O thou well skilled in curses,

Stay awhile and teach me how

To curse mine enemies.

— Shakespeare, Hamlet

A curse is a terrible thing, as it inflicts great harm on the person who is cursed, and gives great power to the one who is inflicting that curse. No wonder that guy in the quote above is asking that he be taught how to administer curses so that he can curse his enemies.

Curses are usually attributed to witches, sorcerers and warlocks from fairytales whereby the wicked witch would make her potions, wave her magic wand, chant some ancient runes and cast a spell on whomever she so desired.

But even out of the pages of fairytales, witches, sorcerers and other necromancers were feared for centuries, from medieval times until now, and the burning of the witches in Salem, Massachusetts, is chronicled in American history. They were feared because of what people thought they were capable of, and that was the ability to lay curses on others.

“She’s a witch, burn her at the stake,” was the common cry of the mob. That’s how seriously people took the notion of curses being inflicted on them. Real or imagined, curses have been in the forefront and minds of various civilisations to this day, and even if you’re a sceptic, sometimes you really have to wonder if curses really do exist.

From those little children in the stories from
Grimm’s Fairy Tales, who were turned into toads or pigs by the wicked witch of the forest, to the unfortunate person who just seems to have a spate of bad luck haunting them for years, the spectre of the curse casts a shadow over their heads.

And to make it worse, sometimes those curses don’t go away when the person dies, but are passed down from generation to generation. That’s where we’re going today, ‘Generational curses’, right after we see what these folks had to say about my spiel regarding ‘Mothers can’t be fathers’.

Tony,

Enlightening article. Bless up to all the mothers who really fathered their children in an appreciative way. To the upcoming mothers, I hope that you’ll read that article and do the proper upbringing… if that’s your only option, so as to lessen the ruinous impact on the community and society. Life can be good for everyone.

Paulette

Teerob,

Your article touches so many different issues, from mothers rising to the occasion, to the mother’s overreach. Great stuff. Regarding your footnote about Jamaicans For Justice demonstrating about the police shootings, ask them if they’re going to also demonstrate against the murderous gangs.

Mac

The idea of a curse has been around for centuries, and many people actually believe in their existence. They go by many names, from the kibosh, the hex, to our own local guzum. Yes, people have been known to put a guzum on other people, or pay their local obeahman to do it. Haiti was notorious for its voodoo rituals that are purported to cast spells on unsuspecting victims, even turning them into zombies.

Some do it out of jealousy, bad mind, to inflict bodily harm, cause ill health, or just plain wickedness and cruelty because they thought that the person was prospering too well.

“Put a curse pon har and mek har man leff har.”

Some do the opposite, and request that someone is cursed to never leave them. They usually call that a binding curse.

“Give him this oil to drink and he will never leave you; it will bind him to you.”

What is a curse though? ‘A solemn utterance intended to invoke a supernatural power to inflict harm or punishment on someone or something.’

“Double double, toil and trouble,

Fire burn and caldron bubble,

Fillet of a fenny snake,

In the caldron boil and bake,

Eye of newt and toe of frog,

Wool of bat and tongue of dog.

Adder’s fork and blind worm’s sting

For a charm of powerful trouble

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.”

That’s a part of the curse chanted by the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth after they said, “When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning or in rain. When the hurly burly is done, when the battle’s lost and won.”

Some eerie and ominous stuff there but by now you should know what a curse is made of and what it’s supposed to do. But the question has been raised when people observe certain happenings: “It seems as if the family has been cursed down the generations.” And that, my friends, is the big issue.

When persons see the crosses that affects some families they easily come to the conclusion that a generational curse exists. Either that or dem jus’ salt. But the
Bible does say that the sins of the father are passed down to the children, so to believe that sins are also passed down from generation to generation, the generational curse is not that far-fetched.

If you notice, some families may have a similar vein of negative occurrences that always seem to affect them. One is early teenage pregnancy. Every generation of young girls in the family gets pregnant from an early age. Grandma had her first child at age 15, that daughter had hers at the same age, and that daughter also had her baby at the same age.

“My word, is like di whole a dem curse — breed from dem is likkle pickney.”

Still, some may not call it a curse, as the babies may be most welcome, but others may see it quite differently as the men don’t usually stick around after, leaving them in the lurch to mind the children all by themselves. That can prove to be quite a hardship, hence the perception of being cursed.

And speaking of women being left and not being able to hold a man, that too is often seen to be a generational curse. Some women meet a man, settle down, get married and life goes on. For others though, it’s a roller coaster and revolving door of countless men traipsing in and out of their lives as they simply cannot seem to hold on to even one man.

“Is how Miss Maisy salt suh? Five daughter and not even one a dem married.”

When it affects one woman it’s happenstance or luck of the draw, but when it affects almost all of the women in the same family it defies all laws of probability or coincidence, and the shadow of a curse looms large.

“Five daughters, all of dem pretty, yet all a dem married and divorce multiple times.”

Is that a coincidence, or a generational curse? The old timers may have the answer.

The men do not escape this generational curse. In fact, as I pointed out, it’s the men who were mentioned in the Bible: “The Lord visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” — Numbers 14:18

At least that puts a cap on the fourth generation, so it won’t last until eternity. One verse also mentions, “the sins of the father unto the sons”. If you speak with some sociologists or policemen who are active in many crime scenes, they will tell you that many generations are cursed with the sins of the fathers being passed down to the sons.

“His father was shot and killed, as was his father before him, and now so is he; cursed to the bitter end.”

Some may say that it’s a societal problem, nature versus nurture why some generations of young men end up the same way. Others will insist that it’s a generational curse.

Who are we to say who is right or who is wrong? The reality is, some families just seem to be afflicted by some sort of curse that never seems to go away. There are mothers who have lost four sons to gun violence; there are young women who get pregnant from age 15, as their mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers before them.

Then there are young women of the same family who just can’t seem to get pregnant no matter how hard they try.

“Five daughter she have, and not one a dem can breed. What a curse.”

Are those biological, physiological, psychological factors, or just plain old-time generational curses?

How come some men are always cheated on by their women, just as their fathers were, and no matter how many different women they choose, they always end up getting bun?

How come some women always have bad luck with men, and when you hear them speak it’s always the man’s fault why the relationship crashed and burned?

“Bwoy, she nuh have nuh luck wid man eh, just like har mother.”

Is it really bad luck, or a generational curse? For when you investigate, the mothers suffered the same fate.

But in the same way that there are curses, there are also blessings, and I firmly believe in generational blessings.

“It is both a blessing and a curse to feel everything so deeply.”

“Every blessing ignored becomes a curse.” — Paulo Goelho

And most importantly, be careful who you curse, for what goes around often comes around.

“You will never understand the damage you did to someone until the same thing is done to you. That’s why I’m here.” So said Karma. Yes, Karma is real.

So generational curses do exist, but so do generational blessings.

More time.

seido1yard@gmail.com

Footnote: It’s such a challenge trying to preserve our history, especially in the field of art and drama. So many of our artistic icons pass on without anything being chronicled about them. I recently produced a documentary on Oliver Samuels which I hope is a fitting tribute to this national treasure. I know that it’ll stand the test of time. I’m currently working on a documentary about the legendary Alma MockYen who contributed so much to radio, television, drama and dance to our country. Alma is almost 97 years old now. But these projects need financing and I’m unable to complete Alma’s documentary without proper funding. We need to preserve the memory of our heroes. Just sharing my challenge and frustration.