AYESHA ANTHONY (BA HONS) INTERIOR DESIGN MODULE NO – 1075 (PART II) INTERIOR DESIGN PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE ACADEMY OF DESIGN 04. 06. 2014
C O List N TofEContents NT
Page Chapter One
: Introduction 01
Chapter Two : Early Days Persecution
Chapter Three: The Persecution Today
02-04
05-09
Chapter Four : The social barrier 10-12
Chapter Five
: The importance of preser ving their heritage
13-15
Chapter Six
: Conclusion
16-17
Chapter Seven: Bibliography
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1
INTRODUCTION
Every human has the right of worship in what they believe. It is a matter of faith whic h defines someone’s path way to a religion. Either alone or as a community every believer has the freedom to obser ve, practice and worship. Public worship can be commonly seen almost in every major religion in the world as they believe it is more powerful than the private worship. But unfortunately some stakeholders do not get the opportunity to the both ways. The disregarded misery is the people who have faith in witc hcraft have to count on death upon their belief. Although the tragic executions of witc hes In Europe and American colonies ended in late 17th century contempory witc h hunt is still alive in most of the countries in the world. People who involve in active witc hcraft still get accused and have to pay the price with their blood. Witc h craze in Europe and colonies has always become a historical topic for most of the sociologists and never been a gate way to lift the social barrier of present witc h community. The main attempt of this project is to establish a true identification of pure witc hcraft and its aspects and restore the right of worship of witc h community inside the today’s society, a community who inherits to one of the oldest religion in the world.
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Early Days Persecution Pure witchcraft is all about respecting the nature and worshiping the mother of earth.These people believed harmony and balance in between nature and human are essential. They never believed in another divine as the nature itself became their only heaven. Aboriginals of this community were called wise people. They were mostly women in those societies whom were midwives, maids and healers and they have used various types of rituals for family protection, at child births, for prosperity and wellbeing.In this long way of witch history there have been always good and evil as in many other religions in the world. Some witches worshiped demons while others were interacting with the goddess and this eventually made a huge conflict in the witches’ world. ( DE1072 -Preposition book ) “Diabolic witchcraft is a specific, historical concept. It is the one that drove the early modern European witch hunts, and as such is justly infamous. Witchcraft, when broadly defined, is a concept which appears in nearly every human society. Witches are still persecuted in the world today, often with extreme violence” Laura Stokes Ph. D.
witch burning in early modern days
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Under the witchcraft act 1735 (9 Geo. II c. 5) practicing magic turned into a legal crime and the maximum penalty was one year of imprisonment. The ruthless persecution started way before this act against sorcery and magic in ancient Egypt and Babylonia. The accused person was simply handed over to the nature, judgment was done by few villagers according to their will. “If a man has put a spell upon another man and it is not yet justified, he upon whom the spell is laid shall go to the holy river; into the holy river shall he plunge. If the holy river overcomes him and he is drowned, the man who put the spell upon him shall take possession of his house. If the holy river declares him innocent and he remains unharmed the man who laid the spell shall be put to death. He that plunged into the river shall take possession of the house of him who laid the spell upon him.” International standard bible, Encylopedia. In fifteen century the rumors about the supernatural powers and the idea about “satan” emerged in Europe and rapidly spread it to colonial North America. At the beginning people began to criticize and refuse witchcraft by considering that it can bring misfortune such as infant deaths, diseases and agricultural issues.
Interfering some of the main religious and political aspects had made the situation worst in early modern days. With the rise of the Christianity in Europe more people began to show their disgust against witchcraft and tried to ban it by considering that it has a malevolent compact with sex and devil. They accused witches as evil sorcerers and heavily tortured all the suspects until they confess what the authority wanted to hear. Even though the word witch or anything regarded to witchcraft is unknown to the present English bible version, it can be seen in the version of King James V.
