Mumbo Jumbo
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) Among the Mandingos of the western Sudan, a bugbear by means of which the women are terrified and disciplined by societies of the men, one of whom assumes a masquerade for the purpose; hence, loosely, any Negro idol, fetish, or bugaboo.
(2): An object of superstitious homage and fear.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
a mysterious personage frightful to the whole race of African matrons. According to the description of Mr. Wilson, "he is a strong, athletic man disguised in dry plantain leaves, and bearing a rod in his hand, which he uses on proper occasions with the most unsparing severity. When invoked by an injured husband, he appears about the outskirts of the village at dusk, and commences all sorts of pantomimes. After supper he ventures to the town-hall, where he commences his antics, and every grown person, male or female, must be present, or subject themselves to the suspicion of a guilty conscience. The performance is kept up until midnight, when Mumbo, with the agility of the tiger, suddenly springs upon the offender, and chastises her most soundly, amid the shouts and laughter of the multitude, in which the other women join more heartily than anybody else, with the view, no doubt, of raising themselves above the suspicion of such infidelity."
