Juju

Juju or ju-ju (French: joujou, lit. 'plaything')[1][2] is a spiritual belief system incorporating objects, such as amulets, and spells used in religious practice, as part of witchcraft in West Africa especially the people of Nigeria and Cameroon.[3][4][5] The term has been applied to traditional African religions.[6]

For other uses, see Juju (disambiguation).
An 1873 Victorian illustration of a "Ju-ju house" on the Bight of Benin showing fetishised skulls and bone
Juju charm protecting dugout canoe on Suriname River bank, Suriname, 1955

In a general sense the term "juju" can be used to refer to magical properties dealing with good luck.[7]

History

The term "juju" appeared in connection with the Priest-Kings of towns in West Africa, upon whom the prosperity of towns was believed to depend.[8] This is recorded by Sir James George Frazer in Folk-Lore (Vol. XXVI.) He prints, under the title A Priest-King in Nigeria, a communication received from Mr. P. A. Talbot, District Commissioner in S. Nigeria. The writer states that the dominant Ju-Ju of Elele, a town in the N.W. of the Degema district, is a Priest-King, elected for a term of seven years. "The whole prosperity of the town, especially the fruitfulness of farm, byre, and marriage-bed, was linked with his life. Should he fall sick it entailed famine and grave disaster upon the inhabitants." [9]

Magic

Africa

Juju is a folk magic in West Africa, within juju a variety of concepts exist. Juju charms and spells can be used to inflict either bad or good juju, which equate to either bad or good luck.[10] Juju charms can at times employ Arabic texts written by Islamic religious leaders.[11] A "juju man" is any man vetted by local traditions and well versed in traditional spiritual medicines.[12]

Juju is sometimes used to enforce a contract or ensure compliance. In a typical scenario, The witch doctor casting the spell requires payment for this service.[13]

Americas

Najah Lightfoot, a Hoodoo practitioner and author asserts that "good juju" is a positive vibration of the spirit which can express itself in a variety of ways.[14]

gollark: You need Mekanism for a lot of stuff. So you are to.
gollark: You need a lot of osmarks metal, yes.
gollark: You put iron ingots and coal into the metallurgic infuser and get enriched iron. Then you run that through and get steel blend, which you smelt into steel. You can decrease coal usage by a factor of 8 by using the enrichment chamber to make compressed coal.
gollark: But it's more efficient and fast. You need a metallurgic infuser and, for coal efficiency, an enrichment chamber.
gollark: Did you make Mekanism steel production? You are to.

References
  1. "Juju | Define Juju at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2013-07-05.
  2. Harper, Douglas. "juju". Online Etymology Dictionary.
  3. "Shocking! 4 most bizarre black magic rituals in Nigeria". www.legit.ng. 2016-11-17. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  4. "The juju curse that binds trafficked Nigerian women into sex slavery | World news | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  5. "Nigeria under the spell of juju". Latest Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Politics. 2020-01-13. Retrieved 2020-03-05.
  6. Mockler-Ferryman, Augustus (1898). "Religion and Missionaries". Imperial Africa: The Rise, Progress and Future of the British Possessions in Africa. Imperial Press. p. 392.
  7. Afro-Caribbean Religions: An Introduction to Their Historical, Cultural, and Sacred Traditions. Temple University Press. 2010. ISBN 9781439901755.
  8. TALBOT, P. AMAURY (April 1925). "SOME FOREIGN INFLUENCES ON NIGERIA". African Affairs. XXIV (XCV): 178–201. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.afraf.a100130. ISSN 1468-2621.
  9. From Ritual To Romance, Jessie L. Weston https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/4090/pg4090-images.html
  10. Entrepreneurship and Juju (Black Magic) (PDF). American University of Nigeria.
  11. Smith, H. E. (1929). "Magic and Spells on the Gold Coast". The Police Journal: Theory, Practice and Principles. Gold Coast Police. 2 (2): 316–321. doi:10.1177/0032258x2900200212.
  12. Bever, Bep Oliver (1983). "The West African Juju Man and the Tools of his Trade". The International Journal of Crude Drug Research. 21 (3): 97–120. doi:10.3109/13880208309070623.
  13. "People & Power - The Nigerian Connection". Al Jazeera. 11 June 2012.
  14. Lightfoot, Najah (2019-06-08). Good Juju: Mojos, Rites & Practices for the Magical Soul. ISBN 9780738756677.
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