of a layman at too early a stage inevitably distracts senior and essential people from the tasks upon which they should be exclusively concentrating". Instead of visiting the scene, that evening Robens went to the ceremony to invest him as the chancellor of the University of Surrey. NCB officers covered for him when contacted by Cledwyn Hughes, the Secretary of State for Wales, falsely claiming that Robens was personally directing relief work.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Hughes visited the scene at 4:00 pm for an hour. He telephoned Harold Wilson, the Prime Minister, and confirmed Wilson's own thought that he should also visit. Wilson told Hughes to "take whatever action he thought necessary, irrespective of any considerations of 'normal procedures', expenditure or statutory limitations". Wilson arrived at Aberfan at 9.40 pm, where he heard reports from the police and civil defence forces, and visited the rescue workers. Before he left, at midnight, he and Hughes agreed that a high-level independent inquiry needed to be held. That evening the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil launched an appeal for financial donations—soon formally named the Aberfan Disaster Fund—to alleviate financial hardship and to help rebuild the area.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: A makeshift mortuary was set up in the village's Bethania Chapel on 21 October and operated until 4 November, from the disaster site; members of the Glamorgan Constabulary force assisted with the identification and registration of the victims. Two doctors examined the bodies and issued death certificates; the cause of death was typically asphyxia, fractured skull or multiple crush injuries. Cramped conditions in the chapel meant that parents could only be admitted one at a time to identify the bodies of their children. The building also acted as a missing persons bureau and its vestry was used by Red Cross volunteers and St John Ambulance stretcher-bearers. Four hundred embalmers volunteered to assist with the cleaning and dressing of the corpses; a contingent that flew over from Northern Ireland removed the seats of their plane to transport child-sized coffins. The smaller Aberfan Calvinistic Chapel nearby was used as a second mortuary from 22 to 29 October.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: By the morning of Saturday 22 October, 111 bodies had been recovered, of which 51 had been identified. At daybreak the Queen's brother-in-law Lord Snowdon visited and spoke with workers and parents; at 11:00 am Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, visited the scene and talked to rescue workers. In the early afternoon light rain began falling, which became increasingly heavy; it caused further movement in the tip, which threatened the rescue work and raised the possibility that the area would have to be evacuated.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Robens arrived in Aberfan on Saturday evening. After visiting the colliery and the disaster site, he gave a press conference at which he stated that the NCB would work with any public inquiry. In an interview with "The Observer", Robens said the organisation "will not seek to hide behind any legal loophole or make any legal quibble about responsibility". Robens returned to the village the following morning to see the situation in daylight. He was interviewed by a television news team while examining the tip. When asked about the responsibility of the NCB for the slide, he answered:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: On 23 October assistance was provided by the Territorial Army. This was followed by the arrival of naval ratings from and members of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment. That day Wilson announced the appointment of Lord Justice Edmund Davies as the chairman of the inquiry into the disaster; Davies had been born and schooled in the nearby village of Mountain Ash. A coroner's inquest was opened on 24 October to give the causes of death for 30 of the children located. One man who had lost his wife and two sons called out when he heard their names mentioned: "No, sir—buried alive by the National Coal Board"; one woman shouted that the NCB had "killed our children". The first funerals, for five of the children, took place the following day. A mass funeral for 81 children and one woman took place at Bryntaf Cemetery in Aberfan on 27 October. They were buried in a pair of trenches; 10,000 people attended.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Because of the vast quantity and consistency of the spoil, it was a week before all the bodies were recovered; the last victim was found on 28 October. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited Aberfan on 29 October to pay their respects to those who had died. Their visit coincided with the end of the main rescue phase; only one contracting firm remained in the village to continue the last stages of the clear-up.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: On 25 October 1966, after resolutions in both Houses of Parliament, the Secretary of State for Wales formally appointed a tribunal to inquire into the disaster. Before the tribunal began, Elwyn Jones, the Attorney General, cautioned the media that commenting on matters to be investigated by the tribunal could lay them open to the same consequences as contempt of court. Sitting alongside Lord Justice Davies on the inquiry were the civil engineer Harold Harding and Vernon Lawrence, the former Clerk to the Monmouthshire County Council. The inquiry had an initial public meeting on 2 November 1966 and took evidence in public for 76 days, spread over the next five months; during that time 136 witnesses testified. The tribunal report stated "much of the time of the Tribunal could have been saved if ... the National Coal Board had not stubbornly resisted every attempt to lay the blame where it so clearly must rest—at their door".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Aberfan's MP, S. O. Davies, gave evidence to the tribunal and stated that he had long held concerns that the tip "might not only slide, but in sliding might reach the village"; he added that he had not spoken out because he had "more than a shrewd suspicion that that colliery would be closed". Brian Gibbens, QC, the counsel for the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), challenged Davies's evidence and stated that if the testament "is to be accepted as truthful and accurate in his recollection ... then he bears what must be one of the largest personal burdens of responsibility for the disaster". Gibbens requested that Davies's testimony be rejected, on the basis that he "never appreciated what in fact was the import of his words". The tribunal agreed, and stated that "we doubt that he fully understood the grave implication of what he was saying".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Initially the tribunal decided not to call Robens to testify—they took his comment to the media about the existence of the spring being unknown as hearsay, and thought that his evidence could not help. The counsel for the families, Desmond Ackner, QC, attacked Robens for making the statement about the spring, saying it was "a public scandal"; he added that "at no stage throughout this Inquiry has the National Coal Board taken the initiative to correct this sentence". Ackner also criticised Robens's absence from the inquiry, saying that "no explanation has been proffered by or on behalf of Lord Robens and his absence, therefore, and in this regard has been conspicuous." The tribunal members decided that Robens should be able to defend his position and he was invited to attend. Under cross-examination by Ackner, Robens gave evidence inconsistent with that provided by the NCB, particularly on the point of whether the disaster was foreseeable; counsel for the organisation asked the tribunal to ignore Robens's testimony.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The tribunal concluded its hearings on 28 April 1967 and published its report on 3 August. Among their findings was that "[b]lame for the disaster rests upon the National Coal Board. ... This blame is shared (though in varying degrees) among the National Coal Board headquarters, the South Western Divisional Board, and certain individuals." They added that the "legal liability of the National Coal Board to pay compensation for the personal injuries (fatal or otherwise) and damage to property is incontestable and uncontested". In its introduction the inquiry team wrote that it was their


