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Superstition, Folklore & Spirituality
69 entries in this part of the language, each with meanings, pronunciation and worked examples.
- Anansi The spider trickster hero of Jamaican folklore — small and weak, but so clever and cunning…
- Bad-eye Two linked senses.
- Balm Spiritual and herbal healing in the Jamaican folk tradition.
- Balm yaad A healing yard run by a balmist or 'mother' — a place of Afro-Jamaican spiritual healing…
- Balm yard A yard or compound where a spiritual healer — a 'balmist' or 'mother' — treats the sick and…
- Balmyard A healing yard run by a 'balmist' or 'mother' — a place people go for spiritual and herbal…
- Black-heart man A bogeyman — a wicked, sinister figure said to steal or harm children, invoked by adults to…
- Blackcat A black cat — and, in Jamaican folk belief, a creature of superstition and obeah.
- Blackheart man A bogeyman figure of Jamaican folklore used to frighten children into behaving — a wicked…
- Bookman An obeah man — a practitioner of obeah believed to work spells, tell fortunes, and read the…
- Born wid a caul A baby born with the amniotic membrane (the 'caul' or 'veil') over its face — held in folk…
- Burn candle To light a candle (or 'set a light') in ritual for a spiritual purpose — for protection, to…
- Bush doctor A traditional healer who cures with 'bush' — the leaves, roots, and barks of medicinal…
- Cemetery The graveyard or 'burying ground' — a place charged with meaning in Jamaican folk belief…
- Dead yaad The home or yard of a family in mourning, where relatives, friends, and neighbours gather…
- Dream Besides the ordinary sense, in Jamaican folk practice a dream is a source of numbers and…
- Dream book A book that assigns a number and meaning to the things you dream about — used to turn a…
- Duppy A ghost or malevolent spirit of the dead, believed in folk tradition to linger in this…
- Duppy bat A large, dark moth — 'bat' being the Jamaican word for a moth or butterfly, so a duppy bat…
- Duppy conqueror One who conquers duppies (ghosts) — by extension a fearless person who overcomes any…
- Duppy story A ghost story — a tale of duppies, rolling calves, and haunted spots, told to thrill and…
- Duppy time Dusk and the dark hours of night — the time when duppies (ghosts) are believed to walk…
- Duppy weather Eerie, unsettling weather said to be a time when duppies (spirits) are about — most often…
- Duppy wind A sudden, unexplained whirl or gust of wind — a little dust-devil spinning up out of a…
- Four-eye A person with spiritual sight — 'four eyes' — who can see duppies and the spirit world and…
- Goat mout A jinx brought on by saying out loud that something bad will happen — as if your words…
- Grace before meat The blessing said over food before a meal — thanking God for the food and asking a blessing…
- Grave dirt Soil taken from a grave — a potent ingredient in obeah working, believed to carry the power…
- Grave yard A graveyard — the burial ground or cemetery.
- Guzu Magic, a charm, or a spell — the dark, supernatural kind bound up with obeah.
- Itchy palm A folk belief that an itching palm is a sign about money.
- Jumbie bird A bird whose cry, especially at night, is held to foretell death or bad news — the 'jumbie…
- Jumpy eye A folk belief that a twitching eyelid is an omen.
- Ketch di spirit To become filled with, or possessed by, the Holy Spirit (or a spirit) during worship — the…
- Kumina An Afro-Jamaican religious tradition of Central African (Kongo) origin, marked by intense…
- Mother of the church A senior, respected woman leader in a church — especially a Revival, Pentecostal, or…
- Myal An Afro-Jamaican spiritual tradition of healing, spirit possession, and protective ritual…
- Nine-night The traditional Jamaican wake held on the ninth night after a death, when family and…
- Obeah Afro-Jamaican folk magic — the practice of casting and removing spells, healing, giving…
- Obeah man A practitioner of obeah — the Afro-Jamaican system of folk magic and spiritual power.
- Ol' Hige A dreaded figure of Jamaican (and wider Caribbean) folklore: an old witch-woman who sheds…
- Ole hige A dreaded figure of Jamaican and wider Caribbean folklore — an old woman, secretly a witch…
- Overlook To cast the evil eye — to bring harm on someone (especially a baby or a thriving person)…
- Owl hoot A folk belief that an owl (the 'patoo') hooting on or near a house is a bad omen…
- Pocomania An Afro-Jamaican Revival religion that blends African spirituality with Christianity…
- Reader A spiritualist or fortune-teller who 'reads' — divines your troubles, your future, and the…
- Reading A consultation with a 'science man', reader, or spiritualist who 'reads' your situation —…
- Revival An Afro-Christian folk religion of Jamaica, blending African spirituality with Christianity…
- Revival table The ceremonial table at the centre of a Revival 'table' or feast — spread with a white…
- Ringing ear A folk belief that a ringing or burning ear means someone is talking about you.
- River Mumma The mermaid-like water spirit of Jamaican folklore — a beautiful woman who sits at the head…
- Rolling calf One of the most feared duppies (ghosts) in Jamaican folklore — a monstrous spirit in the…
- Sankey A hymn — especially the old, mournful, slow-metre hymns from the Ira D.
- Science-man A practitioner of obeah — one who works 'science', the term for the ritual power to heal…
- Senseh Senseh — the frizzle-feathered fowl, whose feathers curl outward giving a ragged, ruffled…
- Senseh fowl A chicken with ruffled, backward-curling feathers that give it a wild, frazzled look.
- Set a guard To place a protective obeah charm — a 'guard' — to defend a person, home, business, or…
- Sweep smaddy foot A folk belief that if a broom sweeps over your foot while someone is sweeping, it brings…
- Tarry service A prayer meeting where believers 'tarry' — wait earnestly on God through prolonged, fervent…
- Testify To stand up in church and publicly tell of God's goodness in one's life — sharing a…
- Testimony A public statement in church of what God has done for you — a personal account of a…
- Three-foot horse A monstrous spectral horse of Jamaican folklore that gallops on three legs, faster than any…
- Tie up In obeah, to bind someone spiritually — to 'tie' a person so as to control, hold, or…
- Tie-head A member of the Revival / Zion churches, so nicknamed because the women wrap their heads in…
- Trumping The rhythmic, foot-stamping, over-breathing worship of Revival and Zion churches —…
- Wanga An obeah charm or magical working — of African origin — made to bring a specific result…
- Watch night The New Year's Eve church service that runs late into the night to 'watch' the old year out…
- When cock crow a midnight A folk belief that a rooster crowing at midnight or other odd, unnatural hours (rather than…
- White-liver A folk-belief condition, said of a woman, of having an insatiable sexual appetite —…