myalism

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myalism

(ˈmaɪəˌlɪzəm)

(Alternative Belief Systems) a kind of witchcraft, similar to obi, practised esp in the Caribbean

[C19: from myal, probably of West African origin]

ˈmyalist n

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

myalism

a West Indian Negro cult, probably of West African origin, that believes in the Obeah.

See also: Religion

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References in periodicals archive ?

Having lived in and traveled throughout the West Indies during his youth, Vesey no doubt picked up important features of the African-derived and communally oriented myalist religion.

Evangelical networks in the greater Caribbean and the origins of the black church

Myalist, bush doctor, iyalorisha, curandera, four-eye, even obeah woman for them who don't understand.

Serving the spirits: the Pan-Caribbean African-Derived Religion in Nalo Hopkinson's Brown Girl in the Ring

A myalist revival in the 1840s followed the same geographical limits of Black Baptist Moses Baker's following,(46) and the 1860s revivalist movement which preceded the Morant Bay uprising of 1865 "partook of the Myal tradition," and so "could also be revolutionary."(47) A wave of pocomania revivalism, a nineteenth century African import, like myalism based on dance, drumming, singing and spirit possession, was closely associated geographically with the areas of rebellion in 1938 in Jamaica, carrying on the link of religious revivalism and rebellion.(48) Although there is no evidence of Black Baptist activity in Limon, myalism clearly had a thriving presence there in the period during and especially after the strike.

Afro-Jamaican traditions and labor organizing on United Fruit Company plantations in Costa Rica, 1910

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