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Nine employees of the NCB were censured by the inquiry, with "many degrees of blameworthiness, from very slight to grave", although McLean and Johnes consider that some senior staff whom the evidence shows to have been culpable were omitted, and one junior member of staff named in the report should not have been blamed. The tribunal decided that no blame lay with Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council or the NUM.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The tribunal made several recommendations, including the need for the extension of the Mines and Quarries Act 1954 to cover tips, and the formation of a National Tip Safety Committee to advise the government. The inquiry report also advised that "action needs to be taken to safeguard the future condition of the tips at Aberfan".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The sociologist Barry Turner, in a 1976 study, identified several errors that led to the Aberfan disaster. These included years of rigid and unrealistic disregard for the importance of the safety of the above-ground tips (as opposed to dangers within the mines); a flawed decision-making process which ignored or minimised the likelihood and the scale of the emergent danger; a dismissive attitude toward the complaints from Aberfan residents, discounting the validity of their concerns; and an incomplete and inadequate response to conditions which caused those complaints.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: McLean and Johnes observe that HM Inspectorate of Mines went largely unchallenged by the tribunal, although the two consider that the organisation failed in their duty; in doing so, they created a situation of regulatory capture, where rather than protecting the public interest—in this case the citizens of Aberfan—their regulatory failures fell in line with the interests of the NCB, the organisation they were supposed to be overseeing.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: During the rescue, the shock and grief of parents and villagers was exacerbated by insensitive behaviour from the media—one rescue worker recalled hearing a press photographer asking a child to cry for her dead friends because it would make a good picture. The response of the general public in donating to the memorial fund, together with over 50,000 letters of condolence that accompanied many of the donations, helped many residents come to terms with the disaster. One bereaved mother said "People all over the world felt for us. We knew that with their letters and the contributions they sent ... They helped us build a better Aberfan."


