My father's side of the family is from Nigeria. Yes, he even has an accent. We're planning on visiting Nigeria in July 2010. Why July? Hell if I know, but there it is. Assuming I don't go broke paying for braces instead.

Don't think I haven't noticed all the witchcraft stories coming out of that part of the world. I have. They are frequently posted on the Pagan boards. But I have ignored them, because they are way more complicated than people give them credit for and people get way too excited without understanding what the real issues here are. Witchcraft in Africa is a completely different animal from witchcraft in America and both are quite different from the thing that the word "witch" originally described. The word witch has been arbitrarily used by whomever felt it necessary to describe magick, particularly evil magick and only recently has it been used to describe a religion which previously would have been known simply as folk religion.

Now folk religion is alive and well in pockets in Africa though Islam and Christianity have taken over many large chunks. Nigeria has a large Islamic population, I am told, though I am only acquainted with Christians. A good portion of the population live somewhere between one of these two and their folk religion and that is where the danger lies.

You see the word "witch" in Africa describes a person who has a bad spirit inside of them which is capable of making bad things happen to other people based on the emotions of the host person. Jealousy, anger, resentment, etc all can cause the spirit within to do something bad to the target of these feelings. It's more like the idea of the "evil eye" than witchcraft as we know it.

Now once upon a time, and still in some pockets of the continent, if you suspected that your misfortunes were caused by a "witch" (that is a person infected with the above-described spirit), you would go to a "witch doctor" who was a specialist in dealing with illnesses caused by "witchcraft". The "witchdoctor" would examine the patient, do some divination, make a diagnoses and identify the "witch" if needed. The "witch" would be summoned and questioned and would either confess or not. Saying something like, "I didn't mean to, but I have been having some bad feelings toward that person." is as good a confession as any and once the "witch" confessed the "witchdoctor" would prescribe a series of purification rituals to be performed on the "witch" and on the victim, usually by the "witch". If the "witch" was willing to perform the purification rituals (whether or not he/she considered him/herself to be a witch in the first place) on the victim, the "witch" was let be thereafter, but if the "witch" refused, the only other way to break the "spell" would be to kill the "witch". Obviously most people complied. The rituals could be serious and painful, or they could simply require people to blow smoke over each other, wash each other with special herbs, sing certain songs, etc.

I think it's obvious the sociological purpose these rituals served. They created a spirit of cooperation between the "witch" and the "victim" making the person who was first accused of being responsible for the misfortune the agent of the cure, cementing relationships.

Then, along came the missionaries. Of course they condemned witchcraft. They also condemned the witch doctors as being just as bad as the witches. Now the cure is as bad as the disease, what is left to do about witches? Obviously these beliefs aren't going to just go away. The "evil eye" beliefs are still strong in Eastern Europe and they aren't going anywhere. But with the cure gone, with people who consult witch doctors being as stigmatized as the witches, what does one do about a witch problem? The Bible has the answer, of course: Thou Shalt Not Suffer a Witch to Live. Never mind that the word "witch" here originally meant "poisoner" in both literal and figurative sense which is even further removed than the way we understand it.

There is another thing that the word "witchcraft" is often used for in Africa and that has gotten alot of attention in the Pagan community because it's been declared illegal in some countries. Many people find this to be violation of our collective Pagan rights, but in most cases, I think many of those same people would be pretty horrified if they knew what this "witchcraft" entailed. Remember, in Africa "witchcraft" specifically means harmful magic. There are unions of folk healers in Africa and traditional religion remains jut that. They aren't outlawing traditional healers or faith healers or folk religion. They're outlawing harmful magical practices. Many of these practices aren't actually aimed at hurting people, but require things like body parts to perform. That is, the "witch" would be required to dig up a grave or cut a body part off of someone in order to perform the spell and there are murders that take place in Africa for the sake of harvesting parts for rituals. For example the South African Mpumalanga Witchcraft Suppression Bill of 2007 defines witchcraft as “the secret use of muti, zombies, spells, spirits, magic powers, water, mixtures, etc, by any person with the purpose of causing harm, damage, sickness to others or their property”. It's not talking about healing or religion, it's talking about harming people. (Muti is traditional medicine of the region, note it is not the "muti" that is being condemned, just the use of it to cause harm.)

