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Pow-wow (folk magic)

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Not to be confused with Powwow, the Native American/First Nations gatherings.

Powwow or pow-wow is a system of Christian folk practice originating in the culture of the Pennsylvania Dutch in the 1700s. Known in Pennsylvania Dutch language as Brauche or Braucherei, powwowing includes a range of healing rituals used primarily for treating ailments in humans, livestock, and crops, as well as securing physical and spiritual protection, and other boons. Along with folk plant medicine, powwow forms one of two traditional healing practices among the Pennsylvania Dutch, although some researchers consider them to be the one and the same.[1]

Although the term powwow is a Native American loanword into English, these folk practices are ultimately of European origin and were brought to colonial Pennsylvania in the transatlantic migrations of German-speaking people from Central Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Powwow draws from earlier material in German-speaking Europe, including European grimoires, folk belief, and a variety of Christian texts. Traditional powwowing has changed and declined over the years but remains a subject of study among scholars and a point of public interest, and has inspired new religious movements.

Terminology

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Powwowing is the most commonly used English language term to refer to the ritual traditions of the Pennsylvania Germans.[2] The word powwow is a borrowing into English from Narragansett and Massachusett languages, where it meant 'Indigenous priest, shaman, healer' and ultimately derives from Proto-Algonquian *pawe·wa, meaning 'he (who) dreams'. The word has been in use in English in the region since the 1600s.[3] The use of the word powwow in this context in Pennsylvania may originate from perceived similarities among Pennsylvania Dutch healing practices and those of Native Americans.[2] Although some powwowers of Native American descent have practiced powow and some powwowers have claimed spirit guides have assisted them in healing rituals, the tradition is distinct from the Native American practice of powwow.[4]

In the Pennsylvania Dutch language, these practices are known as Brauche or Braucherei and in the folk tradition they are contrasted with Hexerei ('black magic') performed by Hexer ('witches' or 'sorcerers'). For example, the powwower is typically called upon to remove a hex placed by a Hexer on someone but the division between the two can be ambiguous.[5] The Pennsylvania German words Brauche and Braucherei are often translated as "trying" but other proposals include "blessing" (from a mistranscription of the Hebrew baruch), "needing or wanting" (from the High German verb brauchen), or "using" (from the Old High German verb gebrauchen).[6]

Usage and perception of these words do not align among speakers of English and Pennsylvania German. For example, according to Donmoyer:

... in the most basic sense, the English term "powwow" generally holds a neutral connotation, as opposed to Braucherei, which is generally positive to speakers of Pennsylvania Dutch. On the other hand, to some monolingual English speakers, the controversial word Hex can also be neutral. In Pennsylvania Dutch, however, Hex (meaning either a witch or a curse) carries an extremely negative connotation, but Braucher (synonymous with a powwow practitioner) is positive rather than neutral, unless the context is one of humor or disbelief.[7]

Practicioners are variously referred to as powwowers, powwows, powwow doctors, brau doctors, Brauchers, Brauch doctors, hex doctors, or less commonly, in Pennsylvania Dutch, Hexenmeisters. Individuals who oppose powwow practices may use the word witch or sorcerer or the Pennsylvania Dutch word Hex. In Pennsylvania German, the infinitive form of 'to powwow' is Brauchen.[8]

Development and use of texts

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Powwow as a distinct tradition developed in the 1700s as primarily German-speaking migrants (along with migrants from the British Island) settled in Pennsylvania. This folk culture developed from a variety of Christian traditions in Europe. Although the population was primarily protestant, elements of Catholic tradition are reflected in powwowing, such as the invocation of Catholic saints for healing.[9]

Historically, powwowers utilized a corpus of literature, some of which prescribed rituals and incantations. These include the use of Bible verses, John George Hohman's Der lang verhorgene Schatz und Haus Freund (typically rendered in English as 'The Long Lost Friend' but directly 'The Long Hidden Friend'), Albertus Magnus's Egyptian Secrets, or less commonly the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses. The latter was at times considered a "hex book", a work of the devil (see terminology section above).[10]

