Sorcery beliefs and oral tradition in Cheticamp, Cape Breton

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.