Witchcraft in Mexico By Alexa De Leon Velasco REL 113-02 Dr. Singh. This paper examines witchcraft in Mexico. With respect to this topic, I ask the following questions: How was witchcraft viewed differently in Mexico in comparison to other beliefs about witchcraft? What is the history of witchcraft in Mexico and how did religion influence the practice? How has the idea of witchcraft been implemented into modern culture in Mexico? Based on my research, in response to these inquiries, I argue that the history of witchcraft in Mexico evolved in a different way than most other places such as Europe or the U.S. since witchcraft in Mexico was not as heavily persecuted by the conquistadors, so as witchcraft evolved the Mexican culture as well as Catholicism blended with each other creating a unique culture, which eventually inspired many legends and myths all around Mexico that deal with …show more content…
Background Mexico is a country that is known for its rich and diverse culture, which allows practices like witchcraft to hold a huge presence within Mexican culture, blending indigenous traditions with colonial influences. From the magical practices of the Aztecs to the Spanish Catholic rituals. Mexico has a diverse range of magical beliefs and practices. Today, witchcraft remains ingrained in everyday life, with curanderos (healers) and brujos (witches) offering their services for various things such as spiritual guidance, and protection. Witchcraft or Brujera in Mexico evolved in a different way than how it was handled in many countries of Europe due to the unique cultural and historical contexts of the region. In Mexico, witchcraft, or brujera, is blended with indigenous traditions, Catholicism, and African spiritual practices brought by enslaved Africans during colonial times. This blend resulted in a distinct form of witchcraft that uses elements such as
... A few photos of Tenochtitlan and warriors headdresses, clubs and obsidian blades would increase the pleasure 10 fold. Also in places the author tends to divert to other Ameriindian cultures and use their ritual practices as examples. These comparisons can bring the ritual practices of a 500 year extant culture into modern day belief.
Witchcraft was relentlessly thought as the work of the devil with only sinful and immoral intentions. Julio Caro Baroja explains in his book on Basque witchcraft that women who were out casted from society and unable to fulfill their womanly duties became witches as a way to compensate for her failed life. They were thought to be a threat to society as they dwindled in evil magic. This misunderstanding may have originated from the literary works of Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger, in their published book, “Malleus Maleficarum”. Accusations of being adulterous, liars and dealing with the devil materialized because of the...
The book begins with a brief history of the colonial witchcraft. Each Chapter is structured with an orientation, presentation of evidence, and her conclusion. A good example of her structure is in chapter two on the demographics of witchcraft; here she summarizes the importance of age and marital status in witchcraft accusations. Following this she provides a good transition into chapter three in the final sentence of chapter two, “A closer look of the material conditions and behavior of acc...
Witchcraft had always fascinated many people and been a very controversial topic in North America during (seventeenth) 17th century. Many People believe that witchcraft implies the ability to injure or using supernatural power to harm others. People believed that a witch represents dark side of female present and were more likely to embrace witchcraft than men. There are still real witches among us in the Utah whom believe that witchcraft is the oldest religion dealing with the occult. However the popular conception of a witch has not changed at least since the seventeenth century; they still caused panic, fear and variety of other emotions in people…………………….
In all of human history, people have written about inhuman beings, many of which include gods, demons, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, and witches. Nowadays mystical beings are seen everywhere in media. Most of society stopped believing in these creatures years ago, but for 17th-century Salem, witchcraft became a living nightmare (Fremon, 1999).
1 Nachman Ben-Yehuda The European Witch Craze of the 14th to 17th Centuries: A Sociologist’s Perspective. The University of Chicago, 1980. 15. 2 Levack! 123.3 Levack 164.
In this essay I will discuss the role of gender in witchcraft and why the majority of people executed as witches were women. There have been various explanations by different historians for why the majority of witches accused were women. One of the first models concerning Witchcraft and gender to be produced was the ‘Witch-cult‘ idea. This theory was devised by Margaret Murray in the early 20th century and revolved around the idea of Witchcraft being an actual pre-Christian religion. This pagan woman-based religion centred around ‘The Horned God’ who from the Christian point of view was Satan.
