Cock’S Rlood Or Whisky

Food For The Spirits

From Vijendra Kumar in Lautoka

THE Fiji Medical Association recently voiced its opposition to acupuncture the Chinese “cure-all” which is much in vogue in Western countries now. Prac titioners of this dubious art are to be found in Fiji but they generally lie low, fearing prosecution under the government’s laws which ban such practices as witchcraft.

Despite the law, the black art is far more prevalent in Fiji than acupuncture. The country abounds with faith healers, black magicians, exorcists and plain old charlatans.

Their services are much in demand from people of all shades and hue —a rejected lover wanting a love potion to win his beloved, a ven geance-seeking relative cut off from the family estate, a barren mother pining for a child, and hundreds of the sick and ailing whose relatives think they are pos sessed by evil spirits.

One odd thing about this “black community” is the utter lack of racial or religious prejudice. An Indian suffering from mysterious stomach ailment may consult a Fijian witchdoctor and vice versa, and a Muslim sterile woman may seek out a Hindu faith healer.

There is much jealousy and rivalry among the practitioners who vie with one another to increase their clientele. It is, after all, a highly-lucrative business.

Hapless “patients” have found to their dismay that “consultation fees” charged by these men are much higher than doctors’ fees.

And, often they find themselves in their clutches for long periods. In addition to cash, they may demand such offerings as a goat, a rooster (white-feathered preferably), a pig or some choice piece of meat, like an ox heart, as sacrifices to their “gods” or “spirits”. The tastes of some of these airy beings may range from rooster’s blood (the meat is eaten by the man’s family) to a bottle of brandy or whisky.

From my own experience, I know that a Fijian witch doctor’s attendant spirits may be won over quite cheaply—usually with a couple of pounds of yaqona kava —to perform a cure or exorcise an evil spirit. A Fijian witch doctor seldom asks for money but

would not refuse it when given.

But, Indian practitioners of the art —both Hindus and Muslims— would ask for cash either outright or with excuses to meet expenses for buying materials used in their weird ceremonies.

However. there are some genuine faith healers who are not avaricious. I cannot say for certain whether they really can effect cures. But a vast majority of them are charlatans who ap parently know a few magic tricks to convince the gullible of their occult powers. On the other hand, some people who are highly educated and have scant regard for “mumbo jumbo” have been persuaded to believe in these men.

I recently had a brief but in triguing interview with a famous Indian faith healer. He told me he had more than 20 devtas (gods in Hindu mythology) and a few Fijian spirits at his command. His wife acts as a medium through whose lips the gods speak when people go to his temple for con sultation. She often advises people with physical illness to see a medical doctor when the “god” possessing her is convinced that the patient is not possessed by evil spirits.

One of my friends recently had a lot of trouble at home. His mother, sisters and a young child were terrified by strange night mares. They often heard eerie footsteps in their house. They con sulted this particular faith healer who told him that his enemies had sent evil spirits to harass the family. He summoned his own gods and within a month, he had exorcised the evil ones from my friend’s home.

The faith healer (he does not like to be called a witch doctor) told me that he never used his powers to do evil. But, he added, there were many who would be willing to cause not only trouble but even death of other people for money. He said he himself had been approached by people several times to destroy or kill.

“I have always sent them back, not that I can’t do these things. I (Continued next page)

only believe in using my powers for the good so that my family and I myself don’t in the end suffer,” he said.

When I asked him how he had mastered the strange art, he said the Bengali witch doctors were the most powerful in India. His guru was a Bengali. He had to memorise hundreds of “ mantras” (invoca tions) and learn to summon the gods when he needed them. He said Fijian black magic was very

powerful but very few of the old witch doctors were alive now.

He sajd o[]e common way Indlan witch doctors made money was by getting a victim to call on him regularly. They told him that his enemies had a powerful witch doctor working against him and if he wanted to survive, he would have to have protection from him —and this often is very costly, Their main weapon is fear—and that is how charlatans prosper. Few would dare report them to the police—who themselves are not immune from fear of their powers.