SEVERAL weeks after I was coaxed and convinced to start writing articles for submission to the then Chat! magazine; I did an article about obeah. Due to recent alleged activities occurring during the Manatt fiasco, I’m drawn back to my early roots as a writer to examine just how much obeah and its workings still seem to play a part in modern life.

For my readers who live so far uptown that they have literally started living under a rock and have never heard of obeah or ‘science’, then this column might be a tad advanced for you. However, there are others who either know first hand, or have heard tales of lore passed down from generation to generation.

Call it what you will: Voodoo, magic, myth or obeah; they all come from the same school of thought that thrives on the fear of the unknown. America has its Boogie Man that lives in closets and under beds whilst we have our Black Heart Man, who incidentally is the same person operating with dual citizenship and using an assumed name when travelling.

In modern-day Jamaica where everyone has access to cable and the Internet, I am still surprised that we still believe in the perceived power of obeah. As an emcee, I have witnessed dancehall recording artistes a rail up and gwaan bad on stage and one foot of them shoes get dragged off and parchment paper with other artiste name drop out of it! You have some artistes who won’t leave the island unless they get a ‘bath’ from their personal obeah man. I would state names, but they would all deny it, so what would be the point. These artistes do a lot of things and deny it, but that’s another story for another Friday. Between me and you though, a nuh them one neither. Some politicians do it to win back their seat; you would be surprised to see how them wrap head and a listen keen to “reader man” like him is the Speaker in Parliament. Many street vendors engage in it, in the hope that their goods will sell more than their competitor’s. Don’t tell me you’ve never wondered why they wash their stall area so thoroughly. Some women with suspected ‘wild’ partners pay a visit to the local drugstore, not pharmacy, and obtain phallic candles onto which they inscribe the man’s name and burn in an attempt to stop that dog from straying through the neighbourhood. Why not just find a faithful man?

The first time I saw one I was at a dance in West Kingston and thought it was a sex toy only to be given the correct application and almost died of laughter.

What allegedly happened at Manatt with the lady in the yellow and the mysterious envelopes of brown powder would come as no surprise to any Jamaican lawyer worth his/her salt. Persons going to court will pass you reeking of spicy or overbearingly sweet fragrances applied so strongly that your sinuses would go crazy. Lawyers have had envelopes with crushed bones, powders and documents scented with oils delivered to their offices on almost a daily basis. The occasional bull frog with a padlock on his mouth can be seen in and around some courthouses in an attempt to silence witnesses. Speaking of bullfrogs, I myself have dabbled in the art, albeit unknowingly, when I was a child. When I was about eight-years-old, I lived in a tenement yard and the boys in the yard had a frog which they would use to terrorise all the girls in said yard. My best friend and I, as the tom boys of the group, decided that enough was enough and kidnapped the frog from the “frog keeper”, who was a sound sleeper. With much success we put the frog in an empty fowl coop in my madda section a the yard and held a victory dance. Even though we were still a little afraid, Kermit became our pet. We dressed him up in an old doll’s hat and tied a red ribbon around his neck. Now, you know how pickney stay, after couple days we got bored with that and moved on to the next “new” thing.

Several months later whilst assisting my madda with the laundry, one of our neighbors approached her by the fence, to talk. Now you know the rules: Adults talking, children get to walking, but true me faas from long time and dry-eye, me walk away slowly so me can ketch the suss. So, I overheard her say that ‘them’ obeah her! My steps got shorter and slower. This woman who used to be as big as a self-contained apartment was now looking stressed out, lost about 100 lbs and had a cloth tied around her foot. She went on to say that she was sure it was obeah, because ‘them’ set frog in her house with a red ribbon round him neck. Lickle most me have heart attack. Me run and bawl and go hide under the cellar, thinking that my friends and I had obeahed the neighbour, an innocent woman who had done us no wrong. I was traumatised for weeks, I even stopped eating. My mother insisted I tell her what was wrong, she promised that she wouldn’t beat me so I confessed my evil deed. My madda laughed until she passed gas! After she finally calmed down she assured me that Kermit and I were incapable of such great feats. My madda says, and I believe, obeah is just fear feeding on fear and once you have strong faith in God you have no business believing in such things. True words mama dear, but my Christian co-worker go balm yard very regular and she says, ‘God help those who help themselves!’ If I laugh my spleen scratch me. Me a leave oonu with that till next week.

elvachatalot@yahoo.com