Powwowing, a superstitious custom, no doubt descending from medieval European folk superstitions, which professes to heal sicknesses by the pronouncement of a mysterious formula handed down from one practitioner to another, still practiced to some extent among the Pennsylvania Dutch of Pennsylvania and other regions in the 1950s. Some Mennonites and Amish have indulged in the practice. Accord­ing to the theory the ability to powwow (that is, to cure by powwowing) is handed down from a male to a female and then in turn from a female to a male practitioner. Powwowing is not "faith healing" nor healing by prayer. Similar practices involve the ability to cast off "the evil eye" which may have been "cast" upon beast or man by a person able to do so.

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 4, p. 208. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

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