Obeah Is Not That Scary

There is not one certain story of the origin of the religion Obeah. No historical documents record the progress of obeah across the globe and there are many conflicting opinions on the subject. The only primary sources of Obeah that modern historians have are Colonialists fear of the magic the Obeah possess. What I have wrote about seems to be the most “popular” explanation of how Obeah spread.
Obeah originated as a term used by the Igbo tribe in Nigeria. As members of the tribe were enslaved the were transported across the globe to the West Indies and other places where labor was needed, the term evolved to describe religious practices developed among enslaved Igbo West Africans. Obeah is similar to many other Afro-American religions like Haitian Vodou, Santería, and Hoodoo. Today Obeah is practiced in The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, The Virgin Islands, Caribbean nations, and by the Igbo people of Nigeria.
Obeah is oriented around charms, mysticism, and luck. Colonists became afraid of Obeah because the common belief was that the followers of Obeah were skilled in using poison. In Barbados in 1818 there was a law passed to try to suppress the Obeah by banning possession of "any poison, or any noxious or destructive substance". Contrary to modern common belief not all the people practicing Obeah were female “witches”. “(T)he Obeah men have a perfect knowledge" of the poisons as well as the females said a source from 1866.
A primary source accounts a specific Obeah man who had unusually strong powers. The man supposedly could produce a powder that would protect the wearer from the “white man’s weapons”. This type of power in the hands of a slave made many plantation owners afraid and led to many other laws passed about deportation or disposal of slaves who “notoriously used the practice of Obeah or witchcraft”.

Antoinette imagines Obeah while she is going to see Christophine.  “I was certain that hidden in the room (behind the old black press?) there was a dead man’s dried hand, white chicken feathers, a cock with its throat cut, dying slowly, slowly Drop by drop the blood was falling into a red basin and I imagined I could hear it.” Throughout my research I could not find a source that showed such violent and wild sections of Obeah and so I believe this is just a child’s imagination running wild.

Comments

  1. 羅　理愛　（スミトロ　リア）November 17, 2017 at 10:14 PM

    I also wrote about Obeah!! However, I found in my research (from Credo nbd;)) that obeah in the West Indies emphasized blood and sacrifice, closely relating to death and evil. People who practiced Obeah were seen as disgraceful people who practiced wizardry or witchcraft, and "have abilities that stem from spiritual knowledge, and their powers extend from healing to casting/undoing spells to mediating between the living and dead. They often use elements from nature, including herbs and roots, to concoct a mixture for a spell." Pretty spooky stuff to me - I'd be pretty freaked out if I were Antoinette or anyone near Christophine, so I can't say I think it's just her imagination.

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  2. Yamini YedetoreNovember 18, 2017 at 12:47 PM

    Interesting post! I haven't done my research on the history of Obeah, but it's interesting that both you and Grace found somewhat opposing information. Either way, though, I thought Obeah in the novel was very important and was a source of power of Antoinette (and Christophine). Though I don't agree with her actions of manipulating Rochester, I can understand more of why she did it and still sympathize with her.

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  3. Jack H.December 11, 2017 at 11:38 AM

    I find it interesting that Antoinette uses the magical practices of her home islands to try to seduce Rochester. It's almost like by her using Christophine's Obeah magic, she is trying to get Rochester to accept the island's culture.

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  4. blogged downDecember 18, 2017 at 7:54 PM

    This post was fascinating. I didn't know anything about Obeah besides the mentions that we got from the book so it was really great to get some of the background on it! The point that you make at the end about Antoinette's mind running wild as a kid imagining the things that Christophine is hiding. It is interesting that Antoinette knows a little about Obeah, enough to make these assumptions, but not enough to know what it would look or be like. I think this ties well back into your ideas about the rejection of Obeah. Antoinette may have heard things about the religion, but not accurate or flattering things. Very interesting post!

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