An obia or obeah is a

monster A monster is a type of imaginary or fictional creature found in literature, folklore, mythology, fiction and religion. They are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive, with a strange or grotesque appearance that causes Anxiety, terror ...

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. It is described as being a massive animal that witches send into villages to kidnap young girls and wear their skin for a coat. It is also the common term in the Bay Islands of

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

for a witch or the spell that is cast by the witch. This is most likely a traditional

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language. The Garifuna ...

word. An obiama or obiaman is one who uses the power of obia. Edwards's ''History of the British Colonies in the West Indies'', published in 1793, reports the best account of obeah in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. The term

obeah Obeah, also spelled Obiya or Obia, is a broad term for African diaspora religions, African diasporic religious, Magic (supernatural), spell-casting, and healing traditions found primarily in the British West Indies, former British colonies of th ...

or obia has become a popular term in Jamaica used to describe Africans on the island that practice

witchcraft Witchcraft is the use of Magic (supernatural), magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meanin ...

. It is considered to be a practice of supernatural craft, learned through connection with the devil, that allows a person to kill or as a way to receive wealth, power, or revenge on one's enemies. From testimony of all Africans on the island, it is said that the possessors of obi have always been natives of Africa, having brought the arts with them to

where it was universally practiced on a few large estates.

Africans The ethnic groups of Africa number in the thousands, with each ethnicity generally having their own language (or dialect of a language) and culture. The ethnolinguistic groups include various Afroasiatic, Khoisan, Niger-Congo, and Nilo-Sahara ...

or Creoles respect, consult, and fear the obeah folklore; they hold faith to these prophecies and call upon them to cure disorders, obtain revenge, help with favors, punish thieves or adulterers, and predict future events.

Obeah men

Obeah is often seen as a device for West Indian success. Since obeah brings power, fear, and respect, it is expected that an obeah man have all these traits. In a society like the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, an obeah man and his trapping are synonymous. If an obeah man is known to be a good dealer, he will have many clients. If a person gains some sort of fortune through means that is not visible, then it is believed that he is dealing with some sort of supernatural power. Within the

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED''), the term ''West Indian'' in 1597 described the indigenous inhabitants of the West In ...

society, the practice of the obeah man is praised by his community to be a fellow man between the natural and supernatural world that works both good and evil. However, the implied obeah man who is held suspect. The implied obeah man does not help others with his skills, but uses it for personal interest and therefore is despised the community in which he lives and hated and reviled by his society.

References

Caribbean legendary creatures West African legendary creatures {{Africa-myth-stub