Migration and Religion: A Case of Healing Arabic Amulets among Syriac Orthodox Immigrants in Canada
Migration and Religion: A Case of Healing Arabic Amulets among Syriac Orthodox Immigrants in Canada

Summary/Abstract: Religious beliefs and customs migrate transnationally with the immigrants who carry them from their countries of origin into their new countries of settlement. Among these religious beliefs are those that concern health and sickness, and more specifically, preventatives and cures. This article presents a case study of medical beliefs within the Christian Syriac Community of Sherbrooke in Canada, as witnessed through two amulets that contain two Psalmic invocations handwritten in Arabic, which were kept as heirlooms of the Batrie family. This article explores the way first generation immigrants transplanted homeland religious beliefs and practices in a new social environment, with the use of amulets as a conduit between man and the supernatural, and, more pragmatically, the use of Psalmic verses as healing medium with miraculous power.

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