Marabouts and Juju

One of our assignments in training was to interview a marabout aka traditional healer.  The marabout tradition is centuries old but has evolved though the years.  Being a marabout is a tradition passed down in families and it turned out that the head of the compound in which I did my training, Baba Ceesay, was a marabout.  So one afternoon we sat down and interviewed Baba.  He learned his craft from his father who  had learned it from his father before him and so on.   He has already started training his two oldest sons as marabouts. Sick people will often go to the marabout before seeking help at a health center. Baba will talk to the person and then write down the appropriate text from the Koran that will have the power to cure them.  Baba will also tell fortunes, and make jujus for various requirements.   You can get a juju to protect you from evil, to bring good luck, to make someone love you etc. etc.  The marabout writes it down and then depending on the marabout he will make a pouch for you to wear it or you will need to have one made.

If the marabout does not make you a pouch you can take it to a local artisan who will make you a pouch.  You will see babies with jujus on the wrists, ankles, around their necks and bellies.  That baby is protected.

 

If you want your fortune told, you have to wait a day.  Baba will sleep and your fortune will come to him in a dream.  We asked Baba if he had any problems with the medical community.  He said that they would refer to him and he would refer to them.  An example of his referral would be if someone presented malaria symptoms he would refer them to the health clinic.  We asked our trainer, who is an educated woman, if she ever consulted marabouts and she said definitely.  Finally we asked Baba how you trained to be a marabout and he said a thorough knowledge of the Koran was necessary.  Both of the sons he was training were attending a madrassa so the Koran is part of their regular schooling.  

I myself am juju-less but many people from my group are sporting jujus.  Maybe I should have had one for protection.  ;-)