title: Aberfan disaster

text: A study published in the "British Journal of Psychiatry" (BJP) in 2003 found that half the survivors of the disaster had experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some time in their lives, that they were more than three times more likely to have developed lifetime PTSD than a comparison group of individuals who had experienced other life-threatening traumas, and that 34 per cent of survivors who took part in the study reported that they still experienced bad dreams or difficulty sleeping because of intrusive thoughts about the disaster. In 2005 Imperial Tobacco settled out of court to end an unfair dismissal suit brought against the company by an Aberfan survivor, who had been employed by the company's Rizla cigarette paper factory near Pontypridd. She had been sacked after she refused to continue working night shifts, stating that it had brought on flashbacks from 1966, when she had been buried waist-deep in the landslide while walking to school. She survived, but a friend who had been walking with her was killed.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The BJP study also found that there was no significant rise in the risk of depression or substance abuse in survivors. Some parents of deceased children reported extreme feelings of guilt, as did one of the pupils who survived, who reported:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The residents of Aberfan experienced medical problems after the disaster. Many survivors reported having "sleeping difficulties, nervousness, lack of friends, unwillingness to go to school and enuresis". In the year following the tip slide, close relatives of the victims had a death rate seven times higher than the norm. One local doctor later wrote "By every statistic, patients seen, prescriptions written, deaths, I can prove that this is a village of excessive sickness." Despite these problems, during the five years after the disaster the birth rate rose considerably, in marked contrast to that of Merthyr Tydfil.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The NCB as an organisation was not prosecuted, and no NCB staff were demoted, sacked or prosecuted as a consequence of the Aberfan disaster or for evidence given to the inquiry. During a parliamentary debate on the disaster, Margaret Thatcher—then the opposition spokeswoman on power—raised the situation of one witness, criticised by the inquiry, who had subsequently been promoted to a board-level position at the NCB by the time the report was published.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In 2000 Iain McLean, a professor of politics, and Martin Johnes, a research fellow in Welsh history, undertook a study of the Aberfan disaster and its repercussions; their work included government papers released in 1997 under the thirty-year rule. Their opinion is that "the Coal Board 'spin-doctored' its way out of trouble, controlling the public agenda from the day of the disaster until the tips were finally removed". Robens had received a copy of the inquiry report ten days before its official publication and began a campaign to strengthen his position. He went on a tour of British coalfields, giving speeches that promoted the use of coal and criticised the increasing popularity of nuclear power. All messages of support to him were catalogued by the NCB, and copies of some were leaked to the press; the manoeuvring led to criticism in an editorial in "The Guardian", which stated that "the Coal Board's behaviour has ... been rather unseemly in the circumstances".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In August 1967—following the publication of the inquiry report—Robens discussed his position with the Minister of Power, Richard Marsh. After receiving assurances that his role at the NCB was secure, he offered to resign; in line with the agreement between the two men, the offer was rejected. In parliament, the Welsh MP Leo Abse said that "when I saw what I regarded as the graceless pavane danced by Lord Robens and the Minister, as the Chairman of the Coal Board coyly offered his resignation and, equally coyly, the Minister rejected the offer, I thought that it was a disgraceful spectacle".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Initially the NCB offered bereaved families £50 in compensation, but this was raised to £500 for each bereaved family; the organisation called the amount "a good offer". Many families thought the amount insufficient and petitioned the NCB for an increase; NCB insurance staff advised Robens that "it is only the hard core [of bereaved parents] who are trying to capitalize".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The fund set up by the mayor of Merthyr Tydfil grew rapidly, and within a few months nearly 88,000 contributions had been received, totalling £1,606,929; the final total raised was £1.75 million. No specific aims for the fund had been outlined by the mayor until it was put on a firm legal footing under the auspices of a permanent committee with clear local representation. They drew up a deed that outlined the purposes of the fund as:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In 1967 the Charity Commission advised that any money paid to the parents of bereaved families would be against the terms of the trust deed. After arguments from lawyers for the trust, they agreed that there was an "unprecedented emotional state" surrounding Aberfan, and suggested that sums of no more than £500 should be paid. Members of the trust told the commission that £5,000 was to be paid to each family; the commission agreed that the amount was permissible, but stated that each case should be examined before payment "to ascertain whether the parents had been close to their children and were thus likely to be suffering mentally", according to one member of the Charity Commission. In November 1967 the commission threatened to remove trustees of the disaster fund or make a financial order against them if they made grants to parents of children who were physically uninjured but who were suffering mentally—some surviving children complained of being afraid of the dark and loud noises, while some refused to sleep alone; the commission informed them that any payments would be "quite illegal". The decision affected 340 physically uninjured children.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Other grants made by the trust were less controversial: for those who lost their house, or whose property suffered significant damage, the trust donated £100 to assist with evacuation, and additional funds to help replace damaged effects. £100,000 was set aside for the future needs of the eight children physically injured in the disaster, and £5,000 was placed in trust for them for when they came of age. The charity funded the building of a community centre in the village and a memorial garden, which was opened by the Queen in March 1973. The garden is on the site of Pantglas Junior School and includes stone walls to show where the classrooms stood.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: McLean and Johnes consider that "the Commission protected neither donors nor beneficiaries. It was caught between upholding an outdated and inflexible law ... and fulfilling the varied expectations of donors, beneficiaries and the fund's management committee". In a study of the fund, the UK government Cabinet Office judged that "as far the fund is concerned and what it achieved, it is important to note that it did help in alleviating the suffering and was a focus for the grief of many". In 1988 the Aberfan Disaster Fund was separated into two entities: the Aberfan Memorial Charity and the Aberfan Disaster Fund and Centre, the second of which is administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. The Aberfan Memorial Charity oversees the upkeep of the memorial garden and Bryntaf Cemetery, and provides financial assistance to "all those who have suffered as a result of the Aberfan Disaster by making grants of money or providing or paying for items, services or facilities calculated to reduce the need, hardship or distress of such persons".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The tribunal report quoted one expert who said that Tip 5 "has been standing and is standing at a very low factor of safety"; the quote was read out by Thatcher in the October 1967 parliamentary debate on the inquiry report. S. O. Davies spoke in the debate on the same point:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: The residents of Aberfan petitioned George Thomas, who had succeeded Hughes as Secretary of State for Wales in April 1968, for the tips to be removed; they entered the Welsh Office and left a small pile of coal slurry on the table in front of him to make their point; Thomas later stated the tips "constitute a psychological, emotional danger" to the people of Aberfan. The NCB had received a range of estimated costs for removing the tips, from £1.014 million to £3.4 million. Robens informed HM Treasury that the cost would be £3 million, and informed them that the NCB would not pay for the removal; between November 1967 and August he lobbied to avoid having the NCB pay. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury also refused to pay, and said that the costs were too high. Although the government had initially favoured landscaping—an option cheaper than removal—they were eventually persuaded that removal was preferable.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: To pay for the removal of the tips, £150,000 was taken from the disaster fund—lowered from the initial £250,000 first requested—the NCB paid £350,000 and the government provided the balance, with the proviso it was only up to a million. The final cost of the removal was £850,000. The trustees of the fund voted to accept the request for payment after realising that there was no alternative if they wanted the tips removed. S. O. Davies, the only member of the committee to vote against the payment, resigned in protest. There was a reminder of the danger for the residents of Aberfan when, in August 1968, heavy rain caused slurry to be washed down the village's streets. At the time, the Charity Commission made no objection to this action; the political scientists Jacint Jordana and David Levi-Faur consider the payment "unquestionably unlawful" under charity law.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In 1969, as a result of concerns raised by the disaster, and in line with the findings of the tribunal report, the government framed new legislation to remedy the absence of laws and regulations governing mine and quarry spoil tips. The long title of the Mines and Quarries (Tips) Act 1969 was "An Act to make further provision in relation to tips associated with mines and quarries; to prevent disused tips constituting a danger to members of the public; and for purposes connected with those matters". The Act was an extension of the earlier Mines and Quarries Act 1954, which did not legislate over tips. According to McLean and Johnes, "the general commitment to public safety that the Tribunal had envisaged was not implemented" through the act, as the tribunal had advised wider legislation that should "consider the safety, health and welfare of all persons going about their lawful business in the vicinity of a mine, including the safety of their property".


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In May 1970 Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, appointed Robens to chair the Committee on Health and Safety at Work, to review legislation in the area and recommend the provisions that should be made for workers and the general public. In 1972 the committee published its findings in the Robens Report which led to the creation of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the formation of the Health and Safety Commission and the Health and Safety Executive.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In addition to news and historical coverage, the Aberfan disaster and its aftermath have been described in books, including histories of what happened, personal memoirs from those involved and collections of poetry, in music, song and on screen.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: Merthyr Vale Colliery closed in 1989. In 1997 Ron Davies, the Secretary of State for Wales in the incoming Labour government, repaid to the disaster fund the £150,000 that it had been induced to contribute towards the cost of tip removal. No allowance was made for inflation or the interest that would have been earned over the intervening period, which would have been £1.5 million in 1997. The payment was made in part after Iain McLean's examination of the papers released by the government. In February 2007 the Welsh Government announced a donation of £1.5 million to the Aberfan Memorial Charity and £500,000 to the Aberfan Education Charity, which represented an inflation-adjusted amount of the money taken. The money to the memorial charity was used in the upkeep of the memorials to the disaster.


