Obeah

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about West Indian religion and magic. For the racehorse, see Obeah (horse).
For obeah within the context of Thelema, see Obeah and Wanga. For the West African
monster, see Obia (folklore).

Obeah

Type Syncretic (occasionally)

Classification Afro-Jamaican

Origin 18th century

Igboland

Separated from Myal

Absorbed Ashanti, Odinani, Igbo, Christianity (occasionally)

Other name(s) The Black Arts

Obeah (sometimes spelled Obi, Obeah, Obeya, or Obia)[1][2] is a system of[3][4][5] spiritual and
healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies.[6][7] Obeah is
difficult to define, as it is not a single, unified set of practices; the word "Obeah" was
historically not often used to describe one's own practices.[8] Diana Paton has contended
that what constitutes Obeah in Jamaica has been constructed by white society, particularly
law enforcement.[9] Accordingly, different Afro-Caribbean communities use their own
terminology to describe the practice, such as "spell casting", among the Jamaican
Windward Maroons.[10] Obeah is similar to other Afro-American religions such
as Palo, Haitian Vodou, Santería, and Hoodoo in that it includes communication with
ancestors and spirits and healing rituals. Nevertheless, it differs from religions like Vodou
and Santeria in that there is no explicit canon of gods or deities that is worshipped, and the
practice is generally an individual action rather than part of a collective ceremony or
offering.[11] It differs from Myal in that Myal focuses more on the connection of humans and
spirits. By some early colonial authorities they differed in that Obeah was viewed as
nefarious while Myal was a more positive influence.[12]
Variants of Obeah are practiced in the Bahamas and in the Caribbean nations
of Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, St.Lucia, Saint Vincent and the
Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Virgin Islands,[13] as well as by the
Igbo people of Nigeria.[14][15][16] In some cases, aspects of these folk religions have survived
through syncretism with Christian symbolism and practice introduced by European
colonials and slave owners.

Contents
 1Origins
 2History
 3Obeah in Trinidad and Tobago
 4Obeah in literature
 5See also
 6Notes
 7External links

Origins[edit]
Part of the series on
Odinani
Igbo religion and spirituality

Divinities (Alusi)

 Ala
 Amadioha
 Anyanwu
 Igwe
 Agwu Nsi
 Ekwensu
 Ikenga

Legendary creatures and concepts

 Mmuo
 Ogu na Ofo
 Inouwa
 Ogbanje

Topics

 Chi
  Ekpe
 Osu
 Inouwa
 Nze na Ozo
 Calendar

Sacred places

 Earth
 Aguleri
 Ibini Ukpabi

Derivatives

 Obeah
 Jonkonnu

 v
 t
 e

In parts of the Caribbean where Obeah developed, slaves were taken from a variety of
African nations with differing spiritual practices and religions. It is from these arrivals and
their spiritualisms that Obeah originates. The origins of the word "Obeah" have been
contested in the academic community for nearly a century; there is not a widely accepted
consensus on what region or language the word derives from, and there is a politics to
every hypothesis. Orlando Patterson promoted an Akan-Twi etymology, suggesting that the
word came from Gold Coast communities.[17] He and other proponents of the Akan-Twi
hypothesis argued that the word was derived from obayifo, a word associated with
malevolent magic by Ashanti priests.[18] (Akan: witchcraft).[19] Kwasi Konadu suggested a
somewhat updated version of this etymology, suggesting that bayi, the neutral force used
by the obayifo, is the source material – a word with a slightly less negative connotation.[20]
The first time in Jamaican history the term "obeah" was used in the colonial literature was
in reference to Nanny of the Maroons, an Akan woman, considered the ancestor of the
Windward Maroon community and celebrated for her role in defeating the British and
securing a land treaty in 1739, as an old 'witch' and a 'Hagg'.[21][22][23] Obeah has also
received a great deal of attention for its role in Tacky’s Rebellion (also an Akan), the 1760
conflict that spurred the passage of the first Jamaican anti-Obeah law.[24] The term "Myal"
was first recorded by Edward Long in 1774 when describing a ritual dance done by
Jamaican slaves. At first the practices of Obeah and Myal were not considered different.
Over time "Myal-men" involved in spirit affairs involved themselves with Jamaican Native
Baptist churches, bringing Myal rituals into the churches. Over time these Myal influenced
chrurches began preaching the importance of baptisms and the eradication of Obeah, thus
formally separating the two traditions.[25]
Despite its associations with a number of Akan slaves and rebellions, the origin of Obeah
has been criticised by several writers who hold that an Igbo origin is more
likely.[26] According to W. E. B. Du Bois Institute database,[27] he traces Obeah to
the Dibia or Obia (Igbo: doctoring)[28] traditions of the Igbo people.[29][30] Specialists in Obia
(also spelled Obea) were known as Ndi Obia (Igbo: Obia people) and practised the same
activities as the Obeah men and women of the Caribbean like predicting the future and
manufacturing charms.[6][31] Among the Igbo there were oracles known as Obiạ which were
said to be able to talk.[32] Parts of the Caribbean where Obeah was most active imported a
large number of its slaves from the Igbo-dominated Bight of Biafra.[27] This interpretation is
also favored by Kenneth Bilby, arguing that “dibia’ connotes a neutral “master of knowledge
and wisdom.”[33]
In another hypothesis, the Efik language is the root of Obeah where the word obeah comes
from the Efik ubio meaning 'a bad omen'.[34] Melville Herskovits endorsed a different Efik
origin, arguing that obeah was a corruption of an Efik word for “doctor.”[35]
In colonial British communities, aside from referring to the set of spiritual practices, “Obeah”
also came to refer to a physical object, such as a talisman or charm, that was used for evil
magical purposes. The item was referred to as an Obeah-item (e.g. an 'obeah ring' or an
'obeah-stick', translated as: ring used for witchcraft or stick used for
witchcraft respectively).[36] Obeah incorporated various beliefs from the religions of later
migrants to the colonies where it was present. Obeah also influenced other religions in the
Caribbean, e.g. Christianity, which incorporated some Obeah beliefs.[13]

