Triniglish | Trinididioms spoken and explained #103 - Maljo/Jharay; Yuh Iz Ah Trini series.
This thing has been dragging on for too long, and the child is not improving. Leah's parents are at their wits' end. Baby Girl has been sick for one week; she is not eating much and vomits whenever she manages to take a mouthful or two. What is wrong? The doctors don't know what is taking place, and the problem still exists. Hello people... Wake up and say, "Jharay de Chile, she has been struck with the 'evil eye' because she is just too damn cute!" So who would do such a thing to such a young child? The malady is maljo, and the cure is to jharay the person!
Well, listen up... Mal Yeaux (pronounced Maljo in Trinbago), or as some would say, 'the evil eye' or 'evil eye' can be cast by just anyone—even your next-door neighbor! Ask any Trinidadian. Any type of pain or discomfort can be blamed on good 'ole Maljo. Now, when one thinks of this malady, in the traditional sense, the conclusion is that only babies can get maljo... If you assume that, then you are completely wrong.
Think back to a time when you were a child growing up in Trinidad. Think really hard because I will refer to something you have seen, forgotten, or never really thought about. Can you recall seeing blue bottles lining your neighbor's fence? Some of the blue bottles (like the milk of magnesia bottles) were strategically placed in the four corners of the lot, or, as I have observed, they lined the boundaries of the lot. Now, why would someone go to all this trouble? Do you think it was a way to decorate, be unique, or just another way to use bottles? No, no, no, these bottles were placed there to ward off evil spirits and people who carried malicious spirits looking for an unsuspecting host—yes, the adults believed they too could become victims of Maljo! For some reason unknown to me, blue bottles were believed to repel evil spirits; this could also be accomplished personally by wearing Jumbie beads. Of course, you remember Jumbie beads; can you recall? They were the red and black beads that came from a pod that children played with; they were laced into a bracelet and worn to ward off evil.
OK, so what happens if you did not take the necessary precautions and, for some reason, you got the "bad-eye", "mal yeaux hex," and your spirit became very troubled, leaving you restless and very ill? As a child growing up in Trinidad, I saw a ceremony performed to get rid of this 'spirit sickness'. The village's most skilled and experienced residents conducted a formal ceremony to resolve this issue. It was usually done as part of an East Indian ritual. The way to get rid of evil was a ritual called "Jharay" (in simple terms, to clean or get deep down dirty to exorcise demons).
Now how is "Jharay done?" Now I had to call a few people to put this one together. Each person said something different, but some commonalities stood out. The main component was five (5). The materials and sayings were all done in fives. It is a healing prayer that suppresses the evil eye spell, forces it to leave the person, and enters a packet of ingredients that are then burned to destroy evil or simply sent back to the person from whom it came. This ceremony, as I can recall, was mostly to purge evil from children. However, Trinidadians use the Jharay to remove evil and sickness. However, we will remove the 'evil eye' that causes a child's soul to suffer!
As previously indicated, an elderly East Indian woman, priest, or someone who has performed the jharay ceremony over the years (often an older, experienced nana or nani) usually performs it. I have read about the use of peacock feathers in the ceremony. However, I can't remember seeing any feathers on display or worn in my neighborhood. Five cocoyea leaves (from the coconut tree branch) are utilized. The green leaf is stripped from the stalk (the stalk is utilized in the ceremony). This stalk is the same unit used to make cocoyea brooms. These brooms are used in just about any traditional Trinidadian home, not only to sweep the house or yard but also to beat out evil spirits (this applies to all people of Trinidad, not just East Indians). Now that the cocoyea stalks have been acquired, the rest of the ingredients used include the following: 5 bird peppers (pronounced bud peppers), five cloves of garlic, some salt (maybe just a pinch), and in some cases black pepper seeds are added—everything is added in fives. The smaller ingredients are wrapped in paper or cloth and passed over the child five times in a circular motion. The same is done with cocoyea sticks. The key to the ceremony is the prayer said while the jharay is performed. The prayer itself is also repeated five times. In a traditional sense, the prayer is said in Hindi, but in the real world, it is said in English. The priest or priestess simply tells the evil spirit to return to the sender. After this is done, the ingredients used in the jharay are burned. This part of the ceremony (the burning) is done as a final right to destroy the bad spell, but caution must be taken at this point. No one is supposed to look at the burning ingredients. Just as is the case in the Bible, where, fleeing from Sodom, Lot's wife disobeyed the advice of the angels and looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when the cocoyea sticks and ingredients involved in the jharay are prepared and set ablaze, one must not look in that direction, or else the evil spirit will come to you and attach itself to your soul.
Now that ends the Mal Yeaux and Jharay story. However, I can't tell you that Mal Yeaux (Maljo) is real or even if the ritual of purging the evil eye (Jharay) really works. In order for the Jharay to work, one has to believe Mal Yeaux (Maljo) is real. All I can say is that I was there when the Jharay was done, and I was told that the child had Mal Yeaux (Maljo). This belief does not only exist in Trinidad but on various islands and countries across the Americas and India. South America's Spanish lands have similar beliefs; we are not alone. Just remember that when modern medicine can't find a reason for your illness, it could be the cause of a symptom of a hex from someone with a 'bad eye' (Maljo) or Mal Yeaux (Maljo). Remember the cure, Jharay (Jaray)!
Now that Leah's parents have figured out what could be wrong with her, they are still perplexed; indeed, to repeat what I said before, they cannot think about what to do. They live in New York City, not in the Caribbean, where ingredients are readily available. I am leaving the comment section open for anyone to provide advice!
We conclude the post with two songs for your entertainment. However, for those intrigued by the process to remove the evil eye, we added another video that would be of interest to those interested in the actual process.
Please be advised that the music is presented here for your listening pleasure and for promotional purposes only ("Fair Use" Musical Content Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976). No copyright infringement is intended! We encourage you to promote the artists and their music; please don't share the music and rob the artists of needed income!
♫Please press the music player button below to listen now (small triangle in circle).
Music Videos
The same with the Jaray prayer people,believe it will work and said it did all because of believing it will and it 100% did for,them so let's not discount others and their belief