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In May 1997 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh planted a tree at the Aberfan Memorial Garden. In October 2016, the fiftieth anniversary of the disaster, memorial events took place at the garden and at the cemetery; the Prince of Wales represented the Queen, and government ministers were present to pay tribute. At the time of the anniversary Huw Edwards, the BBC News journalist and presenter, described the need to continue learning lessons from Aberfan; he wrote:


title: Aberfan disaster

text: In August 2021 a memorial sculpture by the Welsh artist Nathan Wyburn was installed at the Rhondda Heritage Museum. In January 2022 there was a call to find a permanent home for the artefacts salvaged from the disaster. These included a clock which had stopped at the exact moment the disaster occurred.


title: Demon

text: A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in religion, occultism, literature, fiction, mythology, and folklore; as well as in media such as comics, video games, movies, anime, and television series.


title: Demon

text: Belief in demons probably goes back to the Paleolithic age, stemming from humanity's fear of the unknown, the strange and the horrific. In ancient Near Eastern religions and in the Abrahamic religions, including early Judaism and ancient-medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered a harmful spiritual entity which may cause demonic possession, calling for an exorcism. Large portions of Jewish demonology, a key influence on Christianity and Islam, originated from a later form of Zoroastrianism, and was transferred to Judaism during the Persian era.


title: Demon

text: Demons may or may not also be considered to be devils: minions of the Devil. In many traditions, demons are independent operators, with different demons causing different types of evils (destructive natural phenomena, specific diseases, etc.). In religions featuring a principal Devil (e.g. Satan) locked in an eternal struggle with God, demons are often also thought to be subordinates of the principal Devil. As lesser spirits doing the Devil's work, they have additional duties— causing humans to have sinful thoughts and tempting humans to commit sinful actions.


title: Demon

text: The original Ancient Greek word ' () did not carry negative connotations, as it denotes a spirit or divine power. The Greek conception of a ' notably appears in the philosophical works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates.


title: Demon

text: In Christianity, morally ambivalent "" were replaced by demons, forces of evil only striving for corruption. Such demons are not the Greek intermediary spirits, but hostile entities, already known in Iranian beliefs.


title: Demon

text: In Western occultism and Renaissance magic, which grew out of an amalgamation of Greco-Roman magic, Jewish Aggadah and Christian demonology, a demon is believed to be a spiritual entity that may be conjured and controlled.


title: Demon

text: Belief in demons remains an important part of many modern religions and occultist traditions. Demons are still feared largely due to their alleged power to possess living creatures. In the contemporary Western occultist tradition (perhaps epitomized by the work of Aleister Crowley), a demon (such as Choronzon, which is Crowley's interpretation of the so-called "Demon of the Abyss") is a useful metaphor for certain inner psychological processes (inner demons), though some may also regard it as an objectively real phenomenon.


title: Demon

text: The Ancient Greek word ("daimōn") denotes a spirit or divine power, much like the Latin "genius" or "numen". "Daimōn" most likely came from the Greek verb "daiesthai" ("to divide" or "distribute"). The Greek conception of a "daimōn" notably appears in the philosophical works of Plato, where it describes the divine inspiration of Socrates. The original Greek word "daimon" does not carry the negative connotation initially understood by implementation of the Koine ("daimonion"), and later ascribed to any cognate words sharing the root.


title: Demon

text: The Greek terms do not have any connotations of evil or malevolence. In fact, ("eudaimonia", which literally translates as "good-spiritedness") means happiness. By the early centuries of the Roman Empire, cult statues were seen, by Pagans and their Christian neighbors alike, as inhabited by the numinous presence of the Greco-Roman gods: "Like pagans, Christians still sensed and saw the gods and their power, and as something, they had to assume, lay behind it, by an easy traditional shift of opinion they turned these pagan "daimones" into malevolent 'demons', the troupe of Satan. Far into the Byzantine period, Christians eyed their cities' old pagan statuary as a seat of the demons' presence. It was no longer beautiful, it was infested." The term had first acquired its negative connotations in the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which drew on the mythology of ancient Semitic religions. This was then inherited by the Koine text of the New Testament. The Western medieval and neo-medieval conception of a "demon" derives seamlessly from the ambient popular culture of Late Antiquity.


title: Demon

text: The English use of "demon" as synonym for devils goes back at least as far as about 825. The German word ("Dämon"), however, is different from devil ("Teufel") and demons as evil spirits, and akin to the original meaning of a Daimon.


title: Demon

text: Both deities and demons can act as intermediaries to deliver messages to humans. Thus they share some resemblance to the Greek daimonion. The exact definition of "demon" in Egyptology posed a major problem for modern scholarship, since the borders between a deity and a demon are sometimes blurred and the ancient Egyptian language lacks a term for the modern English "demon". However, magical writings indicate that ancient Egyptians acknowledged the existence of malevolent demons by highlighting the demon names with red ink. Demons in this culture appeared to be subordinative and related to a specific deity, yet they may have occasionally acted independently of the divine will. The existence of demons can be related to the realm of chaos, beyond the created world. But even this negative connotation cannot be denied in light of the magical texts. The role of demons in relation to the human world remains ambivalent and largely depends on context.


title: Demon

text: Ancient Egyptian demons can be divided into two classes: "guardians" and "wanderers". "Guardians" are tied to a specific place; their demonic activity is topographically defined and their function can be benevolent towards those who have the secret knowledge to face them. Demons protecting the underworld may prevent human souls from entering paradise. Only by knowing right charms is the deceased able to enter the "Halls of Osiris". Here, the aggressive nature of the guardian demons is motivated by the need to protect their abodes and not by their evil essence. Accordingly, demons guarded sacred places or the gates to the netherworld. During the Ptolemaic and Roman period, the guardians shifted towards the role of Genius loci and they were the focus of local and private cults.


title: Demon

text: The "wanderers" are associated with possession, mental illness, death and plagues. Many of them serve as executioners for the major deities, such as Ra or Osiris, when ordered to punish humans on earth or in the netherworld. Wanderers can also be agents of chaos, arising from the world beyond creation to bring about misfortune and suffering without any divine instructions, led only by evil motivations. The influences of the wanderers can be warded off and kept at the borders on the human world by the use of magic, but they can never be destroyed. A sub-category of "wanderers" are nightmare demons, which were believed to cause nightmares by entering a human body.


