In his essay, Evans Pritchard deals with the concept of witchcraft in regards to the Azande people. Pritchard also talks about the concept of the natural and the supernatural. He poses the question, "do primitive peoples distinguish between the natural and the supernatural in the abstract" (p.30)? His answer to that question is that even in our own society (i.e. western society), some people cannot account for mysterious happenings and therefore attribute these to the "supernatural". However, as Pritchard states, the Azande have no such distinction between the natural and the supernatural; they have, as he says, no such "notions of reality" (p.30). .
Granted that the western world seems to have the same sorts of ideas as to the natural and the supernatural, who can truly determine what is real and what is unreal. The Azande, to some, may seem "primitive" for their beliefs in witchcraft and their ways of explaining the functions of the world around them, but that is what they have learned to believe. We all, individually, have ideas and beliefs that do not necessarily coincide with those of others or the societies that we live in. As such, what makes one idea or belief primitive and another advanced? -The age of science and reason? Even science cannot explain everything, and that is where belief comes in (at least, for those who choose to indulge in it). For some, mysterious happenings, be they good or bad, are the work of God; for others, it is the work of Angels. The Azande, however, explain some of their mysterious omens in the work of witchcraft. What, then, is the difference?.
The majority of the population believes in the existence of a god (Jehovah, Allah, whatever you may call him). There is nothing fascinating about that. In fact, rarely does one get questioned as to why one believes in God. The idea is so "normal" and matter-of-fact, that it has lost of all its mystery.
