BLACK MAGIC, WITCHCRAFT AND MYSTERY AT TAMALE FETISH MARKET

By Saul Sebag-Montefiore

On the surface Tamale market is like any other dotted around Ghana, buzzing with life, commerce, vivid sights, colours and smells. However, there is a small section of the market buried deep in the vast maze of incredible cloth and food stalls that opens a window to a dark, ancient world shrouded in mystery.

The fetish section of the large central market is tucked away in a small muddy corner of the market, comprising of just a few small stalls selling a large variety of weird animal artifacts. Scraps of tiger, leopard, snake and crocodile skin, horses tails, dried chameleons, lizards, turtles, vultures and shriveled monkey heads, imported from Burkino Faso, sit eerily in the stalls like a series of darks secrets that no-one wishes to whisper. The reason this section of market is such an incredible and unique place to visit is because it is a living relic of ancient superstition, black magic and voodoo witchcraft that used to be so prevalent in Ghanaian society and religion. Stalls like these are becoming a rarity in Ghana as the majority of people begin to finally accept that paracetamol tablets are more effective for curing a headache than running through a series of fires, entirely naked while swallowing dog eyes and waving a decapitated chicken above your head. However, there are still local people who cautiously sidle up to these dark, mystical stalls and purchase a piece of exotic animal to be used for traditional medical purposes.

Mohammed Kwesie, a shopkeeper from one of the fetish stalls explained, ‘local people come here and buy ingredients that they use in their own recepies to make herbal remedies to cure a variety of illnesses. Headaches, malaria, stomach bugs, body pains, skin disease and many other things. For example: to cure a headache some people use Ayigali, which is a black powdery substance. You use water and rub the block of Ayigali against a rock to create a watery paste that you rub onto your head and your headache will disappear within minutes. Ayigali is also used by many to clean the eyes and they spread the watery black paste onto their eyeball leaving vision clean and clear.’ Mohammed Kwesie looked at me strangely when I asked him whether it actually worked before stating, ‘Yes it works!’

A customer at one of the stalls came up and quietly bought a chameleon and a monkey head. He refused to give his name but explained, ‘monkey and chameleon is a Muslim medicine that cures anything. I personally prepare my remedy by crushing it into powder, burning it before either rubbing it into the skin or consuming it with food or tea. I use it to cure hand pain and stomach upset and it only takes minutes to relieve the pain. I have been using it for 15 years and it works, certainly.’

Although, this customer was happy there are also many conflicting views on the subject of whether the herbal remedies actually work. A middle-aged woman who was passing through the market stated, ‘I do not believe in this medicine, how can a crushed monkey head cure a headache? It does not work. I’ll never use it myself.’

The substances in these stores are not just used for medicines but are also used for much darker purposes, such as cursing. There was hardly anyone in the market who was willing to talk about this sensitive subject that is treated with extreme trepidation. However, one shopkeeper explained, ‘cursing is a way of putting bad luck and encouraging harm to befall upon a person who has wronged you – there are many different spells and methods of cursing so I could not tell you how people do it but generally the procedure involves crushing and burning the substance, to release the spirits and chanting and praying to invoke the deity to bring bad luck to the victim of the curse.’

Whether one believes in curses or not, there is an incredibly sinister, threatening and dangerous undertone to the uses of the substances in the fetish market. It is obvious to see why there is such fear and secrecy surrounding the subject because only a select few have the knowledge to carry out the mysterious rituals and even fewer are willing to talk about it. However, to experience this incredible place of secrecy and mystery transports you to an ancient African world of magic and witchcraft that still lives in a small corner of Tamale Market – a sight that you will see nowhere else on the planet.