title: Demon

text: The ancient Mesopotamians believed that the underworld was home to many demons, which are sometimes referred to as "offspring of "arali"". These demons could sometimes leave the underworld and terrorize mortals on earth. One class of demons that were believed to reside in the underworld were known as "galla"; their primary purpose appears to have been to drag unfortunate mortals back to Kur. They are frequently referenced in magical texts, and some texts describe them as being seven in number. Several extant poems describe the "galla" dragging the god Dumuzid into the underworld. Like other demons, however, "galla" could also be benevolent and, in a hymn from King Gudea of Lagash ( 2144 – 2124 BCE), a minor god named Ig-alima is described as "the great "galla" of Girsu".


title: Demon

text: Lamashtu was a demonic goddess with the "head of a lion, the teeth of a donkey, naked breasts, a hairy body, hands stained (with blood?), long fingers and fingernails, and the feet of Anzû". She was believed to feed on the blood of human infants and was widely blamed as the cause of miscarriages and cot deaths. Although Lamashtu has traditionally been identified as a demoness, the fact that she could cause evil on her own without the permission of other deities strongly indicates that she was seen as a goddess in her own right. Mesopotamian peoples protected against her using amulets and talismans. She was believed to ride in her boat on the river of the underworld and she was associated with donkeys. She was believed to be the daughter of An.


title: Demon

text: Pazuzu is a demonic god who was well known to the Babylonians and Assyrians throughout the first millennium BCE. He is shown with "a rather canine face with abnormally bulging eyes, a scaly body, a snake-headed penis, the talons of a bird and usually wings". He was believed to be the son of the god Hanbi. He was usually regarded as evil, but he could also sometimes be a beneficent entity who protected against winds bearing pestilence and he was thought to be able to force Lamashtu back to the underworld. Amulets bearing his image were positioned in dwellings to protect infants from Lamashtu and pregnant women frequently wore amulets with his head on them as protection from her.


title: Demon

text: Šul-pa-e's name means "youthful brilliance", but he was not envisioned as youthful god. According to one tradition, he was the consort of Ninhursag, a tradition which contradicts the usual portrayal of Enki as Ninhursag's consort. In one Sumerian poem, offerings made to Šhul-pa-e in the underworld and, in later mythology, he was one of the demons of the underworld.


title: Demon

text: According to "The" "Jewish Encyclopedia", originally published in 12 volumes from 1901 to 1906, "In Chaldean mythology the seven evil deities were known as "shedu", storm-demons, represented in ox-like form." They were represented as winged bulls, derived from the colossal bulls used as protective jinn of royal palaces.


title: Demon

text: There are differing opinions in Judaism about the existence or non-existence of demons ("shedim" or "se'irim"). There are "practically nil" roles assigned to demons in the Hebrew Bible. Not all Jews believe in the existence of demons, and some famous authors, such as Maimonides, denied their reality, regarding them as mere images which people ascribe divinity to. Jews are not obligated to believe in the existence of "shedim", as "posek" rabbi David Bar-Hayim points out. Some Rabbinic scholars assert that demons have existed in Talmudic times, but don't exist regularly in present. When prophecy, Divine intuition and Divine inspiration gradually decreased, the demonic powers of impurity have become correspondingly weak, too.


title: Demon

text: The Hebrew Bible mentions two classes of demonic spirits, the "se'irim" and the "shedim". The word "shedim" (sing "shed" or "sheyd") appears in two places in the Hebrew Bible. The "se'irim" (sing. "sa'ir", "male goat") are mentioned once in Leviticus 17:7, probably a recollection of Assyrian demons in the shape of goats. The "shedim", however, are not pagan demigods, but the foreign gods themselves. Both entities appear in a scriptural context of animal or child sacrifice to non-existent false gods.


title: Demon

text: From Chaldea, the term "shedu" traveled to the Israelites. The writers of the Tanach applied the word as a dialogism to Canaanite deities.


title: Demon

text: There are indications that demons in popular Hebrew mythology were believed to come from the nether world. Various diseases and ailments were ascribed to them, particularly those affecting the brain and those of internal nature. Examples include catalepsy, headache, epilepsy and nightmares. There also existed a demon of blindness, "Shabriri" (lit. "dazzling glare") who rested on uncovered water at night and blinded those who drank from it.


title: Demon

text: Demons supposedly entered the body and caused the disease while overwhelming or "seizing" the victim. To cure such diseases, it was necessary to draw out the evil demons by certain incantations and talismanic performances, at which the Essenes excelled. Josephus, who spoke of demons as "spirits of the wicked which enter into men that are alive and kill them", but which could be driven out by a certain root, witnessed such a performance in the presence of the Emperor Vespasian and ascribed its origin to King Solomon. In mythology, there were few defences against Babylonian demons. The mythical mace Sharur had the power to slay demons such as Asag, a legendary "gallu" or "edimmu" of hideous strength.


title: Demon

text: In the Jerusalem Talmud, notions of "shedim" ("demons" or "spirits") are almost unknown or occur only very rarely, whereas in the Babylonian Talmud there are many references to "shedim" and magical incantations. The existence of "shedim" in general was not questioned by most of the Babylonian Talmudists. As a consequence of the rise of influence of the Babylonian Talmud over that of the Jerusalem Talmud, late rabbis, in general, took as fact the existence of "shedim", nor did most of the medieval thinkers question their reality. However, rationalists like Maimonides and Saadia Gaon and others explicitly denied their existence, and completely rejected concepts of demons, evil spirits, negative spiritual influences, attaching and possessing spirits. They thought the essential teaching about "shedim" and similar spirits is, that they should not be an object of worship, not a reality to be acknowledged or feared. Their point of view eventually became mainstream Jewish understanding.


