Work
If it was determined that some misfortune which had befallen the area had been caused by a witch, the chief summoned his people to a great meeting, in which they all sat in a circle, sometimes for four or five days. The witch smellers then took their places in the center.
The witch smellers wore extravagant costumes, usually including animal skins and feathered headdresses, and face paint. Their hair was heavily greased, twisted in complicated designs, and frequently dyed bright red. They often carried assegais and shields, and also a quagga-tail switch, the symbol of their profession.
Read more about this topic: Witch Smeller
Famous quotes containing the word work:
“I’m a lumberjack
And I’m OK,
I sleep all night
And I work all day.”
—Monty Python’s Flying Circus. broadcast Dec. 1969. Monty Python’s Flying Circus (TV series)
“The country needs the political work of women to-day as much as it has ever needed woman in any other work at any other time.”
—J. Ellen Foster (1840–1910)
““As for myself, I am simply Hop-Frog, the jester—and this is my last jest.”... The Work of vengeance was complete.”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)