SUPERNATURAL FORCES

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Volume XXIII, 5 September 1923, Page 8

SUPERNATURAL FORCES

BISHOP BELIEVES IN SPIRITS. AN ASTONISHING STATEMENT. Dr Weston, Bishop of Zanzibar, who has come to London to preside over the Anglo-Catholic Congress, is convinced that evil spirits wand r over the earth, possess human beings, and wreck houses.

“I have been in a mud hut in the native quarters in my diocese,” said Dr Westen to a Daily Express representative, “and have seen great pieces of plaster torn from the 1 walls and hurled about. I was naturally sceptical at first, so I had every living soul cleared out of the hut and formed a cordon round it. Pieces of mud still continued to be torn from the walls and flung with great force against the roof. Several pieces came hurtling through the doorway. One piece hit me on the head. “1 re-entered the but and said prayers. The disturbance stopped immediately. The hut was. repaired, and nothing of the kind has happened l there since. “Natives have come to "me saying they were possessed of the devil. “Some evil spirit, whether it was the devil or not, had certainly taken possession of them. They had two voices — their own natural yciee and another weird, unearthly kind of voice, over which they seemed to have no control. “I said prayers ever them, and this seemed to chase the evil spirits away. Every sign of the qircer second' voice vanished, and they became their natural selves again. “It would be absurd and utterly unreasonable, with these happenings confronting you, to say that there are no spirits on the earth. Here in England it may be possible to scout the idea, but in a country like Zanzibar, where almost everybody believes in spirits, and the whole atmosphere is steeped in the belief, it is quite, a different matter. “This is probably a type of spirit which has never had a human form. It is known as the ‘djimm’ in Zanzibar. Many of the Mohammedans imagine it is necessary to have these spirits in their houses, and pay witch doctors to attract them there.” This Astonishing statement coming from a bishop, will create a sensation. Dr Weston is regarded as an exceedingly able man, not likely to be easily converted to any fantastic spiritualistic theories. Dr Weston is faced in Zanzibar with many strange rites of the heathen faith. “A young man in Zanzibar who falls in love with a girl,” he said, “has to send his friend to the girl s lather. If tho father is agreeable, a» day is appointed for what is known as a ‘beermeeting,’ which is simply a drinking orgy. At this meeting, which is at, tended by the whole village, the parents of the young man and girl argue for many hours concerning the value of the girl. Generally,- a sum varying between £6 and £8 is agreed on, and the bargain is struck. The gathering disperses, and there is a lapse of several months.

“The next'step is the arrival of tho young man at the house of his brideelect. “He claims her, and they are placed together in a house near the girl’s home. They remain there for five days without food or drink. Tho couple afterwards journey to the. home of the bridegroom, and they sit outside on a stool holding hands for many hours. “The bride is then wrapped in a white sheet and carried on a woman's back into the forest. The mothers of the bride and bride-groom and all the women invited to the ceremony lie face downward on the ground, and the bride dances on their backs. “The bride is brought back in the sam-o way as she was taken to the forest, and the bridegroom goes through much the same ceremony, being carried to the forest on the back of a man, but he dees net dance. “Then, at- long last, the actual ceremony ie performed in the centre of the village. There is great rejoicing, and the couple are carried to their new home.” /