Even in absence of these, there are practical reasons behind such witchcraft laws beyond the condemnation of body part harvesting Muti murders, which are covered under laws against murder and assault already, and they can serve to stem the violence against "witches" which has arisen in absence of "witchdoctors". If the law says "witchcraft" is illegal, then people can have the government deal with it, instead of forming a lynch mob. There are benefits.

There is a growing number of Western style Pagans and Witches in Africa, especially South Africa which is a very modern area in many respects, and many of these have embraced the word "witchcraft" to describe their path just like Western Pagans everywhere else. But the South African government, indeed most of Africa, does not define the words "witch" and "witchcraft" in this Western way so I have the feeling just self-identifying as a witch, without cutting off peoples' penises isn't going to get anyone arrested. But perhaps these folks should be a little more sensitive to the culture they live in and conform just a little bit rather than demand the culture conform to them. There are no laws against worshiping the Goddess and using herbal magic and the locals aren't going to lynch you for it, they just don't see that as Witchcraft.

Now that Halloween, the Day of the Dead and Samhain has passed, and yes, I celebrated all three distinctly (despite my best efforts to avoid superflous New Years' celebrations, alas.) I now have time to sit back and sift through all of the Pagan related "news". Which I put in quotes because this time of year, most news isn't really news, it's just the world taking it's annual notice of our existence and commenting on it. Some, however, might be worth noting.

The Sun Journal reported that last Friday a student was asked to remove his Samhain mask or leave Lewiston High School. The kid chose to leave and claims that his religious rights have been violated. School policy says that kids faces must be visible. Muslim students can wear head coverings, but not veils. It's a safety issue. The Principal says he asked a Pagan about the mask and was assured that it was not a required part of the religion or its tradition. It's not. In fact... this is the first I've heard of such a thing...

I guess we'll see what comes of it, eh?

On the brighter, but not Pagan at all, side, a woman from Toronto won $15.2 million in the lottery but held onto her ticket till after Halloween so that she could hand out candy without the distraction of being a big lotto winner. She gets the holiday spirit prize for this year! Awesome.

And since we've abandoned Paganism altogether, I'll wander instead into the realm of politics and refer you to the Obamas' Halloween adventures and comment also on a story from my neck of the woods where a McCain supporter denied candy to children of Obama supporters. Weirdness. I also received reports that some local funny guy was handing out Chick Tracts. Tasteless, but not the first and not the last. Can you imagine your child bringing home this? Great way to mess with a Pagan kid's head. Talk about nightmares. Some folks have no respect.

Aside from that you have the usual Oh My God Halloween is Pagan, Your Kids are in Danger and No We're NOT Evil Dammit and Check it Out the Wiccans are Doing Stuff crap you always get this time of year.

As for me... I took my son to his first dance. We grumbled about the rules, no face masks (Okay, I can see it), no fake (or real) weapons (okay that makes sense too), no cross-dressing (what???), no fake blood (what kind of Halloween party is this??). Since I couldn't convince him that cross dressing for the sake of protest against the implied discrimination of that rule, I told him I'll chaperon next year, and I'm coming as a bearded lumberjack. Yes. I am a bad influence on my child. He's looking forward to it. But Mr. Rabbit wants me to be a dental patient, because he's going to be a crazy dentist. We'll see.

After our designated trick or treat hour on Friday (yes, one hour and it wasn't even dark enough to our candles & Jack O Lanterns from the street.), I took the kids to see Murder By Poe performed by our local Theatre company. It was great. On Saturday we celebrated our Feast of the Dead followed by a bonfire. Yay! Then on Sunday I went to the women's group and we had an elaborate Wiccan Samhain ritual followed by Hot Tub Time. Yay. I'm so glad *that's* finally over. Now my tradition compels me to hold no more rituals until the lunar new year so I might get some time to relax after the whirlwind growing season. My family on the other hand, have many more requirements between then and now...

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Halloween in Witch City, Salem

For as much as we post about Salem, you'd think we were from Salem! (We're actually headquartered in Michigan) but so much goes on down there that piques our interest, especially this time of year, that we just can't help ourselves.

Bikers in costume rode from Boston to Salem last Sunday to raise money for the Muscular Distrophy Association and were rewarded at the end of the (beautiful!) ride with a "monster mash" party in Salem's Shetland Park, sponsored by Harley Davidson.

