Obeah was a significant cultural and religious practice in the British Caribbean. Often associated with witchcraft by European observers, Obeah has been a source of both spiritual guidance and fear that connected African practice and belief to an American environ.
With roots in West African spiritual traditions, Obeah represents a syncretic belief system that emerged during the transatlantic slave trade, combining elements of various African religious practices, including those of the Akan, Igbo, and Yoruba peoples, among others. Enslaved Africans preserved these practices through the Middle Passage where once in the Caribbean, Obeah practitioners, known as Obeahmen or Obeahwomen, became revered as spiritual leaders within the enslaved communities in Barbados, Antigua, Bermuda, Jamaica, and others. It was believed that these practitioners possessed the knowledge and skills to communicate with the spirit world to provide healing or offer protection against malevolent forces or physical harm.
Obeah's practices include various rituals, herbal remedies, and spiritual ceremonies, often tailored to address specific needs, like healing, providing protection, or casting spells. Healing was accomplished by Obeahmen and Obeahwomen through the use of spirits and herbology. Because of its association with alternative spiritual practices and its perceived deviation from Christian beliefs, Obeah was often demonized and criminalized by colonial authorities as a form of witchcraft.
Throughout the Caribbean's history, Obeah has also been linked with resistance and empowerment. Enslaved people often turned to Obeah for protection against the oppression inherent in the institution of slavery, utilizing its spiritual powers to resist exploitation and subjugation. Indeed, a variety of poisoning conspiracies were often blamed on Obeah practice. Physical resistance was also blamed on Obeah. For example, an Obeahman was thought to be influential in Tackey's Revolt. Indeed, some enslaved people believed spiritual forces allowed Tackey to be impervious to bullets.
Obeah's role in the Caribbean's social and political landscape has extended beyond spiritual realms, influencing various cultural expressions, including music, literature, and visual arts. In contemporary Caribbean society, Obeah continues to hold a significant place in local cultural practices and belief systems, with some communities embracing it as an integral part of their spiritual heritage while others approach it with caution due to its historical marginalization and negative connotations.
"...they believe a Resurrection, and that they shall go into their own Country again, and have their youth renewed. And lodging this opinion in their hearts, they make it an ordinary practice, upon any great fright, or threatening of their Masters, to hang themselves."
" ...the Oby Negroes or conjurors are the leaders, to whom they often receive charms to make them successful in any villanies, and too often deadly doses to dispatch out of the world such masters or other persons as they have conceived a dislike of..."
"...these priests administered a powder, which, being rubbed on their bodies, was to make them invulnerable: they persuaded them into a belief, that Tacky, their generalissimo in the woods, could not possibly be hurt by the white men, for that he caught all the bullets fired at him in his hand, and hurled them back with destruction to his foes."
"...I feel no Difficulty in distinguishing these Obeah-men as a Set of People who, being better acquainted with the Qualities of Herbs, and having a more perfect Knowledge of the Nature of Simples, than the rest of the Negroes, improve that Advantage to acquire an Awe and a Superiority over them..."
"...operate on the Passions and Credulity of weak and superstitious Minds, not exactly similar to Animal Magnetism, but as ridiculous, and perhaps as difficult to be described. Indeed they take care to keep secret their supposed Art, particularly from the Whites."
" From their Skill in Simples, and the Virtues of Plants, they sometimes operate extraordinary Cures in Diseases which have baffled the Skill of regular Practitioners, and more especially in foul Sores and Ulcers. I have myself made use of their Skill for the last with great Success."
"...the professors of Obi are, and always were, natives of Africa , and none other; and they have brought the science with them from thence to Jamaica, where it is so universally practised, that we believe there are few of the large estates possessing native Africans, which have not one or more of them."
"...Slave who shall pretend to any Supernatural Power, and be detected in making use of any Blood, Feathers, Parrots Beaks, Dogs Teeth...or any other Materials relative to the Practice of Obeah or Witchcraft in order to delude and impose on the Minds of others shall upon Conviction...suffer death or Transportation..."
"July 14, 1772. Sarah, for having in her possession cats’ teeth, cats’ claws, cats’ jaws, hair, beads, knotted cords, and other materials, relative to the practice of obeah, to delude and impose on the minds of the negroes. Sentenced to be transported."
"Obi, for the purposes of bewitching people, or consuming them by lingering illness, is made of grave dirt, hair, teeth of sharks, and other animals, blood, feathers, egg-shells, images in wax, the hearts of birds, liver of mice, and some potent roots, weeds, and bushes..."
"I found Sandy an old adviser. He was not only a religious man, but he professed to believe in a system for which I have no name. He was a genuine African, and had inherited some of the so called magical powers, said to be possessed by African and eastern nations."
"One of these conjurers, for a small sum agreed to teach me to make any girl love me that I wished. After I had paid him, he told me to get a bull frog, and take a certain bone out of the frog, dry it, and when I got a chance I must step up to any girl whom I wished to make love me..."
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