Magical practices and witchcraft among the Pomeranians

Abstract

The objective of this article is to analyze the importance of the expressions of the peasant’s culture, of those descendants of pomeranians immigrants in the building of their identity, and live in the town of Santa Maria de Jetibá, in the state of Espírito Santo, Brazil. The town has approximately 23.268 inhabitants, of whom 90% are descendants of Pomeranians who began to arrive in Espírito Santo in 1870, before the unification of Germany. Although there has been no German immigration to Espírito Santo since the 1870s, the Pomeranian community has maintained their own language, communal parties, magical activities (which follows the passage rituals), cultural and marital customs and the continuity of the fantastic oral narrative. In the Brazilian immigration context, no other ethnic group has concentrated itself to this extent, both geographically and physically. Furthermore, more than any other ethnic group, the Pomeranians have struggled to modify both the Brazilian system of land ownership and the pattern of rural life generally. This work will approach the following aspects, which will be discussed along the chapters: the relationship between different languages spoken by the group and the Lutheran religiosity; the daily life of the peasant; the importance of the magic and the fantastical element in the pomeranian peasant oral tradition, in passage rituals and in witchcraft’s accusations.