Sunday Series: Superstitions, Part Three

Although I know witchcraft exists in some form, it was hard to find out exactly what people believe.  If someone talks too much about witchcraft, people start wondering, why do they know so much?

Some beliefs about witches in Botswana:

• They wear black.
• They gather on hilltops and sing in the middle of the night.
• Also in the middle of the night, a witch will go to the houses of her enemies to get revenge.  One way in which she does this is by poisoning any glasses of water which have been left out at a bedside or on a counter.  This could kill someone or make them seriously ill.
• Normal people can go to witches if they wish to harm someone.
• They can create a thokolosi.

Part of the reason people refrain from speaking about witches is the prevalence of Christianity.  Witches are the antithesis of Jesus here, and a large majority of the population is very devout.  To speak of a witch is beneath a “good Christian.”  You can imagine the reaction I got when I explained Wicca as a religion.

The interesting twist to witchcraft here is that traditional doctors are the only ones who can undo the spell.  An “English doctor” (as they call doctors who practice Western medicine) can treat the symptoms, but can never fully cure someone who has been harmed by a witch.

Traditional medicine will be covered in a different Sunday Series, because it’s a crucial part of life here – and, interestingly enough, a contributing factor to the HIV epidemic.  Some people consider traditional doctors better than witches, while the truly devout consider both witches and traditional doctors sacrilegious.

Despite not wanting to talk about it, I never once got a reaction that witchcraft doesn’t exist or isn’t real.  The belief is there – I’ll just have to keep digging to get some real answers.