Bridgeton pioneer., 1908-07-09
THE HUMAN SACRIFICE
Part of the Rites of the West In
dian Cult of Obeah.
WORSHIP OF THE SNAKE GOD.

Dread Of the Obeahman and the Su-
perstition of the Snake Stick.
Readers of the late Sir Walter Be
SAINTS novel 1.-The World Went Very
Well Then" may remember the sinister
old medicine man. Mr. Brinjes, and the
snake stick, by means of which he COM
PEELED every negro he met to do his
bidding. If Mr.. Bdnjes were alive to-
day and living in the West Indies he
would be very great obeah mantle
prophet, priest and king OF our colored
brethren.
During five years spent In Jamaica,
Haiti and other West Indian islands ]
found that Obeah and Vaudoux-both
derivations Of the west African fetch
ism brought over generations ago In
the slave ships-are the real beliefs of
the great majority of the blacks, We
neered by Christianity or even grated
on to that faith In Jamaican village
the dirty, one eyed, diseased obeah man
has usually more power than the par
son. I saw this proved once in very
striking manner. 1t was on Sunday
morning. and the people were trooping
out of chapel with their cQlored min
lister. The local obeah man was passing
by and Knocked them. The parson
nervously attempted to rebuke him,
but he threw. his snake stick on the
ground and cried defantly:
"You no go fe b'lieve Obeah, yah!
Den pick up me stick. say him turn
into snake If you touch him"
The stick was left lying on the
ground. Not even the colored minister
dared to touch it. He had been educat-
ed in theological college, but he had
not quite outgrown the superstitions
that were inculcated in his youth.
The root idea of Obeahism and Vau-
doux is the worship and Precipitation
of the snake god Obi, west African
word typifying the spirit of evil.
Vaudoux is the more extreme form of
Obeah practiced in Haiti, Santo Domin-
go and the French West Indies. Its
rites are always accompanied by the
sacrifice of fowls and goats and in
only too many cases by the offering up
of the 'gcat without horns"-the hui
man sacrifice, usually young girl or
boy. Several cases were officially prov
ed when was in Haiti. How many
more never came to light can only be
: guessed. The lonely groves and noun
tain caves where the devotees Of Vau-
doux enjoy the orgies Of Walpurgis
night seldom give up their secrets.
There are two sects Of Vaudoux, the
white and the red. The former, which
only believes in the sacrifice of white
fowls and goats, is tolerated by the
laws Of Haiti, and its rites are as COM
But even the red sect, which openly
stands for human sacrifice, is seldom
interfered with. The authorities dare
not suppress it, for their own police
men and soldiers stand in awe Of the
"papaloi" and ''mamaloi'-the priest
and priestess Of the snake god.
More than that, there have been pres
idents of Haiti in recent years who be-
heve in Vaudoux. Hippolyte was even
"papaloi' himself. He beat the black
goatskin drum in the streets of the
capital to call the faithful together to
see him kill the sen-sel fowl. Another
president, Geffrard, tried to do his duty
and stamp out the cult. A terrible re-
venge was taken upon him. His young
daughter, Cora was shot dead as she
knelt In prayer before the altar of
church in Port au Prince. Today there
is temple of the red sect in the Hai-
tan capital, near by triumphal arch
which is inscribed with the unctuous
words, Liberty - Education = Prog
ress"
Under British government Obeahism
perforce takes forms less dangerous
to the social order than it does In
Haiti, but it is none the less con-
stant public peril in Jamaica and the
other British West Indian islands. It
Is the bitter foe Of religion, education
and social advancement In olden days
1t worked by means Of wholesale poi
soning, and in quite recent days there
have been not few cases of obeah
men seeking to do murder in the old
way.
When I lived in Jamaica, an old
villain made an offer to a black man,
whom he thought had offended, to
poison me by mixing ground glass with
my food. Unfortunately for him, the
negro gave him away, and he got
twelve months hard labor and a sound
nogging. Not long before an entire
family at Montego Bay was poisoned
by the same method. Another favorite
uick of the obeah man, both in Jamai-
ca and Haiti, is p mix the infnitesi-
NAL hairs Of the bamboo in the food Of
persons who refuse to bow the knee
to them. This finally sets up malig-
nant dysentery. If the afflicted one
remains contumacious, he dies; If he
makes his peace with the obeah man
ana gives him handsome present, the
slow process Of poisoning ceases, and
he lives.
In all crises and troubles Of life the
negro flies to the obeah man. If the
has RI OF fho l.