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In her introduction to Making Witches, Barbara Rieti notes the presence of witchcraft as an offense in a 1729 document appointing justices of the peace to Newfoundland. This is a comment about the times rather than the island in question. Witchcraft as a legal reality was soon to be phased out both in Britain and in Newfoundland which, until the nineteenth century, drew both its legal system and its meagre administration from Britain.
In some, but by no means all, Newfoundland communities, the belief remained. These tended to be settlements which drew their folklore from the "parent stock" of Somerset, Devon, and Dorset; Irish Communities had fairies, not witches.
Making Witches is not an examination of witchery in the earliest centuries of Newfoundland, nor about "official records," but intriguingly, an exploration of twentieth century oral accounts, some of which have been gathered by the author herself.
As Rieti notes, "gossip, legend, and hearsay are the very things that make up a 'witch". Rather than establishing definitive versions of events, Rieti, a folklorist, puts spells, counterspells, guilt and recriminations into the context of societal and community values. "Outport culture," explains Rieti, was " underwritten by tacit codes of conduct. There was no letter of the law, only spirit, and violating the spirit could cause corrosive unease."
Overcharging for a service or refusing charity to the elderly could bring upon the offender all manner of ills. One informant tells how her uncle, a fisherman, had a spell put on him by Mary, a known witch, for refusing her a pan of flour. Suffering bad luck, reduced catches, and the loss of fishing gear, he borrowed flour in order to meet Mary's request retroactively.
"Bless you, my son," Mary told him when receiving his flour, "you'll have plenty after this." True to form, he does, at least as the story is told through the family. Witchery can sometimes seem akin to karmic law. In such instances spells can be broken merely by a change of behaviour.
In the book's final section "Triptych: Three Portraits," Rieti closes in upon specific witches, revealing how they see themselves. Frances Long, who died in 1995, seemed to take pleasure in her outcast status and her fearsome reputation. She had her own ethical code; she read tea leaves primarily to young women, never to those to whom she might have to deliver some bad news.
As the content expert in the area, the author's research, and the conclusions she draws, will be beyond criticism for most readers. The delight of this book is that Rieti is also an excellent writer, and is able to shed light on the ways in which the psychological aspects of witchcraft combine with societal values and structures. Far from making Newfoundland seem backward, this book makes witchcraft seem thoroughly modern, a natural fit for communities with a "deep-seated cultural ethic of cooperation and fair play."
– Paul Butler, Atlantic Books Today, Spring 2008 No. 57
There is a little-known tradition of witch lore in Newfoundland culture. Those believed to have the power to influence the fortunes of others are not mythological characters but neighbours, relations, or even friends. Drawing from her own interviews and a wealth of material from the Memorial University Folklore and Language Archive, Barbara Rieti explores the range and depth of Newfoundland witch tradition, looking at why certain people acquired reputations as witches, and why others considered themselves bewitched.
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cynthia jacquline
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Oh great joy to find this book i didnt know of this till now “ I love to know as much on the subject as i can love witches and im a nflder
I received my book today my mother is from nfld I remember the stories and grew up reading cards telling my dreams and loving to say am a herbal witch. I feel the book was over priced. but i bought for my mom.