Jamaican Medicine Man
Jamaican Medicine ManI wrote about this experience a long time ago but it was lost in some technical difficulties I had on the blog last year. But I just thought of it and really wanted to rewrite and share it again. There are no photos of the actual medicine man and surrounding area, it just didn’t feel appropriate to whip out a camera.
Medicine Man
A couple years ago we were driving around in some back country in Westmoreland, on our way to Darliston. Our driver lived in the area and was familiar with it and asked if we’d like to see a Jamaican medicine man…of course the answer was YES! So he detoured off the main road and up a narrow road to the top of a hill where we saw a house and probably 40 people just sitting around in the yard. It was kind of eerie when we got out the car because it was dead silent.
Our driver told us that the way it works is that you sit in the yard with all the other people and the medicine man comes out on his stoop and just hand picks each person. There is no line-up because he picks who ever he wants. We were also told that many people here would wait all day and never get chosen, which means you had to go home and come back another day to try again.
My friend and I sat there for about two hours enduring stares and whispers going on around us. I can imagine they were wondering why on earth two white girls were here and how we even found the place. It was a hot day and thankfully a random guy showed up selling ice cream out of a cooler on the back of his bike so we indulged.
The silence up here was deafening, I guess it was proper to wait in silence. We saw several people be chosen for their turn so I decided to ask our driver what exactly happens when you are chosen? He said that you go up to the porch of the house where the medicine man is and you just sit down next to him. You don’t ask questions, he just proceeds to talk to you and tell you what’s on his mind about you. There is “no charge” for the session however it’s customary to leave a donation or whatever you can pay.
We never did get chosen as the sun started to set and I was definitely disappointed because I would have loved to experience this, even though I am Christian and this definitely doesn’t fall under that category. People started leaving the yard as dusk fell so we assumed the selection process was over for the day.
It was a once in a lifetime experience just being in that yard, it’s had to describe the overall mood and feeling up there. Kind of creepy but sort of sacred at the same time.
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thats kinda cool.. my friend says that she had a tea leaf reading during her trip to Jamaica and the things that she said was all accurate.
Some people have an EXTRA gift… not everybody.. but some people were destined for this.
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I agree. I think it’s kinda eerie because it makes me think of Obeah and ting….but still intriguing!
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This reminds me, i really have to go to Maroon Town at some stage.
The whole Maroon culture fascinates me. I’ts so brilliant the way they managed to escape the early oppressors and begin their own way of life away from the colonials and hang onto the african roots. I hear its like a complete other world there, herbal healers , drum makers etc..
I was recently learning about Granny Nanny.
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Yea I love Jamaican history for real! I find I’m more interested in it than the history of my own country!
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omg medice man wow nice name jamacia history is so awsome i’m proud to be a black jamaican!!!!
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Have you read “The True History of Paradise” by Margaret Cezair-Thompson ? She is a JA born Prof. at Wellesley college. This was her first novel and while the characters are fictional the history is not. A really great read for JA fans. I am currently reading her second novel “The Pirate’s Daughter” which takes place in Port Antonio and is based around Errol Flynn. Equally riveting!!!
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Hey thanks for the info, I love reading books like that. Have you by any chance read any Andrea Levy books?? Same thing, the history is correct but the stories fictional. Small Island was the first of her books I read and I was riveted. Great writer.
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Rignt on the money JC…..with the obeah thing…..dwl
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