Browse:Pins (Volume 1, entries 1420–1421)
Pins
Volume 1, entries 1420–1421. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → FOLK MEDICINE → CURE AND PROTECTION. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 1420
An' if ah got a wart on me, a large wart on mah han' or on mah face an' ah wanta git rid of it, ah'll go an' git me nine stickin'-pins. When ah git dese nine stickin'-pins ah'll pick dis wart until it bleeds. Well, den ah take nine drops of blood on each nine pins an' take it an' put it in a pretty white han'kerchief an' carry it to de fo'ks of de road an' throw it down; an' when ah throw it down dere'll be somebody come along an' see dat pretty han'kerchief layin' down dere an' dey pick up dis han'kerchief an' walk off wit it. Well, somebody else will be ketched
[by my warts].
The informant describes a hypothetical wart-transfer rite using nine pins, blood and a white handkerchief left at road forks for another person to pick up. Hyatt supplies the bracketed explanation of being caught by the warts. The transfer is a reported claim, not medical evidence.
Entry 1421
Yo' uses red peppah an' fo' pins crossed in a stah [star] in de bottom of yore shoe an' it's no way fo' them to do anything to yo' or hurt chew by no cunjuration or nuthin dey put down fo' yo'.
(You get four pins and cross tHem in the shape of a star. Show me how.)
Yo' take a pin - dis is one pin heah. Yo' take that an' cross it dis way an' yo' take de othah one an' cross it dis way; take de othah one an' cross it dis Way an' den yo' take that an' cross it dat way. Make it jis' as a stah in de sky. An' take dis peppah an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom - hot peppah pods an' take it an' put it in both of yore shoes at de bottom an' wear those pins in it an' dey cain't do yo' any harm - don't ca' where they lay something down fo' yo'. [My penciled note on original transcription reads, "Cross in each shoe - so 8 pins." What he have in each shoe is not a star with eight ends, four sharp (pin points) and four blunt (pin heads); instead, each shoe contains two crosses, one on top the other so that the four sides of the upper cross bisect the four sides of the lower cross. This rite is a double-cross. For Double-cross, see Index; for Triple-cross, see p.364.]