myalism
/ˈmʌɪəlɪz(ə)m
/noun [mass noun]
A Jamaican folk religion focused on the power of ancestors, typically involving drumming, dancing, spirit possession, ritual sacrifice, and herbalism.He was sometimes called upon by other missionaries to travel to distant places during a revival of obeah and myalism during the early 1840s....
- The centrality of myalism in the novel indicates the constant process of creolization that is sustained by elements from the different cultures that make up Caribbean communities.
- The other, myalism, was intended to counteract obeah.
Origin
Mid 19th century: from myal, in the same sense (perhaps from Hausa mayl 'sorcerer'), + -ism.