Browse:St. Peter (Volume 1, entries 3028–3041)
St. Peter
Volume 1, entries 3028–3041. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → (3) SAINTS. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 3028
Now, St. Peter is another saint. He don't pray. St. Peter don't pray atall. He's - he don't stand no foolishness. Now, St. Peter is a man who'll do anything that you ask him to do, for this simple reason - he's got the keys of heaven, see. Now, you get down and you get to St. Peter and you ask him for things, he'll open the way for you. You ask him to open the way for you and he'll open the way for you and he'll let you get jobs. You promise him something, give it to him. Now, the biggest thing you can give St. Peter is a key. You get you a key and get you a piece of blue ribbon. Put that key on a piece of blue ribbon and hang it around his neck; give it to him and you'll have success in every way and in every respect that you undertake. Understand.
(Where do you have St. Peter? In the church you mean?)
St. Peter's in the church. Course you could have 'im at the house, if you have 'im blest, but you got to always be sure you know what you are doing when you talking to saints. Course we talking to the saints, but we talking to The Man Above, too, because He's got something to do with this, you see. But when you.talking to the saints and you promise them things, if you don't hold to your promise you're just blowed up - that's all there's to it.
Entry 3029
Mah brother had done got to be a young man, see, and dis lady whut - dis woman whut he was in trouble wit was after him. She Was kinda ole - see, too ole fo' him, he was 18. All right. Well, she begin to buy candles - see, burn candles on him. She burned 'em a little bit at de time - every 20 minutes. All right. He begin to weaken down, suffer, nowhere he went he was satisfied - nowhere he went. Well she took his socks - see, the left. And his dirty garment, you know de BD's [= B. V. D.'s - unionsuit], took dat.
(What do you mean, took his garment? That had something on it from him?)
Yeah. She took dat and she took penny nails. She had a drier in her yard in de back - you know, in de back yard. She had his hands stretched out like dis [demonstrates] and de toes. See, dey were dem long shirt - well, de BD whut dey were, long ones.
(B. V. D.'s. You mean underclothing?)
That's it. And she had him laid - you know, tacked down wit penny nails. Eight penny nails it was. And she had dat dirty sock - were right in de middle of it.
[I now describe informant's demonstrations.]
(She put this underclothing - stretched it out and she tacked it down on top of the ground, and then she put this left sock in the middle of that, and then she covered it all over with dirt.) Well, mah brother wasn't satisfied nowhere. He had to leave from out of town. He left and he wun't [would not] come back. Don't care who send or write fo' him, he wun't come back.
(What did she do this for? To run him away? She didn't want him any more?)
Naw, she got mad cause he wouldn't marry her. She say she don't want him do nobody else no good. An' she done that. Well, ah prays to St. Ann, to Blessed Mother - that's is, to Blessed Mother. I prays and prays. Well, ah tell you what ah'll do, I say, I kin make him come back. Well, I got dem blessed holy candle, dem pure white candles.
(Where did you get it? From the church?)
I got it from de church, from de Fathers from St. Joseph's here. See, I bought it. I tole him to bless dat candle.
(You didn't tell him what you wanted to use it for?)
No, ah didn't tole him - ain't no use. An' ah got St. Peter. Ah sent away and ah got St. Peter - ah couldn't buy St. Peter nowheres here in Mobile. Got a brand-new key and a piece of blue, you know, ribbon [and made] a bow-like.
(Wait a minute! You got a St. Peter's key. Where did you send to get that?)
No, ah got St. Peter's photo. Ah send to mah niece to New Orleans to get it.
(Where did you send to get that, the photo?)
From New Orleans. That was the only place. Mah little niece sent it back to me in a hurry. All right. Ah went down there to the Catholic church to Father X and told him to bless this photo for me of St. Peter, see. I wanted a holy candle right away. He blessed that all at one time. He blessed that key, too. He say, "You want de key blessed, too."
(What kind of key did you have?)
Key like you unlock de door with.
(Where did you get the key?)
Ah bought dat key.
(A new key?)
Yeah, a brand-new key ain't never been used. All right. Well he blest it and before he blest it ah tacked dis key on to St. Peter, see. Ah put on there any kind of bow mah mind made me. Tied a big bow, a brand new piece - ah got a halfa yard fer ten cents.
(A ribbon - blue ribbon.)
