Sorcery beliefs and oral tradition in Cheticamp, Cape Breton

Planetta, Elizabeth Beaton. (1980) Sorcery beliefs and oral tradition in Cheticamp, Cape Breton. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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    Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission.
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Abstract

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the Cheticamp area of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, events took place which were considered to be the machinations of certain persons who were known to be sorciers. The people of Cheticamp reacted to these happenings by performing rituals which were believed to deliver the victim from the sorcery. Although sorcery is no longer practised in the community of Cheticamp, the tradition of belief in such practices lives on in contemporary oral tradition. -- An analysis of primary and secondary historical accounts in conjunction with such oral traditions of Cheticamp reveals narratives concerning sorcery, and esoteric and exoteric views and values of the community. These in turn suggest reasons for the activation of the sorcery beliefs during the period under consideration, and indicate the present state of these beliefs. -- The period from the 1870's to the 1930's witnessed changes in the traditional livelihood, family religion, and language of Cheticamp. This thesis hypothesizes that anxiety generated over these changes which threatened the values of the community, caused a belief in "sorcerie" to function as a means of social control.

Item Type: Thesis (Masters)
URI: http://research.library.mun.ca/id/eprint/7866
Item ID: 7866
Additional Information: Bibliography: leaves 177-183.
Department(s): Humanities and Social Sciences, Faculty of > Folklore
Date: 1980
Date Type: Submission
Geographic Location: Canada--Nova Scotia--Cape Breton Island--Chéticamp
Library of Congress Subject Heading: Witchcraft--Nova Scotia--Chéticamp; Chéticamp (N.S.)

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