"Housewives" from the Taiwanese Paiwan tribe are, according to a nifty BBC report, learning ancient witchcraft. But for those hoping to take it up, sorry:

The Paiwan, an aboriginal Taiwanese tribe, has a storied tradition of witchcraft dating back thousands of years - but one that has been almost entirely eradicated due to, first, the increasing spread of other religions, and later by the inevitable toll of modernization. The fact that the tradition is oral - the Paiwan did not record the numerous chants, as they had no written language - means that, as the number of witches, or mediums, dies off, the ancient practices may well too.

To fight its obsolescence, a group of women have received funding from Taiwan's Council of Indigenous Peoples to start a "witchcraft class" in which students - all of whom must, according to custom, be descendants of mediums themselves to have any chance of possessing the gift - learn the ancient chants that are an integral part of the polytheistic religion. Says Weng Yu-hua, "In the past, mediums had a high status in the tribe...They played an important role, especially during major occasions such as before a hunting excursion, before the year's crops were planted, or when the tribe mourned the death of one of its members."

Despite these seemingly stringent requirements, the class numbers 10 students, described as "housewives in their 30s to 50s." And there's demand for more classes. While the description of the women provides a telling contrast between a time when they would have been "high-status" tribe members - a time they're obviously interested in preserving - and the modern realities, it also triggered in my mind a wholly inappropriate scenario of a latest Bravo incarnation - which, come to think of it, would actually be fascinating, educational and, at the risk of trivializing an important and fascinating oral tradition, provide an important lesson on the preservation of heritage.

Taiwan Aborigines Pass On Witchcraft Tradition [BBC]
School Of Witchcraft Opens In Taiwan [Telegraph]

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