The Devil was her Deity: Народное колдовство в графстве Йорк, Южная Каролина, в XVIII-XIX вв.

Вестник РГГУ. Серия «Литературоведение. Фольклористика». 2024. № 1. С. 36–51.

Aleksandrov G.

The notions of sorcery and witchcraft exist, in some way, in most human
societies, and are often intrinsically connected with religion, or at least with the complex of
ideas, concepts and practices usually referred to as folk religion. The specifics of folk religiosity

in Southern colonies and later Southern states of the US, are under-researched in some aspects –
while contemporary syncretic religions are explored in great detail, folk religion of the colonial
period remains somewhat underexplored, mostly due to insufficient sources. However, it can be
reconstructed, at least to some degree, using materials collected by members of local elites
interested in local history and ethnography. This article examines the ideas of witchcraft in York
County, South Carolina, in the XVIII-XIX century. The key questions touch upon are the local
specifics in comparison to wider colonial culture, the evolution of the ideas of witchcraft in the
late colonial and early independence period, and the influence of folk religion on the emergence
of specific southern religiosity.

Keywords: folk religion, колдовство, народная религия, witchcraft, magic, colonial North America, колониальная Северная Америка