Azande witchcraft
Witchcraft among the Azande (Zande people)is evil magic used to inflict harm on an individual and is the cause of all unusual or terrible events that take place. The Azande believe it is a power that can only be passed on from a parent to their child. To the Azande, a witch uses witchcraft when he has hatred towards another person. Witchcraft can also manipulate nature to bring harm upon the victim of the witch. Oracles and witchdoctors determine whether someone is guilty of using witchcraft on another villager. More magic is then created to avenge the death and punish the one who committed the homicide.
Description
The African tribe of the Azande are largely found in the African countries of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the Northern Democratic Republic of Congo.[1] Witchcraft is present in every aspect of Zande society, and is believed to be the major cause of disease, death, and any other unfortunate events that occur.[2] It clings to a digestive organ of the body, and the only way it can be inherited is if the offspring of the witch is of the same sex. If a witch is male, then his child must be male in order to inherit witchcraft; likewise, if a witch is female, then her child must be female for witchcraft to be passed on to her child.[3] Witchcraft is a psychic power that can only be used at a short range.[3] Because of this, the Azande tend to distance themselves from their neighbors and live closer to oracles. Witchcraft can also use nature to cause injury or even death if the witch allows it. It can manipulate an animal such as a buffalo to kill someone or cause a structure such as a storage house to collapse on top of someone.[2]
Although witchcraft is the cause for any bad events that happen to anyone, the Azande do not blame it for human errors. It does not cause people to make mistakes in activities such as farming, hunting, or making crafts. Witchcraft also does not influence anyone to commit any moral crimes such as lying, cheating, or deceiving someone.[2]
A witch will not use his or her powers to hurt someone unless they dislike that person.[2] When a witch uses their witchcraft on a victim, it flows out of them and into the body of the sleeping victim to steal their soul; a group of witches will then eat the soul of the victim, working collaboratively. Killing a person is a slow process, for the witch may have to perform witchcraft several times on the person to actually accomplish it. In turn, while the witch is performing their witchcraft, the victim's relatives can prepare a plan of defense and strike back at the evil magic,[3] but before they are allowed to do this, they must seek advice from an oracle.[2]
Role of oracles
Oracles are tasked with finding those responsible of using witchcraft on an individual, and with predicting future tragedies. If someone believes witchcraft is being used to cause misfortune upon one of their relatives, they may seek the wisdom of the oracles to see if that is the case. Different methods are used by oracles to determine whether someone is using witchcraft to bring disaster upon an individual.[3]
One such method to find out if witchcraft is being used is the so-called poison oracle; this uses a vegetable poison called benge, which is fed to a chicken.[3] Whether the bird survives determines the answer. There are specific situations where a second fowl is fed the same poison to confirm the results of the first test. In order for the first test to be accepted as solid evidence, the results of the second test must be opposite of the first.[4]
Another group of oracles that the Zande can seek is the termite oracle. When a question is presented before these oracles, they take a branch from two trees. One branch is called the dakpa, another kpoyo. The oracle takes these branches and sticks them into a termite mound and waits overnight to see which branch the termites eat, which dictates the answer. The termite oracle is not as popular as the poison oracle, because it is more time-consuming.[5]
Witchdoctors
In addition to the oracles, witchdoctors can also predict disasters and reveal the witches who use their witchcraft to cause harm.[3] Although both oracles and witchdoctors have these abilities, witchdoctors are considered to be more accurate as far as pointing out witches.[6] Witchdoctors must go through extensive training before they can officially become a witchdoctor.[3] When their assistance is needed, they come together and perform a dance near the home of one who is sick or dead to locate the origin of the evil magic.[6] Normally a crowd of villagers are surrounding them during their dance, so the witchdoctors strive to perform their dance perfectly in order to impress those who are watching.[7] The power that allows witchdoctors to track down witches comes from medicinal herbs.[3]
References
- ^ Simons, Fennig, Gary F., Charles D. "Zande". Ethnologue. Retrieved April 9, 2017.
{{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|dead-url=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c d e Evans-Pritchard, E. E. (1935). "Witchcraft". Africa. 8: 417–422 – via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wagner, Günter (1937-01-01). "Witchcraft among the Azande". Journal of the Royal African Society. 36 (145): 469–476 – via JSTOR.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Sankey, Howard (2010). "Witchcraft, Relativism and the Problem of the Criterion". Erkenntnis. 72: pp. 1-16 – via JSTOR.
{{cite journal}}:|pages=has extra text (help) - ^ Evans-Pritchard, E.E. (1937). Witchcraft, Oracles, and Magic Among the Azande. pp. 352–353.
- ^ a b Forde, C. Daryll (1939). "Review: Witchcraft, Oracles, And Magic Among The Azande By E. E. Evans-Pritchard". The Journal of American Folklore. 52: pp. 135-136 – via JSTOR.
{{cite journal}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Thompson, Ethel E. "Primitive African Medical Lore and Witchcraft" (PDF). NCBI. Retrieved March 10, 2017.
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