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
(Exodus 22:18) From King James Version (KJ V)
“Leviticus 20:27 A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them” (KJ V)
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”
4 The Salem witch trials were a remarkable event in witchcraft history which has written in blood of many innocent people, mostly women in Europe during February 1692 and May 1693. More than two hundred people were accused and nineteen women and one man were executed. Even though later the colony realized the persecution was wrong, this incident still pulls strings in witch community with a great fear and misery. Approximate statistics on the number of trials for witchcraft and executions in various regions of Europe in the period 1450–1750: Region
Number of trials
British Isles and North America ~5,000 Holy Roman Empire (Germany,Netherlands, Switzerland, Lorraine, Austria including Czech lands - Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia ) ~50,000
Number of executions
w i t c h
~1,500–2,000
~25,000 –30,000
Figure 02
France ~ 3,000 ~1,000 Scandinavia ~5,000 ~1,700–2,000 Eastern Europe ( Poland and Lithuania, Hungary and Russia )
~7,000
~2,000
Southern Europe ( Spain, Portugal and Italy) ~10,000 ~1,000 Total : ~80,000 ~35,000 -
William Monter : Witch trials in Continental Europe
s a l e m
Figure 03 Figure 02: map of Salem village, 1692 -law.umkc.edu Figure 03: Hand written petition _ law.umkc.edu
t r i a l s
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Persecution today
“Whether or not one believes in the existence of spirits and the effectiveness of magic, it is a fact that witchcraft exists. For millions of people this is an unpleasant reality. Vulnerable people are duped and thousands of people die each year,� By Malcolm Gaskill, PhD Even though the last execution has reported in Europe in 18th century the dark days have never eliminated from the entire world. The repeated history can be seen in many countries even today.
6 The people who had faith in witchcraft been tortured with malicious persecution over centuries. Unfortunately the witch hunt has never been a historical topic which someone can get away with. Even today thousands of people get assaulted, imprisoned, raped, abused, banned and even burned to death.
Countries such as Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Maldives South Africa and Papua New Guinea there are still legal acts and legislations to persecute who practice magic and sorcery.
Figure 04
Figure 05
Figure 04: Dini was accused of using black magic to kill her son. His friends dragged her to a pigsty, where she was tortured using bush knives and red-hot iron bars. Figure 05: Walne was accused of using sorcery to kill a young boy and hunted by her husband’s family Figure 06: Dini shows wounds she received after she was accused of using sorcery to kill her own son.
Figure 07
Figure 07: Rasta was accused of sorcery by people in her village after the death of a young man in 2003. She was set upon by a crowd at his funeral, beaten and strangled until she escaped. She lost her hand in the attack. Figure 08: Emate Sekue was accused of using sorcery to kill her husband. She survived the brutal attack that followed, but has to pay for her own treatment, as the government offers neither support programs nor shelters. http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/its-2013-and-theyreburning-witches
Figure 06
Figure 08
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“A family of five has been beheaded in Sonitpur district, north-east India, by a mob who accused them of witchcraft.” BBC News, Sunday, 19 March 2006
‘Nearly 200 women killed every year after being branded witches’ The Hindu News, July 26, 2010 Sri Lanka has never had legal barriers against witchcraft and even today people are allowed to worship any religion. But unfortunately the migrant workers specially women who work as housewives in middle east have to taste the bitterness of the reality.
“A Sri Lankan woman has been arrested on suspicion of casting a spell on a 13-year-old girl during a Saudi family’s shopping trip, and may face death in a country where convicted sorcerers are beheaded.” Daily mirror news, Thursday, 19 April 2012 Even though these crimes usually report in Asia and Africa, a low profile can be seen in developed countries.
”In Russia according to a 2008 health ministry report, the government is trying to prevent 10,000 witches from practicing magic including love spells and revenge.”