title: Demon

text: The opinion of some authors is not clear. Abraham ibn Ezra states that insane people can see the image of "se'irim", when they go astray and ascribe to them powers independent from God. It is not clear from his work, if he considered these images of "se'irim" as manifestations of actual spirits ("shedim") or merely delusions. Despite academic consensus, Rabbis disputed that Maimonies denied the existence of demons entirely. He would only dispute the existence of demons in his own life time, but not that demons had existed once.


title: Demon

text: Occasionally an angel is called "satan" in the Babylon Talmud. But "satans" do not refer to demons as they remain at the service of God: "Stand not in the way of an ox when coming from the pasture, for Satan dances between his horns".


title: Demon

text: Aggadic tales from the Persian tradition describe the "shedim", the" mazziḳim" ("harmers"), and the" ruḥin" ("spirits"). There were also "lilin" ("night spirits"), "ṭelane" ("shade", or "evening spirits"), "ṭiharire" ("midday spirits"), and" ẓafrire" ("morning spirits"), as well as the "demons that bring famine" and "such as cause storm and earthquake". According to some aggadic stories, demons were under the dominion of a king or chief, usually "Asmodai".


title: Demon

text: In Kabbalah, demons are regarded a necessary part of the divine emanation in the material world and a byproduct of human sin (Qliphoth). After they are created, they assume an existence on their own. Demons would attach themselves to the sinner and start to multiply as an act of self-preservation. Medieval Kabbalists characterize such demons as punishing angels of destruction. They are subject to the Divine will, and do not act independently.


title: Demon

text: Other demonic entities, such as the "shedim", might be considered benevolent. The Zohar classifies them as those who are like humans and submit to the Torah, and those who have no fear of God and are like animals.


title: Demon

text: The sources of demonic influence were thought to originate from the Watchers or Nephilim, who are first mentioned in Genesis 6 and are the focus of 1 Enoch Chapters 1–16, and also in Jubilees 10. The Nephilim were seen as the source of the sin and evil on Earth because they are referenced in Genesis 6:4 before the story of the Flood. In Genesis 6:5, God sees evil in the hearts of men. Ethiopic Enoch refers to Genesis 6:4–5, and provides further description of the story connecting the Nephilim to the corruption of humans. According to the Book of Enoch, sin originates when angels descend from heaven and fornicate with women, birthing giants. The Book of Enoch shows that these fallen angels can lead humans to sin through direct interaction or through providing forbidden knowledge. Most scholars understand the text, that demons originate from the evil spirits of the deceased giants, cursed by God to wander the Earth. Dale Martin disagrees with this interpretation, arguing that the ghosts of the Nephilim are distinct. The evil spirits would make the people sacrifice to the demons, but they were not demons themselves. The spirits are stated in Enoch to "corrupt, fall, be excited, and fall upon the earth, and cause sorrow".


title: Demon

text: The Book of Jubilees conveys that sin occurs when Cainan accidentally transcribes astrological knowledge used by the Watchers. This differs from Enoch in that it does not place blame on the angels. However, in Jubilees 10:4 the evil spirits of the Watchers are discussed as evil and still remain on Earth to corrupt humans. God binds only 90% of the Watchers and destroys them, leaving 10% to be ruled by Mastema. Because the evil in humans is great, only 10% would be needed to corrupt and lead humans astray. These spirits of the giants are also referred to as "the bastards" in the apotropaic prayer Songs of the Sage, which lists the names of demons the narrator hopes to expel.


title: Demon

text: To the Qumran community during the Second Temple period, this apotropaic prayer was assigned, stating: "And, I the Sage, declare the grandeur of his radiance in order to frighten and terri[fy] all the spirits of the ravaging angels and the bastard spirits, demons, Liliths, owls" ("Dead Sea Scrolls", "Songs of the Sage", Lines 4–5).


title: Demon

text: In the Veda, gods ("deva") and demons ("asura") share both the upper world. It is only by the time of the Brahmanas that they are said to inhabit the underworld. The identification of "asura" with "demons" stems from the description of asura as "formerly gods" ("pūrvadeva"). The gods are said to have claimed heaven for themselves and tricked the demons, ending on earth. During the Vedic period, gods aid humans against demons. By that, gods secure their own place in heaven, using humans as tools to defeat their cosmic enemies.


title: Demon

text: "Asura", in the earliest hymns of the Rigveda, originally meant any supernatural spirit, either good or bad. Since the /s/ of the Indic linguistic branch is cognate with the /h/ of the Early Iranian languages, the word "asura", representing a category of celestial beings, is a cognate with Old Persian "Ahura". Ancient Hinduism tells that Devas (also called "suras") and Asuras are half-brothers, sons of the same father Kashyapa; although some of the Devas, such as Varuna, are also called Asuras. Later, during Puranic age, Asura and Rakshasa came to exclusively mean any of a race of anthropomorphic, powerful, possibly evil beings. Daitya (lit. sons of the mother "Diti"), Maya Danava, Rakshasa (lit. from "harm to be guarded against"), and asura are incorrectly translated into English as "demon".


title: Demon

text: With increase in asceticism during the post-Vedic period, withdrawal of sacrificial rituals was consindered a threat to the gods. Ascetic humans or ascetic demon were supposed to be more powerful than gods. Pious, highly enlightened Asuras, such as Prahlada and Vibhishana, are not uncommon. The Asura are not fundamentally against the gods, nor do they tempt humans to fall. Many people metaphorically interpret the Asura as manifestations of the ignoble passions in the human mind and as symbolic devices. There were also cases of power-hungry asuras challenging various aspects of the gods, but only to be defeated eventually and seek forgiveness.


title: Demon

text: Hinduism advocates the reincarnation and transmigration of souls according to one's karma. Souls (Atman) of the dead are adjudged by the Yama and are accorded various purging punishments before being reborn. Humans that have committed extraordinary wrongs are condemned to roam as lonely, often mischief mongers, spirits for a length of time before being reborn. Many kinds of such spirits (Vetalas, Pishachas, Bhūta) are recognized in the later Hindu texts. According to Hinduism, demons are not inherently evil beings, but good by following their "dharma" what is being evil and deceitful. However, nothing is purely evil or good, and a demon could eventually abandon his demonic nature.


