Puripuri
A Tok Pisin word for magic and charms in Papua New Guinea, covering garden, love and fishing magic as well as sorcery.
Also: puri-puri, pura pura, melanesian magic
Puripuri is used in Tok Pisin for magic in a broad sense, across Papua New Guinea. The word covers protective garden magic, charms for success in trade or fishing, love magic, healing, and the harmful work called sorcery. Early anthropologists, including Bronisław Malinowski in the Trobriand Islands, wrote at length about how magic was woven into gardening and canoe building, and treated it as a part of practical life. Many specialists keep knowledge private as a family or clan property, passed to a chosen heir. Church leaders in Papua New Guinea often teach that it is incompatible with Christianity, and many people hold both views. A person is rarely described as practising puripuri openly, and the word often appears in accusations.