8 It is a significant fact that among these people most of the victims were widows or poor low cast people from indigenous societies. Women healers and midwives are a common target which can easily grab. In tribal communities witch hunt is a fake mask of the kingdom of masculine supremacy which can get rid of any woman as their will. They accuse that women are more superstitious and demon can easily touch their souls and compel them to do malevolent acts towards the others even to their own families and children.
Greed for lands, financial matters, jealousy, revenge and family problems are some of the other vulnerable reasons for the accusations. Since any accuser against witchcraft has got enough back up from the majority of society, they can simply prove guilty without any effort with verbal evidences. Documented and non-documented deaths can find in many rural areas specially in India and south Africa. Apart from documented cases of witch hunts, there are some cases of witch hunts that do not get reported in the police files or in the media.
This is because some of these villages where the hunts take place are in isolated areas where there are no police stations or newspaper offices. These cases have no written documentation (in the form of reports or interviews) and remain “unrecorded”. Existence of such cases can be found through the “word of mouth”. ( Chaudri, S. interviews)
Women with absentee husbands always become a target by the male domination and get violently raped and killed.
Figure10
Figure 09
9 In most of these countries accidents, illnesses, crop failures and deaths are not random incidents. In South African tribal communities when a parent dies due to a natural cause it is very likely to suspect the younger child for witchcraft and begins the criticism. These accusations mostly end up with heavy physical and mental child abuses and elders chase away these children from their houses.
Yet this brutal crime has never become a proper social issue to address or to concern about. Thousands of people suffer from the disconsolate fate and day by day more believers are getting away from their heritage. This tragedy not only can see in tribal communities but also in many developed countries. Even though the rules are less the separation is done as same as early days. Figure 13
Figure 09: Dini Korul by the grave of her son Bobby, who died from a stomach infection at the age of 22, and whose death sparked accusations she was a witch and a severe attack by fellow villagers. http://amazingstoriesaroundtheworld.blogspot.com Figure 10: These men call their gang “Dirty Dons 585” and admit to rapes and armed robberies in the Port Moresby area. They say two-thirds of their victims are women. http://www.theglobalmail.org Figure 11: The Witch Hunts of Africa _ http://akorra.com/ Figure 12: Witch-hunts: The darkness that won’t go away http://www.dailymaverick.co.za Figure 13: Children accused of being witches suffer cruel reality in Nigeria. (Courtesy of Stepping Stones) http://www.theepochtimes.com
Figure 11 Figure 12
Figure 06
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T h e
s o c i a l b a r r i e r
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“Harm none, do as you will” Chanting mantras and blood sacrifices have been accepted inside many major religions suc h as Islam and Hindu. Revengeful prayers can be done against a person who did an evil act in Hinduism and they believe the god (mother Durga) will punish them with a great pain. Various rituals are performed to fulfill many desires of both gods and prayers. The same religious acts have become a death penalty to the witc h community due to the misconception and the fear created by some historical leaders for their own personal benefits. Though the original motto of this community has never been c hanged, people seek to convert it into many different meanings in order to justify their prosecution.
“Harm none, do as you will” The meaning behind the “harm” is a matter of perception whic h someone can create unlimited views if they want to ban a spiritual belief. But what this community really believes in is that whatever they do whether it is good or evil it will always come to them in return at thrice the price. It is muc h more similar concept to the “Karma” in Theravada Buddhism, one of the theoretical religions in the world. “All living beings have actions ( Karma) as their own, their inheritance, their congenital cause, their kinsman, their refuge. It is Karma that differentiates beings into low and high states.” By Gautama Buddha, Sayings of Buddha
12 It is human nature to be afraid or simply avoid things whic h are intangible, unseen and beyond our reac h. In a world where science and tec hnology rapidly trying to overcome the human kind, it is very clear to understand why most of the people do not have faith in spiritual beliefs. When these people could not find scientific explanations to define any subject matter they simply avoid everything by convincing these things only belong to the primitive and uneducated societies in the world. And the other part of the people who believe the existence of the spiritual world and live with the fear and they try to get rid of witc hcraft by considering it as a great threat to the human being. (DE 1072-Preposition book )
“We remain vulnerable to fears that secret forces may be working against us, an ‘axis of evil’ conspiring to destroy Western civilization. We are all a little bit superstitious and people who feel under pressure or that they are being threatened tend towards persecution.”
