The Maori of New Zealand had
schools that offered a rigorous training in magic. Most of the graduates used
their magic for such purposes as assuring the success of voyages, protecting
property, and curing sickness, but some would, for a fee, work magic to produce
misfortune or death to an enemy of the client.
In the Nilgiri Hills of southern India one of the most
primitive tribes, the Kurumba, was noted for its powers of witchcraft, and
members of other tribes in the area employed Kurumba witches to wreak vengeance
on their enemies.
In Africa, where witchcraft is
widespread, the Lovedu (Lobedu) distinguish not only between good magicians and
evil magicians or witches, but between day and night witches. The day witches,
although they cause sickness and death, are not mysterious, for they use the
herbs and drugs known to respectable medical practitioners of the tribe.
Although they poison their victims, it is possible for a regular medicine man to
identify the poison and supply an antidote. The night witches are mysterious in
their procedure, and so are infinitely more terrifying. They are believed to
have powers to ride invisibly through the air. They can cause disease,
barrenness, and unproductive fields, among other calamities, and are
particularly feared because no one knows how they operate. If witchcraft is
suspected, a witch doctor is called in to divine the cause and set up counter magic. The day witches of the
Lovedu operate knowingly. It is less
certain that night witches exist except in the minds of the people who fear
them.
In Europe witchcraft has a long history. Early Greek literature refers to witchcraft. Best known is the legend of Circe, who had the power to transform men to beasts. The Goetae (go!tes), who voiced their incantations with wild shrieks and howls, were feared for their malevolent powers and sold love philters and poisons for money. Hecate, goddess of sorcery and witchcraft, haunted crossroads and graveyards and wandered by night, when dogs warned of her approach by barking. The English writer Montague Summers has suggested that the go!tes and Hecate represent an indigenous religion partially displaced by more fashionable cults imported from the Middle East and elsewhere. In western Europe also witchcraft probably represents a survival of the pre-Christian religion of the area. The archaeologist Margaret Murray theorized that the Satan of the European witch cult is related to the horned god pictured in cave paintings and rock carvings found in late prehistoric sites all the way from Spain to Russia. There is historic evidence that pagan religious rites were little affected by the Romans and were often practiced in Roman temples in Britain and Gaul. When Christianity was introduced into western Europe, many pre-Christian rites became associated with Christian ritual. As late as the 17th century it was said in France that “the greater part of the priests are witches.” During the early centuries the church was tolerant of the popular religion, but by the 14th century it was sufficiently established to try to stamp out the pagan cults that flourished beside or even within the church.
Even
on the island of Mauritius (in the Indian Ocean), witchcraft is practiced.
Everyone there seems to have a little knowledge of the matter. But witchcraft is
often associated with superstitions and it is the “longaniste” who is the
master of all these knowledge.
The
“longaniste’s” services are widely asked for the evil eye, which symptoms
are the same as stress.