History[edit]

Obeah figure confiscated from a black man named Alexander Ellis on his arrest in suspicion of
practicing as an 'obeah-man' in Morant Bay, Jamaica in 1887. Both of which were Akan speakers or
"Coromantee".[37]

The term 'Obeah' is first found in documents from the early 18th century, as in its
connection to Nanny of the Maroons. Colonial sources referred to the spiritual powers
attributed to her in a number of derogatory ways, ranging from referring to her as “the
rebel’s old obeah woman”[38] to characterizing her as “unsexed” and more bloodthirsty than
Maroon men.[39] Maroon oral traditions discuss her feats of science in rich detail. She is said
to have used her obeah powers to kill British soldiers in Nanny’s Pot, a boiling pot without a
flame below it that soldiers would lean into and fall in,[40] to quickly grow food for her
starving forces,[41] and to catch British bullets and either fire them back or attack the soldiers
with a machete.[42]
Discussion of Obeah became even more frequent when it was made illegal in Jamaica
after Tacky's War. During the rebellion, Tacky is said to have consulted an Obeahman who
prepared for his forces a substance that would protect them from British bullets, which
boosted their confidence in executing the rebellion.[43][44]
In 1787 a letter to an English newspaper referred to "Obiu-women" interpreting the wishes
of the dead at the funeral of a murdered slave in Jamaica: a footnote explained the term as
meaning "Wise-women".[45] The practice of obeah with regards to healing led to the
Jamaican 18th and 19th century traditions of "doctresses", such as Grace Donne, who
nursed her lover, Simon Taylor (sugar planter), Sarah Adams, Cubah Cornwallis and Mary
Seacole and her mother. These doctresses practised the use of hygiene and the
applications of herbs decades before they were adopted by European doctors and
nurses.[46][47]
A continuing source of white anxiety related to Obeah was the belief that practitioners were
skilled in using poisons, as mentioned in Matthew Lewis's Journal of a West India
Proprietor. Many white Jamaicans accused women of such poisonings; one case Lewis
discussed was that of a young woman named Minetta who was brought to trial for
attempting to poison her master.[48] Lewis and others often characterized the women they
accused of poisonings as being manipulated by Obeahmen, who they contended actually
provided the women with the materials for poisonings.[49] The laws forbidding Obeah
reflected this fear: an anti-Obeah law passed in Barbados in 1818 specifically forbade the
possession of "any poison, or any noxious or destructive substance".[50] A doctor who
examined the medicine chest of an Obeah man arrested in Jamaica in 1866 identified white
arsenic as one of the powders in it, but could not identify the others. The unnamed
correspondent reporting this affirmed "The Jamaica herbal is an extensive one, and
comprises some highly poisonous juices, of which the Obeah men have a perfect
knowledge."[51]
During the mid 19th century the appearance of a comet in the sky became the focal point of
an outbreak of religious fanatical millennialism among the Myal men of
Jamaica. Spiritualism was at that time sweeping the English-speaking nations as well, and
it readily appealed to those in the Afro-Caribbean diaspora, as spirit contact, especially with
the dead, is an essential part of many African religions.
During the conflict between Myal and Obeah, the Myal men positioned themselves as the
"good" opponents to "evil" Obeah.[52] They claimed that Obeah men stole people's shadows,
and they set themselves up as the helpers of those who wished to have their shadows
restored. Myal men contacted spirits in order to expose the evil works they ascribed to the
Obeah men, and led public parades which resulted in crowd-hysteria that engendered
violent antagonism against Obeah men. The public "discovery" of buried Obeah charms,
presumed to be of evil intent, led on more than one occasion to violence against the rival
Obeah practitioners. Such conflicts between supposedly “good” and “evil” spiritual work
could sometimes be found within plantation communities. In one 1821 case brought before
court in Berbice, an enslaved woman named Madalon allegedly died as a result of being
accused of malevolent obeah that caused the drivers at Op Hoop Van Beter plantation to
fall ill.[53] The man implicated in her death, a spiritual worker named Willem, conducted an
illegal Minje Mama dance to divine the source of the Obeah, and after she was chosen as
the suspect, she was tortured to death.[54]
Laws were passed that limited both Obeah and Myal traditions.[55]

