obeahguide

[obeahguide]

[obeahguide]

[obeahguide]

History (cont.)

The Afro-Caribbeans found the practice as a source of healing as they no longer had a direct connection to their Akan roots According to Virginia Commonwealth “Obeah often provided a comfort to displaced Africans in that they could rely on one of their own for healing and protection.” The practices of Obeah were seen as a threat to the white plantation owners, they eventually prohibited the practice in the British Colonies.  

[obeahguide]

Obeye, or what is commonly known as Obeah, is practiced worldwide. However, the religious practices emerged from the Gold Coast of Africa (West Africa). For centuries, historians have tried their best to trace the etymology of Obeah, which has led to various discoveries. Still, the most consistent discovery is, “. . .the word has been traced to the A terms Obayifo or obeye, meaning respectively, wizard or witch...” (Olmos, pg. 155). This finding strengthens Obeah's origins, as the Ashanti and kindred people were commonly located in southern Ghana. Most enslaved people in the British West Indies were from this region, so when they were transported to various islands such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Dominica, to name a few, they carried Obeye with them.

Here is the complete list and pictures of geographical locations in the Caribbean and Americas where Obeah is practiced:

-Tortola

-Virgin Gorda

-Jost Van Dyke

-Suriname

-Guyana (Formerly known as British Guiana)

-Belize (Formerly known as British Honduras)

-Antigua

-Bahamas

-Barbados

-Bermuda

-Dominica

-Jamaica

-Grenada

-Montserrat

-St. Kitts and Nevis

-St. Lucia

-St. Vincent and The Grenadines

-Trinidad and Tobago

-Turks and Caicos

-The Cayman Islands

[obeahguide]

The Suppression of Obeah

Due to the plantation economy and hierarchical structure of the British colonies, community, autonomy, and personhood were squandered to keep enslaved people subservient and docile. This includes a systemic suppression of religious and spiritual beliefs that derive from Africa, including obeah. The actual reason behind this suppression is fear of rebellion and community building. In 1760, Tacky’s Revolt in Jamaica was historically regarded as the largest slave revolt in the British colonies.  Tacky, the leader of the rebellion, claimed his ancestors were African chiefs, and the protection of Obeah gave him the protection and conviction to lead the rebellion in the first place (Olmos, Pg. 156). British and colonial lawmakers created strict laws to dissuade people from practicing Obeah.

Such laws had clauses that stated, “Any slave who shall pretend to any supernatural power, to affect the health or lives of others, or promote the purposes of rebellion shall upon conviction thereof suffer death, or such punishment as the court shall think proper to direct.” (J. Campbell 1976: 39). Because of this systemic suppression, Obeah is an individualistic spiritual practice that is often done in the privacy of one’s home or community. Olmos pens this phenomenon, “The systemic repression of African cultural expressions on the part of the British had forced these practices underground, and they had ultimately been lost, except in some pockets of religious activity like Myalism in Jamaica. . .which retain African derived rites, sacrifices, feasts, and musical traditions meant to establish spiritual contact with African gods.” Despite attempts to suppress Obeah, it is still practiced, and its practitioners still offer their services and gifts to those in their community who require it in various ways, whether legal, medical, psychological, or moral.

[obeahguide]

The Obeah Man (1964) by Ismith Khan  The second novel of Trinidadian author Ismith Khan, The Obeah Man follows Zampi, an Obeah man living in Blue Basin near Diego Martin, who is in search of his lover Zolda, who resides in La Basse, a community by a landfill in Port of Spain. Set over three days from Carnival Monday to Ash Wednesday, it is the only West Indian novel centered on an Obeah man. 

A Quality of Violence (1959) by Andrew Salkey  Written by Jamaican novelist and poet Andrew Salkey, A Quality of Violence is set in 1900 in St. Thomas-in-the-East, Jamaica, as tensions rise during one of the worst droughts in parish’s history. The drought leads to violence, impacting those like the Marshalls, a young couple with a five-year-old daughter; the childless Parkins, and Obeah man Dada Johnson and his wife. The lives of those in the parish are shaped by two opposing forces: Christianity and Pocomania. And, over time, these beliefs clash and start to blur, culminating in a collective madness more devastating than the drought. 

Hamel, the Obeah Man by Cynric R. Williams, Edited by Tim Watson & Candance Ward  Hamel, the Obeah Man, is set in early 19th century Jamaican and follows a planned slave rebellion on a plantation. Although the novel is sympathetic to white slaveholders and critical of anti-slavery missionaries, it does offer a nuanced view of the island’s culture and the resistance of the enslaved. The titular character, Hamel, is a spiritual leader, whose importance only grows as the novel continues. The Broadview Edition of this novel includes a foreword by Barbadian poet and scholar Kamau Brathwaite, as well as a critical introduction, and extensive appendices that focus on contemporary reviews, writings about Jamaica, and historical documents on slavery and slave uprisings. 

[obeahguide]

Bibliography & Further Study 

Coleman, Monica A. “Serving the Spirits: The Pan-Caribbean African-Derived Religion in Nalo Hopkinson’s ‘Brown Girl in the Ring.’” Journal of Caribbean Literatures, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009, pp. 1–13. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40986295.  

Elder, J. D., et al. “Obeah.” The Encyclopedia of Caribbean Religions: Volume 1: A-L; Volume 2: M-Z, edited by PATRICK TAYLOR et al., University of Illinois Press, 2013, pp. 642–46. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/j.ctt2tt9kw.83.  

Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert, and Margarite Fernández Olmos. Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction From Vodou and Santeria to Obeah and Espiritismo. NYU Press, 2011. 

Murrell, Nathaniel Samuel. “Obeah: Magical Art of Resistance.” Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions, Temple University Press, 2010, pp. 225-45 http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bw1hxg.15. 

Murrell, Nathaniel Samuel. “Poco, Zion, and Convince.” Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions, Temple University Press, 2010, pp. 268–85. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bw1hxg.17. 

The Early Caribbean Digital Archive, ecda.northeastern.edu/. 

“Obeah and Myal.” Vcu.edu, 2021, www.people.vcu.edu/~wchan/poco/624/harris_south/Obeah%20and%20Myal.htm.