A Series of Unfortunate Events, Azande Style Lemony Snicket (n.d.) stated, “They didn’t understand it, but like so many unfortunate events in life, just because you don’t understand doesn’t mean it isn’t so”. This is entirely true in the case of the Azande and their beliefs in witchcraft. While many Americans won’t grasp their explanations for how witchcraft works, doesn’t mean the Azande are wrong. The Azande have an interesting fascination with witchcraft. Per E. E. Evans-Pritchard (n.d.:63) “Witchcraft is ubiquitous. It plays its part in every activity of Zande life; in agricultural, fishing, and hunting pursuits; in domestic life of homesteads as well as in communal life of district and court…”. Thus, the Zande see witchcraft as a cornerstone of their society. In this instance witchcraft is used to explain unlikely unfortunate events such as getting food poisoning when no one else does or getting a flat tire on the way to a job interview. Their understanding of witchcraft is that it is, simply put, annoying and inconvenient. …show more content…
E. E. Evans-Pritchard (n.d.:65) stated, “When misfortunes occur he does not become awestruck at the play of supernatural forces. He is not terrified at the presence of an occult enemy. He is, on the other hand, extremely annoyed”. In their society unless an action is caused by incompetence, breach of taboo, or lack of moral judgement (Evans-Pritchard, n.d.:65) evil forces are afoot. One key example is breaking one’s toe after stubbing it on a door jam. Does this happen every time one walks through the doorway? Likely not every time, but why in this instance did the act of stubbing one’s toe result in a breakage? This is a clear example of the Azande thinking in terms of witchcraft. Overall, witchcraft causes unexplained misfortunes because they are