Scotland plans to pardon a number of 'witches' executed 400 years ago. It is known that most of the women and girls in Scotland in the past were accused of being witches. This pardon came because of a campaign by activists who urged the government to clear the names of the victims.
Leo Igwe, a professor at Cape Town University, who has worked for years defending women and children against witchcraft charges in his home country of Nigeria, said this could provide new impetus for eradicating similar crimes in many countries.
He and Scottish activists drew parallels between witch hunting in today's Africa and 16th-century Scotland, from the upheavals of urbanization to the religious fervor behind them. In Edinburgh and other Scottish cities, the purges became part of a larger power struggle between the Catholic Church and Protestant reformers inspired by Martin Luther and John Calvin, targeting innocent women as a means of demonstrating the sanctity of their cause.
"There is a 'fever' to find out who is closest to God," says Venditozzi.
Likewise, Igwe has clashed with evangelical pastors in Nigeria who he says have been investigating the activities of 'witches' to increase their numbers. Sometimes there is even a rush at the meeting to warn them of the law.
"There are many different groups competing for legitimacy and relevance and they do this by identifying people as witches," he said.
In Scotland, it took decades to end the witch hunt. In some cases, people have accused their neighbors of committing crimes to solve problems. Until the Witchcraft Act was repealed in 1769, a total of 3,837 people were convicted, the majority of whom were women and 2/3 of them were sentenced to death.
Others, including King James VI during his lifetime in 1589, believed in witches and developed what they thought was a scientific method for detecting witches. For example, stabbing them with a long needle to see how much blood they bleed. If there was not enough blood, it was considered a sure sign that the accused was a witch. This is summarized from The Bharat Express News, Monday (3/1/2021).
