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Pow-wow, called Braucherei in Deitsch, is a system of American folk religion and magic associated with the Pennsylvania Dutch. ==Origin of the name and practices== Its name comes from the book ''Pow-wows, or, The Long Lost Friend'', written by John George Hohman and first published in German as ''Der Lange Verborgene Freund'' in 1820. Despite the appropriation of "pow-wow", taken from an Algonquian word for a gathering of medicine men, the collection is actually a collection of European magic spells, recipes, and folk remedies of a type familiar to students of folklore. The formulas mix Christian prayers, magic words, and simple rituals to cure simple domestic ailments and rural troubles. Early Pennsylvania was a melting pot of various religious persuasions, as William Penn's promise of religious freedom opened the doors for many Christian sects: the Anabaptists, Quakers, Lutherans, German Reformed, Catholics, and all manner of religious mystics and free-thinkers. It is from this blending that the Pennsylvania German Pow-wow tradition was born.〔http://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-5&chapter=0〕 The tradition is also called ''braucherei'' or ''Speilwerk'' in Pennsylvania Dutch; its adepts are sometimes referred to as ''hexenmeisters'' or ''braucher'', though this is not common for all practitioners. The tradition of Hex signs painted on Pennsylvania barns in some areas is believed by some to relate to this tradition; the symbols were pentagrams, thought to have talismanic properties, though many current hex signs are made simply for decoration. Many scholars disagree with this claim, however, and generally the hex signs are believed to be the natural progression of German fraktur art.〔http://libwww.freelibrary.org/fraktur/guide.cfm〕 The Bible is considered the most important book of the Pow-wow, and no practitioner would work without his Bible on hand. In addition, several popular grimoires are also utilized, primarily the ''Romanus-Buchlein''〔http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/romanus.htm〕 and ''Egyptian Secrets of Albertus Magnus''.〔http://www.esotericarchives.com/moses/egyptian.htm〕 Important to some practitioners was the work ''The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses'', a magical text attributed to Moses and claimed as an esoteric sequel to the Biblical Five Books of Moses, or Pentateuch. Various versions of the work can be traced to 18th and 19th century German sources, while an English translation was published in New York in 1880 by the German antiquarian, Johann Scheible. However, the majority of practitioners were superstitiously fearful of this work and believed it invoked all manner of evil and devilry, as explained in the academic work ''The Red Church'' by author and Braucher Christopher Bilardi.〔http://esotericbookreview.wordpress.com/2010/10/01/the-red-church-by-bilardi/〕 An excerpt from ''The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses'', which many Pow-wowers find as justification for the Christian practice of Pow-wowing, reads: The origins of a majority of the charms and spells utilized by the Pow-wow are generally agreed upon to be remnants of Medieval Catholic charms against illness and witchery.〔http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/jms/jms10.htm〕 It is primarily understood by practitioners of the Powwow tradition that Powwow is an Americanized version of English Cunning Craft Cunning folk in Britain Another characteristic practice of pow-wow magic is the Himmelsbrief or "heaven's letter". Significantly, the ''Long Lost Friend'' assures its owner that: A 1988 film, ''Apprentice to Murder'', stars Donald Sutherland as "Pow-Wow" doctor John Reese, and Chad Lowe as his young apprentice Billy Kelly. Reese practices the folk magic rituals in a small Pennsylvania town whose residents believe they have fallen under a curse. The film makes use of the ''Pow Wows or the Long Lost Friend'' cited above. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pow-wow (folk magic)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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