Peter Espeut | Keep us free from evil powers

“Keep us free from evil powers” (Jamaica National Anthem).

Jamaica is a country with strong and pervasive religious beliefs about the connection between the material world and the spirit world. This worldview is a synthesis of Judeo-Christian ideas brought to Jamaica by European missionaries, melded with vintage religious ideas enslaved Africans brought with them. This Jamaican synthesis is different from the originating European and African worldviews.

We Jamaicans believe in human spirits wandering about after death, needing to be placated (hence set-ups, nine-nights, and funerals are well attended in fear of spiritual retribution); the Christian tradition of invoking the dearly departed to ‘Rest in Peace’ (RIP) reinforces this view.

Many Jamaicans believe that the spirits of the dead can be employed to bring about desired outcomes in this world, whether for good or ill. Necromancy is not just of African origin, but is found in many cultures. Europeans consulted witches to “put a hex” on people, while in our culture, the Obeahman or Obeahwoman may be consulted for the same purpose.

Witchcraft by whites was a pressing issue during the early colonization of the United States (c.f. the Salem Witch Trials).

In Jamaica, Obeahmen supported resistance to the slave system by preparing insurrectionists for war; the Obeahman would first administer an oath binding adherents never to reveal the identity of the insurgents or the plans of the rebellion under pain of an agonizing death; then would be administered concoctions alleged to give protection from the white man’s weapons.

The major slave rebellion of 1760 led by the Ga chieftain Tacky was underpinned by the ministrations of Obeahmen who convinced the participants that they would be made invincible by their charms and potions. Those claims were proven to be unreal and without merit, yet after Tacky’s Rebellion, the practice of Obeah in Jamaica was outlawed by statute under penalty of death or transportation (which gave Obeah too much credibility).

GREW STRONGER

The practice of another African religious tradition – Myal – grew stronger in Jamaica after the failure of Obeah in 1760. Myalists believe that all misfortune – including illness – stems from malicious forces embedded in the spirits of the dead. What Myal-Men (and women) do is “identify the spirit causing the problems” (Monica Schuler 1979) and perform the appropriate healing ritual to exorcise them and to prevent recurrence.

The Obeah Act of 1760 also made Myal illegal, despite the fact that Jamaicans employed Myal to negate Obeah. In the ensuing decades, Myalists went on an anti-Obeah campaign, claiming to literally unearth “Obeah” buried on various estates, set for the malicious purpose of causing economic decline and premature death. This historical fact attested by many sources gives the lie to the claim that Obeah was seen by Jamaican-Africans as a neutral or protective phenomenon, and that its negative character was the invention of white racist society.

It is interesting to note that, as a result of the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, in 1736 the British parliament passed an Act repealing their laws against witchcraft, but imposing fines or imprisonment on people who claimed to be able to use magical powers; belief in witchcraft in the UK, however, did not disappear.

Obeah has persisted in Jamaica despite the ministrations of Myalists and several anti-Obeah Acts (1833, 1854, 1857, 1892, 1898). In fact, it may be as strong as ever! Jamaica’s Obeah Act of 1898 (still in force) protects Jamaicans from being exploited by spiritualist charlatans.

Jamaican social anthropologist Fernando Henriques (1916-1976) wrote in 1957: “In contemporary Jamaica Obeah is an island-wide manifestation. In some areas it is notoriously more active than elsewhere, … But it is impossible to go anywhere in the Island without finding that the great majority of people either consult Obeahmen, for one reason or another, or are aware of their activities. It is not by any means confined to ignorant peas¬ants and workers”.

The practice in Jamaica has evolved through the introduction of the ideas of white American occultist Lauron William deLaurence (1868-1938). Anthropologist W.F. Elkins wrote in 1986 that deLaurence “significantly influenced the development of the new type of obeah in Jamaica. Methods of magic gleaned from his publications were to supplant traditional procedures”.

GROSS OVERSIMPLIFICATION

It is a gross oversimplification to claim that in Jamaica the criminalisation of Obeah is antipathy to African religious ideas.

Secularism has so far advanced in Jamaica that they are many who do not believe in “evil powers” – demons, wandering malevolent spirits, and the devil himself! Those of us who – from time to time – are involved in exorcisms know differently, and have gruesome stories to tell. (That is for another time and place).

Many who claim to support “Freedom of Religion” are themselves unbelievers, and lump all religions in the same category – as irrational superstitions to be tolerated in the name of liberalism. Are they arguing that all religions are to be deemed of equal value (or lack thereof), and must be decriminalized?

I would imagine that the Montego-Bay-based “Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries” of the late Rev. Kevin Smith qualifies to be defended by those who uncritically advocate for unlimited “Freedom of Religion”. If Smith’s followers freely consent as adults to be sacrificed in a religious ritual, it would be a breach of their constitutional rights to charge Kevin Smith for murder, would it not?. “Religion is religion”, I hear them claim. I am sorry Kevin Smith died before he could be tried in a Jamaican court; I would love to hear the tappanaris constitutional lawyers argue in his defence.

“Freedom of Religion” permits the religion of atheism, which has its own dogmas and creeds, and requires faith in its unprovable claims (not even science can disprove the existence of God); no argument there!

But evil is a reality, and must not be given the support of law.

Let us continue to sing: “Keep us free from evil powers”.

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com