Hohman's book was particularly influential among powwowers. For example, scholar Don Yoder references to it as "a standard printed corpus of magical charms for the Pennsylvania Germans". Der lang verhorgene Schatz und Haus Freund has seen multiple German and English editions. Hohman, a German migrant who arrived in Philadelphia in 1802 and authored a variety of publications before disappearing from the historic record after 1846, remains a mysterious figure. As Yoder summarizes, Hohman was "intentionally or unintentionally, a mystery man, one of the most influential and yet most elusive figures in Pennsylvania German history".[11]

Der lang verhorgene Schatz und Haus Freund functioned as a standardized repertory for many powwowers but it was preceded by and used in parallel with an independent manuscript tradition, which some powwowers preferred. Powwowers also used variations on material found in Hohman's book.[12]

Over time, the use of these texts significantly declined among traditional powwowers. During fieldwork performed in the 2000s, Kriebel found only a single individual who used any manual or spellbook beyond the Bible. According to Kleiber, "It can be speculated that the decline in the use of such books is a result of the 1929 York 'Witch Trial' and the subsequent calls for 'superstition' to be eradicated by the introduction of scientific education."[10]

Status, stigma, and modern reception

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In a paper published in 2006, scholar David W. Kriebel records that his field research indicated a common perception in the region that the practice had died out and "in fact, fewer than half the people I spoke with had even heard of it". Among the powwow patients and practitioners he encountered, some expressed a fear that "others [would] label them crazy, or at a minimum, old-fashioned and 'dutchy.'" Kriebel also witnessed a "opposition to the practice by certain religious individuals who believe either that powwowing's efficacy derives from the devil or that spiritual healing should be the province of organized churches, as well as by those who believe powwowing is inconsistent with a modern, scientific worldview". Kriebel was eventually able to identify eight living individuals who continued the practice of Pennsylvania German powwow.[13]

Writing in 2017, Kriebel notes that a perception existed in the cultural area that pow-wowing was a thing of the past. However, since the 2000s:

.. with the publication of books and Internet articles, powwowing has attracted more attention, and the number of openly self-identified powwowers has increased. Much of this increase has been among the neo-pagan and neo-heathen community and has become the centerpiece of a larger movement by younger Pennsylvania Germans and others with esoteric interests to link Pennsylvania German cultural practices to pre-Christian Germanic religions. This contrasts with traditional powwowing as it has been practiced both in this country and among Germans elsewhere, which is founded on a Christian worldview.[14]

Beginning in the 1990s, some elements of powwow have been embraced by new religious movements, particularly strains of neopaganism. In 1997, Wiccan and Pennsylvania German descendent Jenine E. Trayer authored HexCraft: Dutch Country Magick under the pen name Silver RavenWolf. Trayer studied under Preston Zerbe, a traditional powwower who worked in Adams and York counties and reinterpreted the material as a pagan practice "diguised" as folk Christianity. Urglaawe (Pennsylvania German meaning 'original faith') is another new religious movement that reinterprets powwow traditions in the context of Heathenry and "represents an attempt to connect with and recreate a pre-Christian past" and notably utilizes the Pennsylvania German language. Urglaawe typically avoids the common English term powwow in favor of Braucherei.[15]