Obeah in Trinidad and Tobago[edit]

Trinidad and Tobago, Obeah includes the unique practice of the Moko-Jumbie, or stilt
dancer. Moko was a common word for Ibibio slaves[citation needed]. In the Trinidad and Tobago
Obeah tradition, a Douen is a child who has died before being baptized, and is said to be
forced to forever walk the earth at night in English-speaking regions of the Caribbean.
Jewelry is made from deadly toxic red and black seeds called jumbies, jumbie eyes or
jumbie beads (seeds of Abrus precatorius containing the AB toxin abrin) in the Caribbean
and South America. By contrast, the moko-jumbie of Trinidad and Tobago is brightly
colored, dances in the daylight, and is very much alive. The moko-jumbie also represents
the flip side of spiritual darkness, as stilt-dancing is most popular around holy days
and Carnival.
Obeah in the Bahamas Currently, the Bahamian Penal Code (Chapter 84: Sections 232-
234) allows for up to 3 months of incarceration for practicing obeah. Interestingly, suspicion
of possessing an instrument of obeah (vials, blood, bone, images) while in a courtroom,
can result in immediate search without warrant and a fine where such item is found.
Obeah in literature[edit]
Although 18th-century literature mentions Obeah often, one of the earliest references to
Obeah in fiction can be found in 1800, in William Earle's novel Obi; or, The History of
Three-Finger'd Jack, a narrative inspired by true events that was also reinterpreted in
several dramatic versions on the London stage in 1800 and following.[56] One of the next
major books about Obeah was Hamel, the Obeah Man (1827). Several early plantation
novels also include Obeah plots. In Marryat's novel Poor Jack (1840) a rich young
plantation-owner[57] ridicules superstitions held by English sailors but himself believes in
Obeah.
The 20th century saw less actual Obeah in open practice, but it still continued to make
frequent appearances in literature. The following is only a partial list:

 Aleister Crowley, a controversial English mystic declared The Book of the Law was
dictated to him in 1904 by a non-physical being. Ch 1 verse 37 reads: "Also the
mantras and spells; the obeah and the wanga; the work of the wand and the work of
the sword; these shall he learn and teach"
 Henry S. Whitehead, who lived for some time on St Croix in the Caribbean, published
his supernatural tale "The Jumbee" in Weird Tales (1926). The story lent its title to his
collection Jumbee and Other Uncanny Tales (1944).
 Zora Neale Hurston researched and wrote widely on the subject, including essays,
drama, and the novel Jonah's Gourd Vine.
 The former slave, Christophine, in Jean Rhys's novel Wide Sargasso Sea is a
practitioner of Obeah.
 Solitaire, the female lead in the James Bond novel Live and Let Die, is said to have
"the power of the Obeah."
 An Obeah woman is a sort of matchmaker in Earl Lovelace's novel Salt.
 The protagonist of Ismith Khan's 1964 novel The Obeah Man, Zampi, is an Obeah man
wandering in and around Port of Spain looking for his sometime lover.
 Ma Kilman in Derek Walcott's epic poem "Omeros" is a healer who uses Obeah.
 In the novels and memoirs of Jamaica Kincaid there are several passages that mention
Obeah.
 There are frequent references to Obeah in The Suffrage of Elvira written by V S
Naipaul
 A central character in Unburnable is reputed to be an Obeah woman.
 The protagonist of the novel Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson is an Obeah-
woman in training, learning from her grandmother. She uses her abilities to defeat an
evil Obeah-man and his duppy.
 Obeah is heavily referenced in Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's novel Cemetery
Dance.
 A main character in the 2009 YA novel Three Witches by Paula Jolin (Roaring
Brook/MacMillan)is a native of Trinidad and attempts to use Obeah to raise a dead
classmate.
 Several characters in the book "The Book of Night Women" by Marlon James are said
to practice Obeah, and it is a focal point at a number of points in the novel.
 Shadowcatcher, the antagonist in the Nicholas Da Silva graphic novel series Dread &
Alive (novel), is an Obeah-man who uses Obeah to regain the prized amulet taken
away from him by his brother, Cudjoe, the Myalman of the Jamaican Maroons."
 Robert Louis Stevenson Jamieson and his brother Arthur Conan Doyle Jamieson are
both practicing Obeah in the Necroscope: the lost Years Novel from Brian Lumley.
 Obeah figures in prominently in The Lazarus Curse (Dr. Thomas Silkstone #4) by
Tessa Harris. The story centers around Jamaican slaves in 18th century England and
the Obeah-men and their spells/talismans.
 Marie-Magdeleine Carbet, Martinique's most prolific woman writer, wrote a short story,
"Obeah," now republished in English translation (along with the original French) by
Michigan State UP as "Obeah" and Other Martinican Stories.
 Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band "Golden Birdies" on the Clear Spot album
refers to an "Obi Man" clearly a kind of voodoo priest "Up one hand broom star was an
obi-man,revered throughout the bone-knob land, his magic black purse slit creeped
open, let go flocks of them" [58]

See also