The article has nothing to do with modern Wiccan religion like the one you posted, but rather accusations of traditional witchcraft as something superstitions people fear and claims of which are used to attack others (often women, the elderly, and outsiders).
Knowing little about it, I assume most accusations of witchcraft are a way of eliminating rivals, like in business or love triangles. But elderly women aren’t the demographic you’d expect to see accused. Can someone explain the reasons (cynical or ideological) why people do this?
The idea in medieval Germany is that when farm yields were low, they were looking to reduce the number of mouths to feed and post-childbearing women were deemed sufficiently 'worthless'. It also could be that during these times they were eating moldy grain they otherwise wouldn't, and the mold may have been ergot, with potent psychedelic/hallucinogenic properties (it's LSD, basically).
At the height of the witch panic, in the years 1450-1750, 0.19 witches were executed per year, per 100k people. The homicide rate in Norway, today, is 0.5 per 100k people, 1.1 in Sweden, 3.0 in Europe overall, and 22.4 in Brazil: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intention...
If you're suggesting that medieval witch-hunters may have been acting irrationally, I won't argue. Anyway, this isn't my hypothesis, it travelled around for awhile talking about supposed discoveries of ergot in soil samples. The Salem witch museum has come out against it[0]. A quote:
"When considering the question “What caused the Salem witch trials,” it is important to remember there is a danger in seeking the elusive, singular, all-encompassing explanation."
IMO a big part of it is likely the desire to 'explain'/'rationalize' misfortunes in some way, that suggests a 'solution'.
This theory is appealing to me but in some sense seems contrived to attribute to drugs the evil which already exists in people's hearts. There are plenty of "sober" societies easily capable of such madness and cruellty absent any pharmacological agents.
I don't think every aspect of culture necessarily can be traced back to a pragmatic reason. Sometimes people just act out their belief systems, regardless of whether the results are helpful or detrimental to them or their communities.
Or rather, an ideology doesn't operate in service to the individuals who hold it, but in service to itself. So rather than scratching our heads about how an older women could possibly be a rival to the baker, or the town leader, it makes more sense to look at how she might be a rival to the overall belief system of the community, especially in situations where a new belief system (e.g. Christianity) has displaced an older belief system (e.g. paganism, animism, etc).
> Over 500 of people are being held in safe houses, so-called witch camps, that are spread across the country where they fled for safety after being accused of involvement in witchcraft, according to local media.
I don't know about this news article but please note that TRT World (in this case TRT Africa) is a biased media source as it's known to be close to Turkish government and its president Erdogan. Also worth noting its parent TRT is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, stands for "Turkish Radio and Television". I would strongly discourage everyone from treating it as a reliable news source.
I don't think you are understanding the cultural context. In english "witch" brings to mind witch trials and a culture of accusation. In african and carribean witch doctor is just a job and would be better termed "voodoo". Accusing someone of being a witch would be like accusing someone of being a plumber. They're quite open about it. It's not a witch hunt if they're in the phone book.
The connotation of "Witch doctor" is different from "witch", and depends on the part of Africa under consideration.
Foe example, in West Africa, there is the phenomenon of "fetish priests" which is the equivalent of the "Witch Doctors" of southern Africa, and those priests are usually men. Their social meaning, though generally negative to many, is still quite different from the female witches who are accused and attacked.
Post an article about social, tech, or cultural innovation in Africa, get zero votes and comments.
Post another about witchcraft, war, disease, FGM... get immediate interest.
I've seen this trend for a long on here, and it seems very weird to me. It's almost as if people need articles that confirm their beliefs about how life in Africa must be like, even though they may not have ever set foot there (and do not intend to at any time)
It would be just as generically interesting to people if it were Canada or Australia. Witchcraft is a fundamentally interesting topic because it touches on deep-rooted fears and superstitions that probably evolved in humans tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago.
Why focus on criminalizing "witchcraft accusation" rather than simply focus on enforcing the already criminal associated activities (e.g., "lynching of people")?
You generally want to prevent a crowd from getting to that point. It's a bit difficult for a handful of police to stop a crowd from lynching as it's happening.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 90.4 ms ] threadWith the aid of modern medicine, the rate of cancer deaths is 158.3 per 100k per year: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics
Compared to that, witchcraft executions had a negligible impact on number of mouths to feed. Sources:
European population in year 1500: 90M - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medieval_demography#Demographi...
Executed for witchcraft in 1450-1750: 50k (upper estimate) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witch-hunt
"When considering the question “What caused the Salem witch trials,” it is important to remember there is a danger in seeking the elusive, singular, all-encompassing explanation."
IMO a big part of it is likely the desire to 'explain'/'rationalize' misfortunes in some way, that suggests a 'solution'.
[0]: https://salemwitchmuseum.com/2023/05/17/debunking-the-moldy-...
What the fuck is going on in Ghana?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRT_World
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Radio_and_Television...
They don't have a problem with actual witches though do they?
> https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-15255357
This is about killing children, and I doubt the bill here would prevent someone from accusing someone of killing a child.
> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15280776
This is about trafficking children, cutting and abusing them. All things you can accuse someone of.
> The case of 'adam' in the UK is also a good read.
Heads up to anyone that this is a disturbing read about a particularly horrible murder of a young boy.
The crimes are not being witches. The crimes are crimes regardless.
Of course it is a crime regardless but it would be dishonest to the reader to not mention the connection to witchcraft which was the impetus.
Foe example, in West Africa, there is the phenomenon of "fetish priests" which is the equivalent of the "Witch Doctors" of southern Africa, and those priests are usually men. Their social meaning, though generally negative to many, is still quite different from the female witches who are accused and attacked.
Post another about witchcraft, war, disease, FGM... get immediate interest.
I've seen this trend for a long on here, and it seems very weird to me. It's almost as if people need articles that confirm their beliefs about how life in Africa must be like, even though they may not have ever set foot there (and do not intend to at any time)