title: Demon

text: Belief in demons does not constitute an essential feature in Buddhism. However, since belief in demons were common during the rise of Buddhism, they are integrated into the "cycle of Saṃsāra". Accordingly, their malevolent condition is due to their bad "karma" from their previous lives. When Buddhism spread, it accommodated itself with indigenous popular ideas about demons.


title: Demon

text: The Zorastrian belief in demons ("Daeva", later "div") had strong influence on the Abrahamic religions, especially Christianity and Islam. The "daevas" seem to be a Zorastrian interpretation of the Hindu pantheon. Particularly Indra, one of the most eminent individual deities of Vedic texts, is portrayed as a malicious force only next to Ahriman, the principle of evil (devil).


title: Demon

text: But "daevas" are not merely the false gods of a past religion, but also embodiment of vices and fierce side of nature. Thraotona slays the "daeva" Azhi Dahāka, a serpentine or dragon-like creature with three heads. Thraotona's victory over Azhi Dahāka, is not the victory of a great warrior, but to show that people who live in accordance with "Asha" can overcome evil. Aeshma, a demon of wrath and destruction, appears to be the direct forerunner of Asmodeus ("Sakhr" in Islam) from Abrahamic religion. Winter too became associated with one of the daeva. Demons assault the souls when passing the Chinvat Bridge. While virtuous people ward them off and succeed on entering heaven, wicked souls fail and are seized by the demons. In hell, demons continue to torment the damned.


title: Demon

text: In Zarathustra's personal revelation, there are no individual daevas. They are always referred to as in a group and their worshippers are associated with violence and destruction:


title: Demon

text: but ye Daevas are all spawned from Evil Thought/ as is the grandee who worships you, and from wrong and contempt... ever since you have been enjoying those worst of things that mortals are to do/ to wax to the daevas' favor retreating from Good Thought/ losing the way from the Mindful Lord's wisdom and from Right.


title: Demon

text: So ye lure the mortal from good living and security from death/as the Evil Will does you who are daevas, by evil thought/ and that evil speech with which he assigns the deed to the wrongful one's control.


title: Demon

text: Demons are subordinate to the absolute power of evil, the Evil Will, embodied in Ahriman/Angra Manyu. They are both corrupted and evil themselves. Demons possess no substance on their own and can only attach themselves to material agents. People who worship demons are blamed to give them power. In the Gathas, the primary way for demons to corrupt humans and cause suffering, manifests through their worshippers. The "Vendidad" (Law against Daeva) is mainly concerned to ward off demons by offering laws for ritual purity. However, demons would not increase their power only through acts in their favor but also by every act against Ahura Mazda (supreme good). Everyday actions might be considered a form of demon-worship. For example, cutting one's hair or nails and keeping them on the ground is understood as a sacrifice to the demons. Just like the demons' power increase by acts of wickedness, they are weakened by good deeds. Performaning invocations of Ahura Mazda are considered especially helpful. The Vendidad further explores the possibility for humans to turn into demons. A human who performs sexual immoralities or worships demons becomes a demon after death. A wicked person might be considered a demon in his lifetime, but only turns completely into one after death.


title: Demon

text: The Bundahishn offers an overview about the creation of demons. The text explains that Ahura Mazda and Ahriman existed before the material world, one in light and the other in the abyss of darkness. When Ahriman assaulted Ahura Mazda, Ahura Mazda created a world as a battle place and Ahriman could be defeated. The first beings created by Ahura Mazda were the six Amesha Spenta, whereupon Ahriman counters by creating six daevas. The demons are not tempted but directly created by the principle of evil. According to the Bundahishn, the demons revive Ahriman, whereby calling him their father:


title: Demon

text: Rise up, thou father of us! for we will cause a conflict in the world, the distress and injury from which will become those of Ohrmazd and the archangels


title: Demon

text: Book 3 of the Denkard describes demons as the opposite of the creative power of God. As such, they cannot create, but only corrupt, and thus, evil is merely the corruption of the good. Since demons can only destroy, they will ultimately destroy themselves. Chapter 30 questions the reality of demons, since their existence seem to rely on their destruction of good. Therefore, Ahriman and his demons would miss any substance and exist only as absence of good.


title: Demon

text: Manichaeism was a major religion founded in the third century AD by the Parthian prophet Mani (), in the Sasanian Empire. One of its key concepts is the doctrine of "Two Principles and Three Moments". Accordingly, the world could be described as resulting from a past moment, in which two principles (good and evil) were separate, a contemporary moment in which both principles are mixed due to an assault of the world of darkness on the realm of light, and a future moment when both principles are distinct forever. Thus, evil and demons played a significant role within Manichaean teachings.


title: Demon

text: There are numberless designations for various groups of demonic entities in Manichaean cosmology. The general term used for the beings of the world of darkness is "dyw" ("dev"). Before the demons attacked the realm of light, they have been in constant battle and intercourse against each other. It is only in the realm of darkness demons are described in their physical form. After their assault on the world above, they have been overcome by the Living Spirit, and imprisoned in the structure of the world. From that point onwards, they impact human's ethical life, and appear as personified ethical qualities, mostly greed, envy, grief, and wrath (desire for destruction).


title: Demon

text: Ibn al-Jawzi, in his work "Talbīs Iblīs" (devils' delusion), credits the Manichaeans with believing that each "Light" and "Darkness" (God and the Devil) consist of four bodies and one spirit. The bodies of "Light" (God) were referred to as angels, while the bodies of "Darkness" (Devil) were referred to as "ifrits". "Light" and "Darkness" would multiple by angels and demons respectively.


