Obeah

Obeah, also and better known as the Comfa religion, is practiced by an undetermined number of African descendants in Guyana, South America, regions of the Caribbean, and the southern United States. Grounded in primarily Bantu cosmology, Comfa is expressive of the Guyanese history of enslavement, European colonialism, and African cultural nationalism. Popularly synonymous with Comfa is the word Obeah, used mainly by non-practitioners. The word Obeah derives from the Twi concept obey e, which means that which can do work but is not seen. Still some nonpractition-ers become Obeah clients in search of perhaps their only access to immediate power over life's many difficulties and traumas. One might be heard exclaiming: “Is wuk, she wuk Obeah fa mek dah man stay home with she.” Understandably, then, linguist Kean Gibson assesses the foundation of this African-derived religion as “[t]he use of identity symbols as sources of motivation and great personal power” (p. 224).

Unlike the religions of the Anglicans and Roman Catholics in Guyana, Comfa is dynamic and decentralized, and it draws from eclectic African worldview and Guyanese nationalist sources and therefore might be best called a faith system instead of a religion. The Comfa system has neither centralized administrative hierarchies nor permanent physical sanctuaries. Nonetheless, the Comfa Service or Work is the bedrock ritual and is held at the homes of pastors/leaders, practitioners, and clients alike—similar to the more widely practiced preburial “Wake” rituals held at the homes of the deceased or their families.

Comfa pastors and practitioners alike claim and facilitate, in varying degrees, power to heal and harm through engagement with celestial and terrestrial spirits. Celestial spirits comprise God the father, Jesus Christ, Angels, and Biblical prophets and Saints, all of whom form a foundation for the Celestial Spirits, who chiefly comprise personal and national Ancestors. Other terrestrial spirits employed in the Comfa system include the Old Higue and the Bacoo. The Old Higue is a female figure infamous for marauding for the blood of children and animals, and the Bacoo is a dwarfed male figure who is invisible, mischievous, and often obtained from neighboring Surinam to bring wealth to the Comfa or Obeah client.

A Comfa service or work is organized for one of three main purposes. A Thanksgiving service is held to thank God, Jesus, or any other celestial force for life's blessings. Terrestrial services are held to venerate a family ancestor to bring appeasement or for help in resolving an internecine conflict. In the third instance, one desiring personal success, or protection from harm, may sponsor a service for one of the ancestral spirits in the following order of prestige: British, Spanish, Indian, Chinese, African, Dutch, and then Amerindian—a pantheon mirroring the culture-national demographic of Guyana's promotional identity as a “nation of six peoples.” Accordingly, one who seeks wealth venerates the British, Spanish, or Indian—society's historic (socioeco-nomic) power holders. The least influential of these spirits is that of the Amerindians, who for their minimal engagement with colonial and post-colonial society are not viewed as embodying the power sought by Comfa or Obeah practitioners and clients.

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