Page 55 - 10th Annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival Magazine

Charles Town Maroon International Conference Magazine June 2018

Obeah, Altars & Blood Sacrifices

“The Pearl of the Caribbean” at the time of the British Obeah is often said to be not a religion, but only about
Empire, Jamaica has been left to fend for itself with the performance of various rituals which supposedly
no reparations for the centuries of enslavement of its use ‘evil spirits’ to take actions whether good or bad,
people. Therefore, poverty brings with it the problem for or against other persons. There is generally no
of widespread crime. In attempting to address this understanding of a deep spiritual belief system behind
issue, a few months ago, one government Minister Obeah but this is because it is not viewed sympathet-
declared, and later apologised, that he is not afraid to ically by western academics and commentators. As a
take whatever steps are necessary in order to fight result, in Jamaica Obeah is seen as evil and there is
crime, as his uncle is an ‘obeah man’. even a Jamaican law on the books known as the Obeah
Act of 1898.
In recent times there have been headlines in the
Jamaican news media about the involvement of HOW DID OBEAH GET ITS NAME?
alleged criminals with Obeah, Altars and Blood The debate is still ongoing as to the exact origin of the
Sacrifices in Western Jamaica. Said to be discovered word “Obeah” as, the Yoruba people have their ‘Obi’
by law enforcement, there was scant evidence to back and ‘Ebo’ rituals. The Akans have their ‘Obeye’ rituals
up these claims and no images were provided in the which were said to be accessed for good by practi-
press. tioners referred to as either ‘Obifi’ or ‘Okomfo’ and
for malevolent ends by those known as ‘Obayifo’.
Nonetheless, the purpose of this article is neither to Nonetheless the hypothesis that is most generally
agree with, nor to attempt to refute the declaration of accepted and reportedly supported by the W. E. B. Du
those findings. Instead, it is simply to provide back- Bois Institute database, traces the word ‘Obeah’ to the
ground information on practices which have long been ‘dibia’ or ‘obia’ traditions of the Igbo people.
taught to us by the colonisers, as being evil. The first
question that must then be asked is “What exactly does Thus the customary practices of the African people
being an Obeah man mean?” changed and adapted within the Caribbean and
Jamaican diaspora.
WHAT IS OBEAH?
Nathaniel Murrell in his book ‘Afro-Caribbean While ‘Obeah’ has always been present in Jamaica, it
Religions: an Introduction to their Historical, Cultural, has nonetheless remained a private practice, of little
and Sacred Traditions’ tells how he originally accepted note. However, with the influx of television programs
that: “Obeah is an evil, antisocial magic, practiced by from the Indian Subcontinent and the number of adver-
uneducated, religiously misguided or mentally tisements in Jamaican media offering the services of
imbalanced people of African origin” He said this was face readers, palm readers and tea leaf readers etc., this
out of a colonial snobbery held by the descendants of has brought a long known but deeply hidden ‘industry’
the colonisers and us, descendants of the colonised. to the forefront of public awareness.
“Obeah portended any religious beliefs or practices
among Africans that did not fit the Euro-Christian ilk”.

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