According to the Salem News, Destination Salem is considering asking the Registry of Motor Vehicles to create a license plate with Salem's iconic witch symbol on it in order to raise money for the organization to promote tourism. You can visit their website and let them know if you'd buy a fancy Salem plate, and if you'd want a witch, or one of three other Salem symbols on it. I wonder if people are going to scream like they did when South Carolina tried to offer a plate with a Christian message on it. I doubt it. For so many reasons.

On the Big Screen, and the Little One

You may recall Hallmark's sticky sweet and reasonably unoffensive film The Good Witch that came out awhile back. Well, they're doing it again. Um. Yay?

Of course that's not as notable as Nicholas Cages latest foray into annoying Pagans which probably won't be as successful as his horrific remake of the Wicker Man. Season of the Witch is the story of 14th century knights whose duty it is to deliver a girl who has been pegged as the witch responsible for the black plague to a monastery where she'll be... I dunno, purified? Burned? I guess we'll have to watch and find out. Don't worry, it can't possibly suck as bad as the Wicker Man remake...

Pagans... and the Law

19 years is a long time to spend in jail for a crime you didn't commit, just ask Joseph White, a Wiccan from Alabama who was recently released when the DNA evidence from his alleged crime was examined and guess what, it wasn't his DNA after all!

The news isn't all light though. A mother in Arkansas appealed the court's decision not to grant her custody of her child on the basis that the decision was based on her religion, Wicca. The court held to its decision however, claiming that her neglect of the child had much more to do with their decision than her choice of religion... which may have been Wicca... or it may have been Baptist... Regardless, inappropriate remarks were made by the judge in this case:

According to a trial transcript excerpted in the ruling, Vittitow said the following about Wicca: “Our final concern is [Hicks’ ] testimony regarding the WICCA religion, movement, cult or whatever that may be.”

Perhaps we will hear more about this in the future.

Accordings to the San Diego Union Tribune, an errant candle in a VooDoo shop caused a fire that destroyed the store, a nearby home and a restaurant. The only problem is, as the San Diego City Beat pointed out, the shop in question, Centro Botanico La Santisima catered to Santerians. While practitioners of Voodoo may have found some useful items there, it wasn't a Voodoo Shop.

So that begs the question, of course, what is the difference? Actually, the two traditions do have quite a bit in common. They are both synchretic new-world traditions with West African roots. They both blend West African Pagan tradition with Catholic tradition and both were developed in a slave culture. Both traditions feature rituals involving dancing, singing, sacrifice and trance. But no, they are not the same. Not by a long shot.

One major difference lies in the origin of the traditions. Santeria is an Afro-Cuban tradition which was developed in Cuba by West African (Lukumi) slaves who were brought from what is now Nigeria to work the land and were converted to Christianity by their Catholic (Spanish) captors. The Orisha, the Gods and Nature spirits of the Lukumi people associated with Catholic saints and the religion given the name Santeria, which was a derogatory term used to describe heretical worship of Catholic Saints to the exclusion of God, which is what it looked like to the Spanish observers of early Santerian religious practices. Today, many Santerians are Catholic and some groups require their members to be baptized. Some people hold seperate Catholic and Santerian celebrations while others combine them.

Within the Santerian religion there is a heirarchy of priesthood and rituals are restricted to the priesthood and initiates. Rituals begin by honoring the ancestors and then the Orishas and include drumming, dance, singing and sacrifice, often of a chicken or a tree. In the case of an animal sacrifice, the blood is offered to the Orishas and the meat may then be consumed by the group. The priest may become possessed by the spirit of an Orisha during the course of the ceremony which allows him/her to give messages to the community and perform healing.

Alternative names of this religion include La Regla de Lukumi (or Lukumi's Rule) and "The Way of the Saints".

Voodoo is a tradition that came from the beliefs of the Ewe and Fon people of West Africa (Nigeria and Ghana), blended not only with the Christianity of their largely French-speaking captors, but also with Central African Kongo tradition. It developed in Haiti and the Dominican Republic and is also found in Louisiana, though practices vary by region. Their Gods are the Lwa and they are the children of an androgynous supreme Creator. The Priesthood is hereditary in many groups with the knowledge and rituals of ancestral Gods being passed on through the generations by word of mouth.

The word Voodoo comes from the Ewe word Vodun, meaning "Spirit". Alternative names for this faith path include Sevis Lwa (Service to the Spirits) in Haiti. Louisiana or Delta Voodoo places more emphasis on Hoodoo, or the magical practices associated with the religion, than Haitian Voodoo, though both place more emphasis on folk magic than Santeria does.