For illustrating this section, we can produce on request at least one large size HD poster (up to 180x100 cm in size). These posters should be adapted to each country, on a case-by-case basis, in order to prominently feature locally produced coconut products, and to promote the marketing of these local products. It is also possible to buy or rent items from the personal collection of Dr R. Bourdeix.
In Africa, journeys to the other world often involve a palm tree at the beginning of the quest, and very often a coconut tree whose nuts play an important role. This is particularly common in Togo and southern Nigeria. The quest generally begins in times of famine, the initial shortage causing the hero to leave. He discovers, alone or guided by a sorcerer, a palm tree located most often at the edge of the water. This tree bears either a single fruit or three nuts or a whole bunch or two. Those that are not ripe are usually chosen. The sorcerer climbs the palm tree to pick the nuts but they fall into the water or into a hole leading underground. It dives into the water or descends underground in pursuit of wandering nuts. The passage into another world is therefore produced by a double vertical movement, ascending then descending... (shortened text, about 400 more words).
Here are some of the rituals advised by African marabouts.
Our interest in them is purely ethnological, and we do not in any way guarantee that these rituals will work!
How to find your lost star, luck and light? Collect water coming directly from the sky. Collect at least a liter and a half of this water. Collect the water from a large ripe coconut, add 16 sugar cubes and honey. Mix everything in a clean container and make your wishes on it. Close the container and let it rest next to your bedside in your bedroom, for 3 days. From the fourth day, drink a small glass of it every morning on an empty stomach, saying your wishes.
In order not to run out of money, look for the roots of the coconut tree (énêti) plus 4 grains of guinea pepper (atakou). Eating the root and the guinea pepper while saying: “Oh earth give me wealth as you give to the happy. Men, children, and women hold my hand of happiness. This ritual is done very early in the morning without speaking to anyone.
The pierced hand: Your money escapes without you being able to understand how? take dandelion leaves, small chili leaves, coconut and dark lore. Crush the leaves with the soap, put the coconut juice and mix everything. Put in a plastic lid and use it to wash.
Financial entry and opening of doors. For those who work a lot but earn little. You need seven ripe coconuts, seven guinea fowl eggs. This ritual will be repeated for seven successive days. Break a coconut a day and pour the coconut water into a pot and put the guinea fowl egg in it, then put it on the fire and let it cook. Once cooked, take the egg remove the shell, eat it alone and then discard the shells.
How to heal from a mystical disease resulting from witchcraft and which never ends? It takes seven coconuts, kinkeliba roots. Introduce the Coconuts into the pot, then the Roots, cover with water and close. Boil for 45 minutes, then cool. Take a coconut, pierce it and drink the juice. To be done for three days at most. After the last Coconut on the morning of the fourth day the patient will be completely cured of his illness.
In the Philippines, Siquijor Island get its name as the ‘Island of Witches’ during the Spanish colonization and trade during the 1660’s. Siquijor Island was known back then as the main route for trade and merchandise in the Visayas. During the voyage of many Spaniards, crew member of the ships started feeling ill and had to drop by to the nearest island. The Spaniards asked the locals to do all they can to cure their crew. But after learning the process of Siquijor traditional healing, the Spaniards distanced themselves from the so-called sorceries and ‘witches’, and called it the Island of Witches.
Until this day the so-called witches or healers, known as “mananambal” in local terms, practice their traditional healing process as sign of great culture. Every holy week, the Healing Festival is celebrated to showcase that the healing process of the mananambals are sacred and for good intentions only. Healers from all over Siquijor gather in Mt. Bandilaan to share their talents in healing to people from all over the Philippines and the world. Herbs and potions can be purchased at the said location of the festival. The best-selling and most wanted product however is the love potion or ‘gayuma’ in local terms. Love potion is known throughout the world as a potion that makes someone fall in love. It has the same effect of the arrows of Cupid but without the bow and arrows. Love potion is considered by Siquijor healers as the most dangerous and even lethal product a healer can produce for other... (Shortened text, about 300 more words).
In Malaysia, after five days of search for flight MH370 with satellites unsuccessful, supernatural efforts have even been enlisted to find the missing Boeing 777-200. A famous bomoh, a Malay term for a shaman, performed a prayer at the international airport in Kuala Lumpur. The witch doctor who attempted to help locate the missing Malaysia Airlines jet has inspired a host of mobile video games featuring flying carpets and coconuts.
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In Vanuatu, it all started when the coconut tree sprouted from the head of an eel that was burned alive. A woman buried the head of the eel from which emerged a coconut tree. She then suggested that her husband drink the water from the fruit. After he rejoiced at her tasting, she warned him that it was actually the urine (Ureparapara myth) or blood (Mota and Mota Lava) of his mother eel. Death lurks around the couple coconut palm/man. Thus, objects symbolizing black magic (coconut wad, burnt bones and other ingredients) are buried under the bed, but also under the coconut trees at the time of planting. The spells of the coconut tree and its planter are then linked. Similarly, when a marriage contract is concluded, two coconut trees are planted side by side: the death of one of the two presages the death of one of the two bride and groom. Finally, a category of spicata-shaped coconut tree called môtô taktak is a bad luck coconut tree. If you have one in your garden, you will die young. The coconut tree is therefore endowed with intelligence, and it presents the same biological cycles as a woman... The question is still relevant because in 2015, the court of Luganville (island of Espiritu Santo) sentenced five men to a sentence of fifteen years' imprisonment each, after they were found guilty of the execution by hanging of two men accused of witchcraft... (shortened text, 500 additional words).
In the Maldives, police investigated and authorities took a coconut into custody. Its crime? Possible involvement in a black magic ritual.
A resident found the coconut on Guraidhoo, one of the many islands comprising the Maldivian archipelago, near a school. Eventually, a white magic practitioner declared the coconut to not be cursed after all. That same week, as local outlet Minivan News reported, a young coconut (known as a kurumba) inscribed with Arabic verses was found in a home garden. Concerned residents said that the coconut had been used in a fanditha, a combination of black magic, folk medicine, and spells. In local practices including fanditha and sihuru, verses from the Quran are often used. That’s why the coconut caused alarm: It had been inscribed with a verse, and its presence suggested possible foul play... (Shortened text, about 400 more words).©R. Bourdeix, 2021, section CFW