By Malcolm Gaskill, Ph. D.
The fantasy created by media is another face whic h has wrapped around the mythical legendries and keenly distracted the realism.
Early day’s artist who has always been biased to kings and queens painted what the authorities wanted to see and brought obnoxious imaginations about witc hcraft back to life. Thousands of fictional books, films, TV series even video games have always got the influence from the misconceptions of the history and deeply concealed the myths further more into the today’s society. As the strongest way of communication in the world today media has a responsibility not only to report the incidents but also to educate people through acute information. If media can interfere into the situation before the crime happens and broadcast the entire story with follow ups to the public and impose enough pressure to the government it would have c hange the destiny of many innocent believers in the world.
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The importance of preserving their heritage
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The witc hcraft belongs to one of the oldest religion in the world. The roots appear in many historical civilizations. Israel Antiquities Authority arc haeologists excavated a 1,700-year-old curse led tablet from a Roman mansion in the City of David in Jerusalem whic h has written by a magician woman called Kyrilla. The letters are in Greek and she has invoked six gods, four Greeks, one Babylonian and an Abrasax (a religion connected to early Christianity). Text contains magic words suc h as “Iaoth” that have a Hebrew/Judaism origin. ( live science 2013) The deep history whic h has connected with many famous cultures and religions conveys the message of the durability of a ric h culture and the value of protecting witc hcraft and its believers today. It is human nature to believe in supernatural whic h cannot explain by the natural laws. A simple incident like people can sense when someone staring at them without even seen can be a clue. Edward B. Titc hener who created the version of psyc hology that described the structure of the mind, detected 90 per cent of his students who could feel the gaze of the unknown. According to the gallup sur vey 37% of Americans 28% of Canadians and 40% of Britons believe in paranormal and supernatural activities suc h as haunted houses, astrology and ability to communicate with death people. According to this survey 21% of people from the entire population of United States of America believe in witc hcraft. ( DE 1072 - Preposition book )
Figure 46
Figure 14: Ancient Magician’s Curse Tablet Discovered in Jerusalem http://www.livescience.com/40638-ancient-curse-tablet-discovered-in-jerusalem.html
15 This amount goes higher when it comes to Asia. Most of the countries in this region have rich traditional cultures with lots of spiritual beliefs and these people have faith in Eastern witchcraft. In south Asia witchcraft has combined with the existing religions among the people such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism which makes much more sense to the believers. ( DE 1072 - Preposition book) It is a fact when more people believe in supernatural, more help going to need from witchcraft through rituals, faith healers and witch doctors.
It is a clear vision that the original witches are not going to survive for longer under the unfortunate brutal fate which they suffer today and they would never able to make a relief to the people who need help in the society. The freedom of worship for nearly one third of the world population who has faith in witchcraft cannot abandon just because of the misconception of the history and the undetectable awareness of the natural fundamentals. “Witchcraft
is culturally durable, relevant, and potent - hard-wired into us all, even those who have consigned it to history’s dustbin with other relics of primitivism,” By Malcolm Gaskill, PhD
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C O N C L U S I O N
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Witchcraft inherits to one of the oldest religion in the world. The misguided long history has always been the massive obstacle to gain their possession as a community. Dark shadows still affect on these people’s day to day lives and has scattered their future. People who found guilty as a witch got heavily persecuted in early modern days and the crimes continuous even in today’s society.