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ Kriebel 2017: 341: "... the two characteristic forms of folk medical practice among Pennsylvania Germans-powwowing (known in the Pennsylvania German dialect as Braucherei, or Brauche) and herbal medicine. Some scholars would not distinguish the two, since powwowers have frequently employed plant substances as material components in spells and used herbal cures as an adjunct to their supernaturally based healing practice."
  2. ^ a b Donmoyer 2017:13: "Although the word "powwow" is certainly Native American in origin, this term has also been used extensively since the eighteenth century to describe American healing practices of European origin. For better or for worse, powwowing is the most common designation today for the ritual traditions of the Pennsylvania Dutch. These practices are not to be confused with Native American traditions of the same name. Nonetheless, certain similarities with other traditional and indigenous healing systems may indeed be part of the reason that this term developed such a distinctive connotation in Pennsylvania."
  3. ^ * Oxford English Dictionary, “powwow (n.), Etymology,” March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1035585549. * Oxford English Dictionary, “powwow (n.),” March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1025731429.
  4. ^ Kriebel 2007: 13: "Powwowing is not to be confused with the Native American "pow-wow," although individuals of Native American descent have practiced powwowing in the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition, and some powwowers claim that Native American spirit guides have assisted them in conducting healing rituals."
  5. ^ Kriebel 2006: 101 & 105.
  6. ^ Kriebel 2007: 13-14: "While the origin of the term is obscure, powwowing is known as Brauche, or Braucherei, in the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect. These dialect terms are often translated as "trying," although other meanings have been proposed, including "blessing" (as a mistranscription of the Hebrew baruch) and "needing or wanting" (from the High German verb brauchen), or "using" (from the High German verb gebrauchen).
  7. ^ Donmoyer 2017: 18.
  8. ^ Kriebel 2007: 14: "Practitioners are referred to as "powwowers," the term used in this article, but also as "powwows," "powwow doctors," "brau doctors," "Brauchers," "Brauch doctors," "hex doctors" or, rarely, in Pennsylvania Dutch, Hexenmeisters. Those who oppose the practice use the terms "witch" or "sorcerer" or the Pennsylvania Dutch term "Hex." The infinitive form of the verb "to powwow" in the dialect, is Brauchen ("to powwow" in English)."
  9. ^ "In "powwowing" (Brauchen, Braucherei), Pennsylvania's continuing brand of occult folk-medicine, which uses charms in the attempt to heal the ills of man and beast, to quote the title of the principal powwow book still in use, the saints make a brief post-Reformation appearance, occasionally trailing parts of their legends behind them." (Yoder 1971: 160, see also note on this page regarding Hohman) "The Pennsylvania German folk-culture, which was built up in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, reflects the passive continuance of much of the medieval Catholic world view and saint lore that marked the earlier European Protestantism, that is, the "Old" Protestantism before it was retreaded in the eighteenth century by Pietism and Rationalism. In the twentieth century, the specific knowledge of the saints' legends is of smaller consequence in Pennsylvania German culture than the general survival of bits and pieces of the European medieval saint complex that was so large a part of the pre-Reformation folk-mind." (Yoder 1971: 159)
  10. ^ a b Kreibel 2006: 102. For more discussion from Kreibel on this and related books, see Kreibel 2017: 343-347.
  11. ^ Yoder 1976: 235-236.
  12. ^ Yoder 1976: 238-239.
  13. ^ Kriebel 2006: 101.
  14. ^ Kreibel 2017: 343-344.
  15. ^ Kreibel 2017: 353-354.

Sources

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  • Donmoyer, Patrick J (2017). Powwowing in Pennsylvania: Braucherei and the Ritual of Everyday Life. Kutztown University of Pennsylvania.
  • Kriebel, D. W. (2006). "Powwowing: A Traditional Pennsylvania German Healing Practice". Yearbook of German-American Studies, 2, ppp. 101-110. Web
  • Kriebel, David W. (2007). Powwowing Among the Pennsylvania Dutch: A Traditional Medical Practice in the Modern World. Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Kriebel, David W. (2017) "Medicine" in Pennsylvania Germans: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, pp. 341-360. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Yoder, Don (1971). “The Saint’s Legend in Pennsylvania German Folk-Culture”. Wayland Hand (editor). American Folk Legend: A Symposium, pp. 157-184. University of California Press.
  • Yoder, Don (1976). "Hohman and Romanus: Origins and Diffusion of the Pennsylvania German Powwow Material". Wayland Debs Hand (Editor). American Folk Medicine: A Symposium. University of California Press.
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