myalismn.
/ˈmʌɪəlɪz(ə)m/, U.S. /ˈmaɪəˌlɪz(ə)m/, Caribbean English /ˈmaialɪzəm/, /ˈmailɪzəm/ Chiefly Jamaican.
A folk religion of Jamaica and other parts of the Caribbean, originating in slave culture, in which the power of ancestors is invoked to drive out spirits and heal the sick, typically through rituals such as drumming, dancing, ritual sacrifice, and herbalism.Originally contrasted with obeah, but the distinction has been largely lost, with obeah now often standing for both systems.
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the world > the supernatural > the occult > sorcery, witchcraft, or magic > non-European magic (miscellaneous) > [noun] > myalism
myalism1843
myal1868
1843 J. M. Phillippo Jamaica: Past & Present State 248 Myalism, as well as Fetishism, were constituent parts of Obeism.
1873 W. J. Gardner Hist. Jamaica 191 Of late years Myalism has generally been regarded as an art by which that of the Obeah man could be counteracted.
1874 S. D. Scott To Jamaica xiii. 231 Belief in witchcraft, under the name of Obeism and Myalism.
1902 Chambers's Jrnl. Feb. 84/2 Nowadays myalism is completely merged into obeahism, and the law punishes both equally.
1961 F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk xi. 243 One reads of a recrudescence of myalism after emancipation in which the myal-men were also known as angel-men.
1982 Caribbean Times 3 Dec. 14/2 Obeah, myalism, pocomania and koominah are religio-cultural forms of expression.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1843