1. Get killed mostly by burning or staking, 2. Driven from home or community, 3. Property taken or destroyed, 4. Beaten or physically attacked, 5. Raped, 6. Mentally and physically abused, 7. Shunned or avoided It is not only the fundamental human right of worship, even the right to live has grabbed away from a specific group of people. The time has arrived to confront against the injustice happened to these people; people who have faith in witchcraft even in such a critical situation. By allocating an equal right to witchcraft in the religious world will raise an opportunity to enlighten the heritage and pureness to the world and overcome myths and rumors in other’s minds.
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Bibliography Articles Dewaal, M. (30 May 2012). Witch-hunts: The darkness that won’t go away”. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 9 December 2013. Chandler,Jo. (February 15, 2013) It’s 2013, And They’re Burning ‘Witches’ The Global Mail. http://www.theglobalmail.org/feature/its2013-and-theyre-burning-witches/558/ Arbel, Ilil, Introduction to Witchcraft. [online] available at: http://www.pantheon.org/areas/featured/witchcraft/chapter-1.html Highfield, R. Fleming, N. (05 Sep 2006) We’re born with a belief in the supernatural, says scientist. The telegraph news,UK Whittle, C. (March / April 2004) Development of Beliefs in Paranormal and Supernatural Phenomena. Volume 28.2. http://www.csicop.org/si/ show/development_of_beliefs_in_paranormal_and_supernatural_phenomena/ Live Science staff. ( October 28, 2011) Americans’ Beliefs in Paranormal Phenomena (Infographic). http://www.livescience.com/16748-americans-beliefs-paranormal-infographic.html Dye, L. (September. 7, 2012) Supernatural More Important as We Age, Study Shows. Good Morning America. http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/religion-belief-supernatural-grow-age-older-south-africans/story?id=17173997 Kumar, Hemantha. (November 29, 2012). Articles: Role of Media in highlighting witch-hunting issues. http://aryaputras.blogspot.com PEDIATRICS. (1 April 1994) Modern witch hunt – child abuse charges. 635. Rose, D. Horne, G.(26 November 2000) Abuse witch-hunt traps innocent in a net of lies. http://www.theguardian.com AP. (June 10, 2013) Brutal witch hunts in Papua New Guinea tied to jealousy. USA Today news. Dun,D. (July 26, 2010) ‘Nearly 200 women killed every year after being branded witches’ The Hindu News. http://www.thehindu.com/news/ article533407.ece Priest,R. (April 27, 2012) Seminarians Assess the Challenge of Witchcraft Accusations. http://www.missiologymatters.com James, M.A. (31 March 2006) article on Witchcraft. International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. Hothersall, D. (2004). History of psychology. New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill. Taylor, J. William, Branches of Wiccan Beliefs. [online] available at: http://people.opposingviews.com/branches-wiccan-beliefs-7416.html http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/witchcraft-exists-everywhere-ndash-even-in-you-1927703.html Jarus, Owen. (October 23, 2013) Ancient Magician’s Curse Tablet Discovered in Jerusalem. http://www.livescience.com/40638-ancient-curse-tablet-discovered-in-jerusalem.html
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Books Cunningham, Scott. The Truth about Witchcraft Today, United States of America, Liewellyn publications. 2005 Roper, Lyndal. Witch craze: women in evil in baroque Germany, Great Britain, st Edmundsbury press ltd.2006 Gaskill, Malcolm. Witchcraft: A Very Short Introduction, New York, Oxford University press Inc. 2010 Monter, William. Witchcraft and Magic in Europe; the Period of the Witch Trials, Bloomsbury, 2002 Chaudhri, Soma.Tempest in a tea pot: analysis of contempory witch hunts in the tea plantations of Bengal, Nashville, TN. 2008 Saletore, R. N. Indian Witchcraft: A Study In Indian Occultism, New Delhi, Abhinav publications. 1981 Barry, Jonathan. Hester, Marianne. Roberts, Gareth. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief. Cambridge University Press, Mar 12, 1998 Berger, A. Helen, Voices from the Pagan Census: A National Survey of Witches and Neo-pagans in the united states. Colombia, University of South Carolina press. 2003