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West Indian Islands

Magic and sorcery in the West Indian Islands are wholly the preserve of the negro population, who possess special magical cults called Obeah and Vaudoux, variants of West African fetishism. The root idea of Obeahism and Vaudoux is the worship and propitiation of, the snake-god Obi-a West African word typifying the Spirit of Evil. Vaudoux or Voodoo is a form of Obeah practised in Hayti, San Domingo, and the French West Indies. Its rites are always accompanied by the sacrifice of fowls and goats, and in only too many cases by the offering up of the goat without horns "- the human sacrifice, usually a young girl or boy. The lonely groves and mountain caves where the devotees of Vaudoux enjoy the orgies of a Walpurgis night seldom give up their secrets. There are two sects of Vaudoux-the white and the red. The former, which only believes in the sacrifice of white fowls and goats, is tolerated by the laws of Hayti, and its rites are as commonly practised as those of the Catholic Church. But even the red sect, which openly stands for human sacrifice, is seldom interfered with. The authorities dare not suppress it, for their own policemen and soldiers stand in awe of the " Papaloi," and Mamaloi "-the 66 " priests and priestess of the snake-god. More than that, there have been Presidents of Hayti in recent years who believed in Vaudoux. Hippolyte was even a "Papaloi himself. He beat the black goatskin drum in the streets of the capital to call the faithful together to see him kill the sen-sel fowl. Another president, Geffard, tried to do his duty and stamp out the cult. A terrible revenge was taken upon him. His young daughter, Cora, was shot West Indian Islands dead as she knelt in prayer before the altar of a church in Port-au-Prince. To-day there is a temple of the red sect in the Haytian capital near a triumphal arch, which is inscribed with the unctuous words, "Liberty-educationprogress." Under British government Obeahism perforce takes forms less dangerous to the social order than it does in Hayti; but it is none the less a constant public peril in Jamaica and the other British West Indian Islands. It is a bitter foe of religion, education and social advancement In olden days it worked by means of wholesale poisoning, and in quite recent days there have been not a few cases of Obeahmen seeking to do murder in the old way. A favourite method of the Obeahmen, both in Jamaica and Hayti, is to mix the infinitesimal hairs of the bamboo in the food of persons who refuse to bow the knee to them. This finally sets up malignant dysentery. If the afflicted one remains contumacious, he dies; if he makes his peace with the Obeahman, and gives him a handsome present, the slow process of poisoning ceases, and he lives. In all the crises and troubles of life the negro flies to the Obeahman. If he has to appear at the Police Court he pays the Obeahman to go there also and "fix de eye" of the magistrate, so that he will be discharged. Perhaps he has been turned out of his office of deacon in the Baptist Chapel by a white minister for immorality. In that case the Obeahman will arrange for a choice collection of the most powerful spellssuch as dried lizards, fowls' bones, and graveyard earthto be placed in the minister's Bible for him to stare upon when he looks up the text of his sermon. Then, if the Obeah works properly, the erring deacon will be received back to office. Even coloured men of education and official position are often tainted with Obeahism. They often make use of it for profit and to increase their power over the ignorant negroes. The mulatto chairman of a Parochial Board-the Jamaican equivalent of our County Council-was sent to goal for practising Obeah only a few years ago. A prominent member of the Kingston City Council was the leading Obeahman in the island-the pontiff of the cult. He was so clever that the police could never catch him, although he was supposed to make over £3,000 a year by his nefarious practices. Once some detectives raided his place, but he received timely warning and fled.

A writer to the press thus describes a "red" Vaudoux ceremony: "I had seen the 'white' ritual several times in Port-au-Prince and elsewhere when at last I was permitted through the kindness of a mulatto general, to witness the 'red' rite. I was informed that only cocks and goats would be sacrificed, and that turned out to be the fact. The General conducted me to a small wood about three miles from the town of Jacmel. By the light of kerosene oil flares I saw about forty men and women gathered round a rude stone altar, on which, twined around a cocomacacque stick, was the sacred green snake. The 'Mamaloi,' a tall, evil-looking negress, was dressed in a scarlet robe, with a red turban on her head. She was dancing a sinuous dance before the altar, and droning an ancient West African chant, which the onlookers repeated. Rapidly she worked herself up to a frantic pitch of excitement, pausing now and then to take a drink from one of the rum bottles which passed freely from hand to hand. At last she picked up a glittering machete from the altar, and with her other hand seized a black cock held by a bystander. She whirled the bird round her head violently until the feathers were flying in all directions, and then severed the head from the body with one swift stroke. The tense and horrible excitement had kept the worshippers silent, but they burst into a savage yell when the priestess pressed the bleeding neck of the slaughtered fowl to her lips. Afterwards she dipped her finger in the blood and made the sign of the cross on her forehead and pressed it to the forehead of some of her disciples." 66 ود The obeah man can always be easily recognised by one who has had much to do with negroes. He has an indescribably sinister appearance. He is unwashed, ragged, often half mad, usually diseased, and almost always has an ulcerated leg. This last, indeed, is a badge of the tribe. Often he is a very old negro who knew slavery days and more than half believes in his magical pretensions. But not all are of this disreputable type. Even some of the white planters themselves do not scorn to make use of obeah, although, of course, they have no belief in it. The theft of growing crops by the negroes is one of the greatest trials of their lives. Sometimes they adorn the trees round the edge of a banana piece or orange grove with miniature coffins, old bones, bottles of dirty water, and other obeah objects; and then the negroes will not dare to enter and steal. An interesting report published in a Jamaican journal during 1908 gives particulars of an obeah case of possession or haunting as follows : " " 66 66 " am " Westcar Papyrus The prisoner then began to blow his whistle in a very funny way-a way in which he had never heard a whistle blown before. He also began to speak in an unknown tongue and to call up the ghosts. " Mr. Lake" Aren't there a lot of you people who believe that ghosts can harm and molest you ?

Witness-" No, I am not one."

Mr. Lake-" Did you not tell him that a duppy struck you on your back and you heard voices calling you?"

Witness" He told me so." Continuing, witness said he had seen all sorts of ghosts at all different times and of different kinds also. " Mr. Lake-" Of all different sexes, man and woman ?

Witness" Yes; any man who can see ghosts will know a man ghost from a woman ghost. Dem never walk straight."