# Pow-wow (folk magic)

Powwow, also called Brauche, Brauchau, or Braucherei in the Pennsylvania Dutch language, is a system of folk magic originating in the culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Blending aspects of folk religion with healing charms, powwowing includes a wide range of healing rituals used primarily for treating ailments in humans and livestock, as well as securing physical and spiritual protection, and good luck in everyday affairs.
Although the term powwow is a Native American loanword into English, these ritual traditions are of European origin and were brought to colonial Pennsylvania in the transatlantic migrations of German-speaking people from Central Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. A practitioner is sometimes referred to as a powwower or Braucher, but terminology varies by region. These folk traditions continue to the present day in both rural and urban settings, and have spread across North America.

## Terminology

Powwowing is the most commonly used English language term to refer to the ritual traditions of the Pennsylvania Germans. The word powwow is a borrowing into English from Narragansett and Massachusett languages, where it meant 'Indigenous priest, shaman, healer' and ultimately derives from proto-Algonquian *pawe·wa, meaning 'he (who) dreams'. The word has been in use in English since the 1600s.
In the Pennsylvania Dutch language, these practices are known as Brauche or Braucherei and in the folk tradition they are contrasted with Hexerei ('black magic') performed by Hexer ('witches' or 'sorcerers'). For example, the powwower is typically called upon to remove a hex placed by a Hexer on someone but the division between the two can be ambiguous.
An adept is referred to as a "Powwower" or Braucher, though not all practitioners use the same terminology. The verb brauche means "to use, to employ, to make use of, to need," (brauchen or gebrauchen in modern High German) while Braucherei implies a collection of traditional ways, related to "Breiche – of customs, traditions, rituals, ceremonies."

## Origins and practices

Early colonial Pennsylvania was a melting pot of various European Christian religious influences, as William Penn's promise of religious tolerance opened the doors for many Christian sects: the Anabaptists, Quakers, Lutherans, German Reformed, Catholics, and all manner of religious mystics and free-thinkers. It is from this blending that the Pennsylvania German powwow tradition was born.
Although the majority of the Pennsylvania Dutch were Protestant, their folk religious culture was deeply rooted in practices of the pre-Reformation era, such as the veneration of the saints, the use of folk adaptations of liturgical blessings for everyday purposes, and the use of sacred objects and inscriptions for healing and protection. These practices were brought to North America, and formed the basis of both oral and literary ritual traditions in Pennsylvania. The majority of the early ritual traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch were rooted in German language, but the term "Powwow" became widely used by speakers of English by the late 18th century.
Later, at the turn of the 20th century, the term "powwow" became associated with the title of the English edition of a celebrated manual of ritual procedures, entitled Pow-Wows; or, Long Lost Friend, written by John George Hohman and first published in German as Der Lange Verborgene Freund (literally "The Long Hidden Friend") in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1820.

## Powwow literature

The origins of a majority of the charms and spells utilized by the powwow are generally agreed upon to be remnants of medieval folk charms used by superstitious Catholics against illness and witchery.
It is primarily understood by practitioners of the Powwow tradition that Powwow is an Americanized version of English "cunning craft":
   The Pow-Wow practitioner is more closely allied with theology than medicine and feels he is a mediator between the patient and God. Among the Pennsylvania Germans, the 'plain folk', such as the Amish, Dunkers, and the Mennonites, as well as among the Lutheran and German Reformed church members – Pow-Wow and the Pow-Wow doctor has a significant following.
Another characteristic practice of powwow magic is the Himmelsbrief or "heaven's letter". Significantly, The Long-Lost Friend assures its owner that:
   Whoever carries this book with him, is safe from all his enemies, visible or invisible; and whoever has this book with him cannot die without the holy corpse of Jesus Christ, nor drowned in any water, nor burn up in any fire, nor can any unjust sentence be passed upon him. So help me.

## Status and stigma

In a paper published in 2006, scholar David W. Kriebel records that his field research indicated a common perception in the region that the practice had died out and "in fact, fewer than half the people I spoke with had even heard of it". Among the powwow patients and practitioners he encountered, some expressed a fear that "others [would] label them crazy, or at a minimum, old-fashioned and 'dutchy.'" Kriebel also witnessed a "opposition to the practice by certain religious individuals who believe either that powwowing's efficacy derives from the devil or that spiritual healing should be the province of organized churches, as well as by those who believe powwowing is inconsistent with a modern, scientific worldview". Kriebel was eventually able to identify eight living individuals who continued the practice of Pennsylvania German powwow.

## In popular culture

The tradition of hex signs painted on Pennsylvania barns in some areas is believed by some to relate to this tradition; the paintings consisted of geometric star patterns thought to have talismanic properties, though many hex signs are made simply for decoration. Some scholars disagree with this claim, however, and believe the hex signs are the natural progression of German fraktur art. (need better citation for this claim)
The 1988 film Apprentice to Murder stars Donald Sutherland as "powwow" doctor John Reese, and Chad Lowe as his young apprentice Billy Kelly. Reese practices the folk magic rituals in a small Pennsylvania town whose residents believe they have fallen under a curse. The film makes use of Pow Wows or the Long Lost Friend cited above.