1
WHAT IS THE
ORIGIN?
Aneighbor in the village tells me that I should
protect myself against witches. Otherwise they could hit me with
invisible darts that will get inside my veins and poison my blood.
A shaman burns tobacco leaves in front of a row of statuettes and
starts talking to them. He says he must send them on a journey to dis-
tant villages in the sky. The point of all this is to cure someone whose
mind is held hostage by invisible spirits.
A group of believers goes around, warning everyone that the end is
nigh. Judgement Day is scheduled for October 2. This day passes and
nothing happens. The group carries on, telling everyone the end is
nigh (the date has been changed).
Villagers organize a ceremony to tell a goddess she is not wanted in
their village anymore. She failed to protect them from epidemics, so
they decided to "drop" her and find a more efficient replacement.
An assembly of priests finds offensive what some people say about
what happened several centuries ago in a distant place, where a virgin is
said to have given birth to a child. So these people must be massacred.
Members of a cult on an island decide to slaughter all their live-
stock and burn their crops. All these will be useless now, they say,
because a ship full of goods and money will reach their shores very
shortly in recognition of their good deeds.
My friends are told to go to church or some other quiet place and
talk to an invisible person who is everywhere in the world. That invis-
ible listener already knows what they will say, because He knows
everything.
I am told that if I want to please powerful dead people—who could
help me in times of need—I should pour the blood of a live white goat
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