golem in a village

A golem is an animated, anthropomorphic being in Jewish folklore, which is created entirely from inanimate matter, usually clay or mud.

It was believed that golems could be activated by an ecstatic experience induced by the ritual use of various letters of the Hebrew alphabet forming a shem (any one of the names of God), wherein the shem was written on a piece of paper and inserted in the mouth or into the forehead of the golem.