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A Cultural Psychiatric Study of El-Zar Cult in U.A.R.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

A. Okasha
A. Okasha*
Affiliation:
Ain Shams University, Cairo
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Extract

El-Zar is one of the most popular traditional healing cults in Egypt, and it seems to have been introduced into the country from Sudan through Ethiopia. The word “Zar” means, in Amharic, the “devil” or “spirit”. Literally, the word is a derivative of the verb “to visit” and implies the intermittent visit of some wicked spirit. In practice, it generally connotes the gathering of some women, headed by a woman called “kodia”, with the purpose of exorcizing evil spirits.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 112 , Issue 493 , December 1966 , pp. 1217 - 1221
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1966 

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References

Baasher, T. (1966). “African and Near Eastern Symposium on Treatment in Psychiatry. Khartoum.” (Personal communication.) Google Scholar
Lambo, T. A. (1960). Brit. med. J., 1696–1704.Google Scholar
Sargant, W. (1957). Battle for the Mind. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
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