title: Demon

text: In "The Book of Giants", one of the canonical seven treatises also known from Jewish intertestamental literature, the Grigori ("egrēgoroi") beget giant half-demon offspring with human woman. In the Middle Persian version of the "Book of Giants" they are referred to as "kʾw", while in the Coptic "Kephalaia" as "gigas". In accordance with some interpretations of Genesis 6:1–4, the giant offspring became the ancient tyrannic rulers over mankind, until overthrown by the angels of punishment. Nonetheless, these demons are still active in the microcosm, such as "Āz" and "Āwarzōg". Views on stars ("abāxtarān") are mixed. On one hand, they are regarded as light particles of the world soul fixed in the sky. On the other hand, stars are identified with powers hindering the soul from leaving the material world. The Third Messenger (Jesus) is said to have chained up demons in the sky. Their offspring, the "nephilim" ("nĕf īlīm") or "asrestar" ("āsarēštārān"), "Ašqalūn" and "Nebrō’ēl" in particular, play instrumental roles in the creation of Adam and Eve. According to Manichaeism, the watchers, known as angels in Jewish lore, are not considered angels, but demons.


title: Demon

text: In the "Shahnameh", written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE, demonic beings called "divs" are recurring enemies of human civilization. Divs are often black, long teeth, claws as hands; a monstrous but humanoid shape. Despite their physical appearance, many divs are masters of supernatural sorcery, reflecting their former associations with the daevas. Div-e Sepid (White Div), leader of the divs, is both an outstanding warrior and a master of magic, who causes storms to overcome hostile armies.


title: Demon

text: The poem begins with the kings of the Pishdadian dynasty. They defeat and subjugate the demonic divs. Tahmuras commanded the divs and became known as "dīvband" (binder of demons). Jamshid, the fourth king of the world, ruled over both angels and divs, and served as a high priest of Ahura Mazda (Hormozd). Like his father, he slayed many divs, however, spared some under the condition they teach him new valuable arts, such as writing in different languages. After a just reign over hundreds of years, Jamshid grew haughty and claims, because of his wealth and power, divinity for himself. Whereupon God withdraws his blessings from him, and his people get unsatisfied with their king. With ceasing influence of God, the devil gains power and aids Zahhak to usurp the throne. Jamshid dies sawn in two by two demons. Tricked by Ahriman (or Iblis), Zahhak grew two snakes on his shoulders and becomes the demonic serpent-king. The King Kay Kāvus fails to conquer the legendary Mazandaran, the land of divs and gets captured. To save his king, Rustam takes a journey and fights through seven trials. Divs are among the common enemies Rustam faces, the last one the Div-e Sepid, the demonic king of Mazandaran.


title: Demon

text: The div in the Shahnameh might include both demonic supernatural beings as well as evil humans. It has been conjectured that the divs of the legendary Mazandaran might reflect human enemies of Iran. Zahak, inspired by the daeva " Azhi Dahāka", is not a de-graced deity, but a human tyrant, identified as an Arab, who slayed his father in exchange for power. It is only after he was tricked by the devil for power, he grows serpentine heads on his shoulders and becomes less human.


title: Demon

text: Rustam's battle against the demonic may also have a symbolic meaning: Rustam representing wisdom and rationality fights the demon, embodiment of passion and instinct. Rustam's victory over the White Div is also a triumph over men's lower drives, and killing the demon a way to purge human soul from such evil inclinations. The killing of the White Div is an inevitable act to restore the human king's eyesight. Eliminating the divs is an act of self-preservation to safeguard the good in oneself's, and the part acceptable in a regulated society.


title: Demon

text: The Algonquian people traditionally believe in a spirit called a wendigo. The spirit is believed to possess people who then become cannibals. In Athabaskan folklore, there is a belief in wechuge, a similar cannibal spirit.


title: Demon

text: The existence of demons as inherently malicious spirits within Old Testamental texts is absent. Though there are evil spirits sent by YHWH, they can hardly be called "demons", since they serve and do not oppose the governing deity. First then the Hebrew Bible was translated into Greek, the "gods of other nations" were merged into a single category of demons (daimones) with implied negativity.


title: Demon

text: The Greek Daimons were associated with demi-divine entities, deities, illnesses and fortune-telling. The Jewish translators rendered them all as demons, depicting their power as nullified comparable to the description of shedim in the Tanakh. Although all these supernatural powers were translated, none were angels, despite sharing a similar function to that of the Greek Daimon. This established a dualism between the angels on God's side and negatively evaluated demons of pagan origin. Their relationship to the God-head became the main difference between angels and demons, not their degree of benevolence. Both angels and demons might be fierce and terrifying. However, the angels act always at service of the high god of the Israelites, differing from the pagan demons, who represent the powers of foreign deities.


title: Demon

text: Through the New Testament, demons appear 55 times, 46 times in reference to demonic possession or exorcisms. Some old English Bible translations such as King James Version do not have the word 'demon' in their vocabulary and translate it as 'devil'. As adversaries of Jesus, demons are not morally ambivalent spirits, but evil; cause of misery, suffering and death. They are not tempters, but cause of pain, suffering and maladies, both physical and mental. Temptation is reserved for the devil only. Unlike spirits in pagan beliefs, demons are not intermediary spirits whom must be sacrificed for appeasement of a deity. Possession also shows no trace of positivity contrary to some pagan depictions of spirit possession. They are explicitly said to be ruled by the devil or Beelzebub. Their origin is unclear, the texts take the existence of demons for granted. Many early Christians, like Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria and Lactantius assumed demons were ghosts of the Nephilim, known from Intertestamental writings. Because of references to Satan as the lord of demons, and evil angels of Satan throughout the New Testament, other scholars identified fallen angels with demons. Demons as entirely evil entities, who have been born evil, may not fit the proposed origin of evil in free-will, taught in alternate or opposing theologies.


title: Demon

text: Demons are included into biblical interpretation. In the story of Passover, the Bible tells the story as "the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt" (). In the Book of Jubilees, which is considered canonical only by the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, this same event is told slightly differently: "All the powers of [the demon] Mastema had been let loose to slay all the first-born in the land of Egypt. And the powers of the Lord did everything according as the Lord commanded them." (Jubilees 49:2–4)