Bound by blood: film explores Jamaica’s outlawed obeah tradition

Sosiessia Nixon’s tense feature Stew Peas follows Jamaican detective Tessa, whose life unravels as her husband, Neil, falls under the influence of their maid, Marcia. The story turns dark when it is revealed that Marcia has been adding her menstrual blood to the traditional kidney bean and meat stew, a practice presented in the film as a potent love potion.

Nixon frames the plot around the persisting Jamaican obeah belief that a woman can 'bind' a man by serving such a stew, and she hopes the film will prompt discussion about the tension between Christianity and obeah. Rooted in African heritage, obeah was outlawed by colonisers in the 1700s and remains illegal today; Nixon says she was inspired by growing up in St Thomas, sometimes nicknamed the 'obeah parish'.

Producer and actor Ava Eagle Brown says the film will resonate across the Caribbean and the diaspora, and jokes it may leave some men asking, 'What did you put it in my stew peas?' She also warned her son not to eat stew peas from any woman.

Jamaica, St Thomas

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