PORTUGUESE PEASANTS.

Waikato Times, Volume 106, Issue 17804, 31 August 1929, Page 14 (Supplement)

PORTUGUESE PEASANTS.

A campaign is being waged in Portugal against the practice of witchcraft. Throughout the country there are hundreds of witches, or what the Portuguese call “bruxas,” pronounced “bruches.” For hundreds of years the witches have preyed upon the ignorance of the peasants and servants. In an effort to abolish the practice, many stories of different methods of extorting money from victims of superstition have been uncovered. One of the most common practices is to approach a servant in the home of a well-to-do family and convince her of the powers of witchcraft. Then it is an easy matter for the witch to exact a token of gold, linen, silver and silk in return for which the witch would deliver to the ignorant victim a powder to be sprinkled in the shoes ol the one siie desires to marry, or put into his food. The results promised arc that the object of the poor girl’s affection will immediately fail in love with her and ask her hand in marriage. In the meantime the servant generally lands in gaol where the story of the tiicft is revealed. Instances have recently been revealed in the north of Portugal, where

THE GOVERNMENT’S DIFFICULTIES.

illiteracy is more general, where whole families have been under the influence of a witch for years. Various ills are treated with herbs, and weird and strange practices such as dieting to the point of starvation are employed. In Lisbon recently a raid was made on the home of a witch where several beds were occupied by patients. In answer to a question as to what percentage of “ cures ” she made, the witch replied: “All those that don’t die, I cure.”

The effort to gaol the witches is proceeding under difficulties because of the tendency on the part of the victims to protect the practitioner. The stories of marvellous things done by various witches have come down from one generation lo another and remain fixed in the minds of the illiterate Portuguese, and it will take time and a great deal of education to eradicate witchcraft from the country.

Senior Partner: “One thing I like about our new clerk is that he is trustworthy. You can always tell what he is going lo do next.” Junior Partner: “And what is that?" Senior Partner: “Nothing."