Witchcraft is said to be the most widespread cultural phenomenon in existence today and throughout history. Even those who shun the ideas of witchcraft cannot discount the similarities in stories from all corners of the globe. Witchcraft and its ideas have spread across racial, religious, and language barriers from Asia to Africa to America. Primitive people from different areas in the world have shockingly similar accounts of witchcraft occurrences. In most cases the strange parallels cannot be explained and one is only left to assume that the tales hold some truth. Anthropologists say that many common elements about witchcraft are shared by different cultures in the world. Among these common elements are the physical characteristics and the activities of supposed witches. I will go on to highlight some of the witch characteristic parallels found in printed accounts from different parts of the world and their comparisons to some famous fairytales.
Medina states, “Moreover, Beatriz Gonzalez, bending to the will of the prosecutor, went about dealing with Indian witches, striving to kill me or make me lose my mind…To this effect, about ten days ago Joana de Tapia…brought some powders to my wife” (Abercrombie 63). Along with being an adulterous woman, Gonzalez is also accused of attempting to use witchcraft to kill her husband. The story is that she was planning on using a certain white powder to kill Medina, as testified by Maria as well (Abercrombie 69). Some women in Latin America took up the art of witchcraft, which to many of them was simply a way of helping people through the use of certain herbs. Women, such as Ana Maria who felt she was deeply religious, practiced such arts yet lived normal lives and participated in regular society (Silverblatt 167-74). But because witchcraft was out of the norm, thus disrupting order, and being used to unite women, the Church demonized their acts (Silverblatt 179). Sorcery was then added to the list of many things that were not appropriate for women to do. If Medina wanted to make Gonzalez appear more threatening, adding witchcraft to the mix would be perfect to create a monster out of who Beatriz Gonzalez was. A sexual affair along with accusations of attempted use of witchcraft would eliminate any likelihood of her being a truly good woman in the eyes of the
Sidky, H. Witchcraft, lycanthropy, drugs, and disease: an anthropological study of the European witch-hunts. New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc., 1997.
Witchcraft, Magic and Rationality. Social Anthropology seeks to gauge an understanding of cultures and practices, whether they are foreign or native. This is achieved through the study of language, education, customs, marriage, kinship, hierarchy and of course belief and value systems. Rationality is a key concept in this process as it affects the anthropologist’s interpretation of the studied group’s way of life: what s/he deems as rational or plausible practice. Witchcraft and magic pose problems for many anthropologists, as its supernatural nature is perhaps conflicting to the common Western notions of rationality, mainly deemed superior.
Witchcraft persecution peaked in intensity between 1560 and 1630 however the large scale witch hysteria began in the 14th century, at the end of the Middle Ages and were most intense during the Renaissance and continued until the 18th century, an era often referred to as the Enlightenment or Age of Reason. Representation of witches, nay, representation in general is a political issue. Without the power ot define the female voice and participate in decisions that affect women -similar to other marginalised groups in society- will be subject to the definitions and decisions of those in power. In this context, the power base lay with men. It can be said that the oppression of women may not have been deliberate, it is merely a common sense approach to the natural order of things: women have babies, women are weak, women are dispensable. However the natural order of things, the social constructs reflect the enduring success of patriarchal ideology. As such, ideology is a powerful source of inequality as well as a rationalisation of it. This essay will examine the nature of witchcraft and why it was threatening to Christianity.
In Crime and Punishment, by Fyodor Dostoevsky, the character of Marmeladov is described as a poor alcoholic who had once had a respectable status in society. Marmeladov is first seen in a tavern, and he reveals that he is the principal reason why his family is in immense poverty, and his daughter has prostituted herself to support the family. He is eventually trampled by a carriage while drunk and dies. Through the incompetence of Marmeladov, Dostoevsky suggests that he is a sinner and is hurting his family, due to his crippling addiction to drinking alcohol.
I. INTRODUCTION The Enlightenment and the emerging of modern rationalism have paved the way to a worldview where the suspicion of witchcraft is not needed to explain the mysterious phenomena of this world. This is not the case in Africa. The belief in the existence of witches, evil persons who are able to harm others by using mystical powers, is part of the common cultural knowledge. Samuel Waje Kunhiyop states, “Almost all African societies believe in witchcraft in one form or another.
III. Smithson, Jayne. “Magic, Witchcraft, and Religion.” Class lectures. Anthropology 120. Diablo Valley College, San Ramon 2004.