Salem Witches, Ibibio, and Navajo: Witchcraft Across Cultures

Introduction: Witchcraft Across Societies

Witchcraft has been a popular subject of discussion throughout many different societies and religions across the world. Many people believe in witchcraft but tend to view it as something negative and even evil. In the United States — and throughout the world — witchcraft is practiced as a Pagan and Wiccan religion. This religion, or way of life, is based on a spiritual belief system centered on living in harmony with the earth and on positive energy flow. Very little of it has to do with negative forces or bringing harm onto the earth or its people. Yet society tends to view Paganism as deeply negative, even equating it with devil worship.

This essay briefly discusses witchcraft throughout societies and history. It examines the Salem, Massachusetts witch craze; the belief in witchcraft among some of the Navajo people; and the belief and practice of witchcraft among the Ibibio people of Nigeria, Africa. Why do so many societies and cultures believe in supernatural forces, and why is such belief so often viewed negatively? How have societies reacted, and have people suffered because of opinion and hysteria? These questions are addressed throughout the essay, in the historical descriptions, the cultural evidence, and the conclusion.

The Salem Witch Trials of 1692

The witch massacres of Salem, Massachusetts occurred in the spring and summer of 1692 and remain one of the most famous documented episodes of witch hysteria in history. Accusations, trials, and executions took place from June 1692 through September 1692. Many of the accused remained in jail for months without trials, and hundreds faced accusations in total. The hysteria ended nearly as quickly as it had begun.

A close reading of the trial records makes clear that the Salem witch trials were the product of an unfortunate combination of harsh economic conditions, congregational conflict, boredom, and personal jealousy in a community governed by Puritan values. The winter of 1692 in Salem was exceptionally cold. In February of that year, a girl named Betty Parris fell strangely ill, complaining of fever and behaving in an erratic and disturbing manner. It was later speculated that her illness may have been caused by convulsive ergotism, a disease discussed in Linda Caporael's 1976 article in Science magazine.

Parris's playmates soon began displaying the same symptoms. Doctor William Griggs was unable to cure the girls and suggested that their behavior might be the result of supernatural forces. A neighbor, Mary Sibley, proposed that a form of counter-magic might be performed to cure them. From that point, hysteria spread throughout Salem. No one knows with certainty what caused the mysterious symptoms, but what is known today is that the hysteria escalated rapidly. People began claiming to see things that may not have existed, others experienced unusual physical symptoms, and women began confessing to witchcraft.

Many of the accused women were individuals whose lives were viewed unfavorably by their community. One of the first accused, for example, was Bridget Bishop — a woman nearly sixty years old who owned a local tavern where patrons drank cider ale and played shuffleboard even on the Sabbath. Her lifestyle made her an easy target in a rigidly Puritan society.

The Ibibio and Witchcraft in Nigeria

The Ibibio people of Nigeria are known for their intense belief in the supernatural — in spirits and witches who cause disorder in society. This belief system bears a notable resemblance to what occurred in Salem in 1692. Social failures and natural disasters help explain the perceived relationship between misfortune and spiritual forces. In 1963, more than two million people lived in the south-eastern part of Nigeria. Their main exports were palm oil and kernels, and the people traditionally worshipped an all-powerful deity called Abasi, who was believed to rule over the physical universe, other supernatural entities, and humankind (Offiong, 1983).

Today the Ibibio are predominantly Christian, with a small Muslim population and even fewer Pagans (Offiong, 1983). Within Ibibio society, many believe that witchcraft explains much of what happens in the world, even though witchcraft itself is widely feared. In 1978, an anti-witch craze arose in what is now Akwa Ibom State, initiated by a man named Akpan Edwong. Edwong claimed that many of the strange occurrences of the time were the result of witchcraft, and further claimed to possess supernatural powers capable of detecting witches. His crusade launched a campaign to remove suspected witches from the community.

Conclusion

Witchcraft in any form is ultimately viewed as evil or negative in most societies. Asian and Native American communities are generally permitted to hold supernatural beliefs without those beliefs being condemned by the broader world. Many outsiders may not consider such belief systems valid, but adherents are not typically shunned from society or punished for them. Paganism is more widely accepted in the United States and throughout the world within Western culture, though it is still viewed negatively in some contexts.

The Salem witch trials lasted only a few months, but the hysteria generated by a combination of unexplained illness and the accusations of Puritan housewives and children was sufficient to produce deadly consequences. When individuals or societies become convinced that witchcraft is a negative supernatural force that must be eliminated, they will go to extreme lengths to accomplish that goal — sometimes abandoning the very Christian ideals of mercy and charity they claim to uphold. In some cases, it appears to be considered acceptable to harm or destroy a person so long as the accusers believe that person was involved in witchcraft.

Throughout the past several hundred years, witchcraft has been present in many cultures. What is understood today is that something called witchcraft does exist in some form. Practitioners may not be flying through the air on broomsticks or conjuring fire, but there are people in the world who genuinely believe in magic and who use rituals and spells to try to shape outcomes in their favor. Whether this is truly harmful remains debatable, but when people decide it is evil and set out to rid the world of it, they attract followers — and when that happens, hysteria begins and life can become dangerous for many people.

Witchcraft as a religion may differ from culture to culture, but the reaction of non-believers — and those who view it as harmful — tends to follow the same pattern regardless of the era or the surrounding cultural context. Some cultures, such as those of Asia and Native America, embrace supernatural beliefs broadly; for many others, supernatural forces are simply not to be engaged with. The historical record suggests that it is not witchcraft itself but the fearful reaction to it that most reliably produces suffering.

References

Bar, A. M. (1839). Celebrated trials of all countries and remarkable cases of criminal jurisprudence. E. L. Carey & A. Hart.

Barstow, A. L. (1994). Witchcraze: A new history of the European witch hunts — our legacy of violence against women. Pandora.

Haviland, W. A., McBride, B., Prins, H. E., & Walrath, D. (2008). Spirituality, religion and the supernatural. In Cultural anthropology: The human challenge (12th ed., pp. 314–317). Cengage Learning.

Offiong, D. (1983). Social relations and witch beliefs among the Ibibio. Africa: Journal of the International African Institute, 53(3), 73–82.