If you are thinking to yourself, “…So what is a bruja?”
You are not alone. To answer simply, it means “witch.” But there’s so much more to the term than that. It’s a fascinating word and world with many meanings and we’re going to just barely skim the surface of those meanings now.
Let’s take a moment to chat about what bruja means and what roles they play in the daily lives of Latina/os/x. (Sidebar – if you’re not sure what Latinx means, honestly, no shame if you don’t as it’s a relatively new term; in an article released in October of 2020 by Vogue, journalist Paola Ramos and author of the book Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity, describes it as, “The ‘x’ is an invitation for anyone that has ever felt left out of a term, of a conversation, of a community… Latinx is the one term that gives everyone a home.”) I will circulate through these gender/non-gender endings to ensure all people feel like they’re at home throughout this blog.
Now, one more note, I’m sure for every family these terms are going to have slightly different connotations, so the following are generalizations, and if these are totally different from how your family understood them or if they’re spot on, I would love to learn your variations in the comments below!
What is a bruja?
When Americans typically think of witches we think of hunched over, green skinned women, with pointy black hats, and bad attitudes. Best case scenarios, we think of Winifred from Hocus Pocus, worst case, we think of the Salem Witch Trials. (Actually, best case scenarios is the witch trial scene from Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail.)
Brujas are a bit different. The pacts with Satan, sexual sadism, devil worship, and conspiracies against lords and kings, those rumors and whispers remained mostly… mostly in Europe. Of course, the church has had movements to remove those who were considered as practicing witchcraft in Mexico, but, as we’ll see later in this article, Catholicism has become interwoven within the practices of many if not most brujas even to this day. In a fairly dated, but still interesting article by Charles E. Mortizky, he states, “The belief in the supernatural is intermingled with their church beliefs in ways that are incredible.” And it is in part thanks to the suppression from the church, that the practice of brujeria still exists and likely why so many of our abuelas incorporate little brujeria rituals into their day-to-day activities.
When you go to the great and powerful Google for a definition, it reads Brujas as “a witch.” But what does that mean? A kitchen witch? A hedge witch? A follower of Wicca? Solitary? Coven?
From what I’ve seen, a common theme is the idea that magic surrounds us. It’s in both the little and large things. That anything around you can be used to help you on your journeys. In her book, The Mexican Witch Lifestyle, Varleria Ruelas defines the lifestyle as, “a way of living that involves doing magic every day.”
And Laura Davila, a Bruja de Ranchero, defines the practice as providing, “services such as healing, divinatory, and advisory work,” and that Bruja de Rancho have become, “a figure to honor, redeem, and empower.” But there is another term that is also associated with magical practices in Mexico, which is known as hechiceria. In her book, Davila goes on to define the difference between brujeria and hechiceria as hechiceria has more associations with the dark, particularly in regards to sexual prowess, whereas being a bruja focuses on pursuing the greater good, even if that does mean occasionally dabbling in the dark to find the light.
The Beginnings
Brujería evolved from native practices and the term became associated with spiritual practices that both healed others and empowered the marginalized practitioners during the Spanish colonial period. It worked to exact revenge on cheating spouses, to protect or to cleanse a person of a curses, to read tarots to give people hope, to communicate with our loved ones who have moved on. It’s focused on the spiritual powers of individuals, and connects us to the powers of angels, Catholic saints, and those among the muerto who we believe can help us in our current endeavors. Like Mortizky indicates, the blend of church and indigenous practices, including those from indigenous South American peoples, Caribbean peoples, and indigenous Africana practices. These practices, rituals, beliefs, and traditions range drastically throughout South America as they were typically passed along within families from one generation to the next.
And there are many who are still actively practicing today. Now, with the exception of those who are helping to raise awareness of their crafts and practices on social media, up until quite recently, brujas operated quietly, without much branding on their front door, but it’s said that if your community had a bruja or a brujo, you knew who they were and you knew when to go to them, even though the practice was forced to the literal and metaphorical outskirts of society due to the restrictions set on practitioners by the church throughout the last several centuries, but, as an unintended result, the church helped to popularize and strengthen the resolve of the brujas, (vice article site).
My best friend told me a story of a curse that a bruja helped a woman place on her cheating spouse that her grandmother used to tell her, more to that in the future post Te de Toloacha – Teas that Harm. And my mom has a couple of stories of practices she witnessed in her childhood practiced by the curanderos, the traditional doctor, and by her grandmother, which brings us back around to the magic of huevos – eggs, which leads us on into our next post.
How does your family describe brujas? Does your family have any stories connected to them? Are you a practicing bruja? Let me know in the comments below and see you in the next post!
