ICH DOMAIN (4) KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES CONCERNING NATURE AND THE UNIVERSE

Spiritual rituals originating from the African continent, developed and practiced clandestinely in the Caribbean. People tend to seek obeah spells for love, money, spiritual protection, healing, etc.

A hole is dug in the earth, filled with twigs and coals, lit, and heated. Then meat wrapped in leaves is placed in it and covered up with dirt. Cooking time might be a day.

In a clay or metal coal pot food is slowly cooked, heated by charcoal. Alternately, three large stones are placed on the ground with charcoal in the middle and a pot with the food to be cooked is placed on top.

Collected wood is cut up and placed orderly in a pit, covered with bush, lit, and covered up with dirt. Fire burns inside for a few days until the charcoal is ready.

An outdoor oven was built using bricks and stones. Wood and coal are heated and bread and cakes baked inside.

Butchering of the animals is done outside. Meat is distributed, cooked, or salted for later use.

Bush and plants or shrubs with medical values are gathered and prepared for use in teas, tisanes, ointments, and body wash. Some plants can be placed directly on wounds, hair, and skin.

The gel inside the aloe vera’s succulent leaves is used for treating and enhancing the skin, hair, and immune system

Prickly pear is used for making liquor. It is made from juice of the prickly pear cactus and has medical value as well as a sweet taste.

Sea moss is prepared as a health drink and for strengthening male stamina and fertility.

The pulp of the coconut is used in making oil for cooking and skin and hair care.

Different herbs such as lemon grass, mint, basil, and soursop are widely grown in people’s yards and used as medicinal agents to remedy colds, flus, stomachaches, high blood pressure, insomnia, and other ailments. 

This is made by harvesting tubers which are washed, bashed into pulp, and dried. Then the starch is used for porridge, cakes, and biscuits.

The use of different traditional methods for cleansing and healing purposes.

All products can be bought in the store and used to rub on the skin to provide cooling, relief from fever,  and ease of mosquito bites, etc.

Castor oil is used as a cleanser of the intestines by drinking a spoon-full at regular times. Also used for hair care.

Epson salts,  a bitter white powder that is mixed with water to make a drink, is used to help people pass solid waste; also used for relief of pain and blood circulation purposes.

A black substance that is put in water for drinking. It prevents blood clotting, cleans the blood, and speeds up the healing process.

A soft candle is heated, and the wax is applied to boils on the skin to eliminate pain, draw out pus, reduce the size and get rid of the boil.

People determine when bad weather is coming by monitoring the behavior of animals and watching the seabirds above land, looking at cloud formations, observing the waves or choppiness of the sea, and assessing the intensity of the heat.

Nature is used as a guide to determine the best time for planting, when to go fishing, when to cut hair, etc. Nature is also used for time telling with the changing of the sky’s colors 4 times and using the stars for navigation.

Superstitions passed on by the elders are an important part of how to live one’s life and to recognize warnings, signs, premonitions, etc.

This is done to ward off evil spirits.

This is done to prevent evil spirits from following you into the house to do harm.

This is done as protection against evil.

The almanac, an annually printed guide, is widely used for its information on agriculture, astrology, and biology and for determining the meaning of dreams and which numbers to play in the lottery.

A belief that pointing a finger at a grave or cemetery would cause the finger to fall off. To prevent this, the person should bite his/her finger.

Hand scratching means a good omen that money is coming to someone. Eye twitching implies the person is being gossiped about.

This means that somebody near you will die.

It is widely believed to be an omen of death.

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This is done to protect the baby’s spiritual and physical wellbeing. An open Bible, open scissors, smelling ointments, and red and blue colors are placed in or near the crib.  Salt and bush are good for the skin, and blue is used for protection against the evil eye. The mother shapes baby’s head to give the skull a nice form. (See Domain 3 as a social practice.)

This is done due to information received from the forefathers and from the almanac.

This is done to make the hair healthy and shiny.