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XVII. Akan (Dialect of ɔkwawu)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2012

Extract

Witches are spirits which can change themselves into the forms of many things, e.g. quadrupeds, snakes, and trees. A witch in action can be seen as a glowing lantern which at intervals sparks like a burning fire. A witch glows from midnight until early morning. A witch can glow on a tree on the edge of a town or even on a shady tree in the street of a town.

The art is not confined solely to women, but men also can practice it and such a man is called a wizard; and if two such wizards live in a town they can ruin this town, therefore wizards generally inhabit a town singly. A wizard in a town is the ‘chief’ of the witches of that town, and when they meet he assigns the night's duty to them. Children also are concerned in the art.

Type
The African Explains Witchcraft
Information
Africa , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , October 1935 , pp. 553 - 554
Copyright
Copyright © International African Institute 1935

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