The Dark Feminine
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The woman with backwards feet is a pichal peri which is the spirit of a woman who suffered an unjust death, usually at the hands of her abusive husband. They are vengeful spirits who come back to take revenge on their abusers but are sometimes said to attract all men but spare all women.
They have backwards feet because either the husband or his family feared she’d return as a pichal peri so they’d twist her corpse’s feed back to make her recognizable as a vengeful spirit to other people.
One interpretation of the story is that the women are in turmoil because of her death, her rage and sadness filling the women who loved her. The woman who sits with the trembling mask floating over her is most likely a furious family member who use magic to help the spirit have her revenge.
Her sitting calmly by the water means she had her revenge and is finally at peace which calms all the other women down.
Don’t look away from the unjust. Stare.
