Similarities Between Roman Curses And The Witch Folklore Of Modern Newfoundland

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion
Utilizing the accounts outlined in Chapter 3, connections continue to arise between the Roman curses and the witch folklore of modern Newfoundland. One may very easily be able to notice how Dan and Susan’s tale could depict the receiving end of a curse like that of Prosodion’s tablet, for example, while other similarities do not end there—how these curses were created, for example, is more alike than one might first realize.
While the Roman curse tablets mentioned above are real, physical tablets discovered in archaeological contexts, the Romans themselves did not always believe that it was necessary to use a tablet to achieve a similar result. ‘Binding songs,’ for example, are notably said to predate curse

As discussed in Chapter 2, Newfoundland was built primarily on communities dedicated to the fisheries. That was how many made their livelihoods, and, for a significant portion of Newfoundland history, that was how many fed their families. For Perry’s father to have been unable to fish, it could have had disastrous consequences if left long enough—this lack of provisions is similarly hinted at in tales such as that of Polly Light, as it was said that, should anyone refuse the woman, they too could be left without adequate food. Other stories in which Newfoundland witches specifically target fishermen and their catch frequently appear as well, such as another where two brothers decided that an old woman must have been a witch and held her responsible for their poor fishing season because “[she] watched them leave the wharf each morning” (Rieti 1997, 78). While the curse tablet against Danae was much more direct in wishing for her death, these stories from Newfoundland reflect a very similar anxiety about their witches, who could potentially curse them to the same fate. The idea that witches can and will cause death is also easily traced throughout a significant portion of Newfoundland’s witch history, as it is noted that some of the earliest accounts of Newfoundland’s witches came in the form of the Basque women in 1609, who reportedly confessed on trial “to having travelled through the air to attend satanic assemblies in Terre-Neuve , perching atop ships’ masts, poisoning the catch as it dried on the sore, and sinking ships” (Rieti 2008, xi). Witches, in these instances, are meant to be seen as synonymous with killers—poisoning the catch and sinking the ships are both accusations that indeed could have led to deaths if it were something they were accused of—and their