Witchcraft accusations are often directed towards persons who are related, such as neighbours, extended family members, even own children or parents. In some communities, twins (sometimes called ‘badly born babies’) are believed to have bad spirits that will bring misfortune upon their communities. Therefore, in several communities, twin babies (sometimes only one of them) are killed to avoid bad luck for their families. In other communities, the powers attributed to twins are regarded more ambiguously, as twins can see through hidden things and are respected and feared, being close to gods. Persons with visible physical disabilities (such as kyphosis) or severe mental disabilities are also potential targets. Elderly women may also be accused of witchcraft, for example in the case of the death of a child in the local community, miscarriage of a pregnant woman, ‘eccentric’ behaviour, outliving a deceased husband.
Punishment may involve severe beating, burning or stoning, naked parading, being compelled to drink lethal ‘medicines’, lynch mob. Children accused of witchcraft may face infanticide, abandonment, physical and sexual violence, stigmatisation. They may be denied schooling and risk being exposed to drugs and prostitution. They may also have to do illegal work or beg.
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In relation toindividuals accused of witchcraft\, available information indicates that in the specific local context, persecution may be for reasons of religion and/or membership of a particular social group. Relevant particular social groups could be defined, for example, with regard to their innate characteristics (e.g. twins, persons with visible physical or mental disabilities); and the distinct identity of these groups in Nigeria, because they are perceived as being different by the surrounding society.**
Yes, that's why we mustn't allow lunatics to turn back time. The values of enlightenment, humanism and a secular society are worth defending.These kind of "witch hunters" are dangerous: https://youtu.be/WOYpKcSDWYk?si=tWCt3n4BQEDCCsT9
More like “Goody Martin requires aid that strains our resources, which is building up resentment in our community, and here’s a book about how to spot a witch, oh, looks like we got one! Get her!”
It seems like this might be driven by a sort of subconscious (maybe even conscious) resource conservation motive. You get rid of children that are sickly, old women, and in the case of twins, when you've got more children than you wanted. Then throw on the witchcraft story as a justification for it so you can pretend you're not just killing people because you'd rather not share your bread.
“Outliving a deceased husband” is basically entirely about trying to get that lady’s stuff. In places where this happens widows are in a lot of danger of witchcraft accusations and their property gets looted after they are killed
I learned about the bad omen twin thing, not from an African country, but from the Korean show, The King‘s Affection on Netflix. I guess that particular belief about twins is actually worldwide.
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u/AdamOfIzalith 5d ago edited 5d ago
I was interested in this myself so I looked into it and found a pretty comprehensive resource here on it:
https://euaa.europa.eu/country-guidance-nigeria/29-individuals-accused-witchcraft
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