Asian witchcraft
These deeply entrenched superstitions have perpetuated acts of violence and marginalization against those accused of witchcraft, underlining the urgent need for legal reforms and human rights protections to counter these alarming trends.
In Chinese culture, the practice of Gong Tau involves black magic for purposes such as revenge and personal gain.
Within Abrahamic religions, attitudes varied: Judaism had a mixed view of magic, Christianity condemned it, and Islam encompassed a range of perspectives.
This evolving landscape reflects the interplay between cultural beliefs and societal norms, shaping the enduring presence of witchcraft in the region's history.
[citation needed] In certain parts of India and Nepal, belief in the supernatural has led to instances of witch-hunting and abuse against women accused of witchcraft.
Outdated customs and superstitious beliefs perpetuate this cycle, limiting accused women's access to education and opportunities.
[citation needed] In 19-century India, Christian missionaries, especially Jesuit missions, defined the term "witchcraft" as any involvement in non-Christian spiritual activities.
David Mosse observed that: Parishioners discovered attending pagan dramas, [...] or engaging in Hindu practices or "witchcraft" of other kinds were publicly humilated, having to wear a crown of thorns during Mass, or to go around the church on their knees; [...] When misfortune struck, priests were ready to explain this as retribution for engagement in the "abominable villainy and deceit" of witchcraft—broadly taken as any non-Christian meditation.
[4] Murder is commonly carried out by means of being burned, hacked or bludgeoned to death, often preceded by ritual humiliation, such as being stripped naked, smeared with filth and forced to eat excrement.
[4] The influence of Buddhism on shamanism and witchcraft in the Himalayas has been profound,[citation needed] leading to complex interactions and adaptations.
[citation needed] Many aspects of indigenous spiritual beliefs were harmonized with Buddhist teachings, resulting in syncretic practices that combined elements of both traditions.
Shamanic practices, which often involved spirit communication and healing rituals, evolved to coexist with Buddhist concepts of compassion and karma.
While some shamanic and witchcraft practices persisted, they were often reinterpreted within the framework of Buddhist ethics and cosmology, altering their form and intent.
[6] Punishment can range from receiving severe beatings with sticks or other blunt object to being forced to consume human excreta, a common practice in the plains area of Nepal.
In contrast, anthropologists writing about the healers in Indigenous Philippine folk religions either use the traditional terminology of these cultures, or broad anthropological terms like shaman.
[citation needed] Rather, locals can also consult them to initiate a form of criminal punishment through black magic for cases where families feel that an injustice to the victim was not properly taken cared of by prosecutors, leading to the freedom of the accused.
[10] Witchcraft in Vietnam is a diverse and culturally rich practice deeply intertwined with the country's traditional beliefs and indigenous spirituality.
[12] In modern times, Gong Tau in Hokkien, Teochew in Cantonese or Jiang Tou in Mandarin is the term used when someone is suspected of having been attacked by black magic and is believed to be a fusion of poison skills which originated in Yunnan, China and witchcraft seen in South East Asia.
The fox can turn invisible and be set out to find secrets and it still retains its many powers of illusion which its master will often put to use in order to trick his enemies.
Despite the repetitive story lines that are supposed to be aimed at children, the magical girl genre brings attention to the surrounding gender roles and identities.
[21] In 1890, Horace G. Underwood, an American Presbyterian missionary, defined the Korean translation of the English word "witch" as "mudang" in his English-Korean Dictionary.
[22] Confucian yangban elites also considered musok to be witchcraft,[22] and many Korean intellectuals eager for modernisation came to regard it as a superstitious practice that should be eradicated;[23] they increasingly referred to it with the term misin ("superstition").
[31] Critics regularly focus their critique on the large sums of money that the mudang charge,[32] and maintain that the expenses required for its rituals are wasteful.
[32] Kendall noted that there was a "generally adversarial relationship" between mudang and Protestants in South Korea,[34] the latter regarding musok as "Devil worship".
[35] Mainline Protestant theologians have sometimes blamed musok for predisposing Koreans to Pentecostalism and the idea that prayer can generate financial reward.