Tie on St. Peter and nailed St. Peter up right over mah door, where you come in. Light dat holy candle and ah burned it only three days, on Wednesday, Friday and Monday - only three days, jest had one candle. Ah sweeten it down wit some sugar. Ah burn dat and ah call mah brother's name three times, see; call mah brother's name three times and den ah put mah name on with it see, one time - only one time.
(You call your name once.)
Call mah name once and call mah brother's name three times; and dis woman's name, ah call her two times. Well, mah brother came home. In three days he came, and he say, "Sister, ah got something bad on mah mind." Ah say, "What is it?"
[Recording is bad but he was going to kill the woman.]
She was burning a black candle on him.... Well, he gave her up. He almost like tuh kill her. He hated her. He drew her blood and he left her. [Drawing blood is an old remedy to kill a witch's power, see 485-487, p.148 and Index.] He came to Mobile.
(How long ago did this happen?)
Well that happen about five years ago right here in Mobile.
Entry 3030
Yessuh, ah burns a red light to St. Peter or eithah a green light.
(How would you burn that?)
Ah burns a red light to St. Peter - ah burns it lak ah wants a job, ah wants mah do's tuh be open. Ah want mah man behin' me in mah work. Ah sets mah green light fo' nine days an' if ah wus in de night, ah'd raps fo' him an' ah calls him, 'St. Peter, open do's - let no man kin close 'em, because ah know yo' got de key. Ah know yo' have de key an' open do's." An' ah'll set him a bouquet of flowers an' ah'll let mah light burn fo' nine days. An' at de end of de nine days he'll give me mah wish.
(You burn these lights at any particular time?)
Ah burns 'em diff'rent days. Ah burns it on Wednesdays, Mondays - all day.
(All day, just during the daylight?)
Or de nighttime.
Entry 3031
St. Peter, he'll open the door for you.
(Well, how would you do that? What would you do for St. Peter?)
St. Peter, you carry him a key.
(Where? To the church or?)
Yeah, to the church. But if you got a key to your house - and you tell St. Peter to open the door for you, you give him that key. Well, you've got to give him that key. And if you tell St. Raymond to do good for you, you give him a flower or piece of money - dime like that, you give him that. Whatever promise you make him, you got to give it to him though; and if you don't, he take it away from you.
(Where do you buy these keys to give St. Peter?)
You have to buy it from the store. But don't let nobody use that key, but get that key and buy that key yourself.
(You can't buy those keys at the church then?)
No, you can't buy them at the church. (Now, if they have these saints at home, how would they do - what would they do wi th them at home?) They takes 'em and puts them on the mantelpiece - sometimes they puts 'em on the mantelpiece, sometimes they have a little altar. You know what an altar is. Well they have a little altar and they have a candle at each one of those saints, burning in there.
Entry 3032
St. Peter, he opens the doors for anybody - you know, who has bad luck and can't get anything. You have to get a key and put it up over the door, you see, and put a light to him. You put a green light for him, that's for money. They do this in the house, and then you can put it in the church too. [Informant does not mean Roman Catholic Church but the private church I call a public shrine (pp.770-773).] But you can keep all that I'm telling you in the house. But in the church too you can make your prayers. You can make the prayers at the house, it's all the same thing.
Entry 3033
(St. Peter with the key?)
Yeah. I kept it [his picture] in the corner on a little shelf-like - little altar-like. That's where I kept it at. [Here is another example of the cater-cornered altar - see 2870, p.827; p.129, line 45.]
(You promise him what?)
A bran'-new key. An' you promise him flowers or a light. If you ain't got the money right there an' then, when you have de money you put a key there or either put a nickel or light - anything tha' choo open de way to get.
Entry 3034
(You say if you don't give him [St. Peter] this promise.)
Promise what you give him - just like if you promised him a flower or any kind of a piece of money. At that day when you make him the promise, he'll give you enough to go out and get just what you ask for. Well, you see - well then, you failed in giving him what you promised him, then he'll set fire. That candle - you see, you have some little candles setting under the saint.
(Under the saint, yes.)
Yeah, well, the saint [is] over [above candles] that - well then, everything you promise him, if you promised to give him a flower or give him a rose - well then, when the time comes to you to give it to him - and you done be successful what you have asked for - well, you come and you put that flower there, you know, in some water. Well, then you'll always have luck. But the minute that you fail in giving him what you promised - that what you - that junk what you got around there, probably you may have some paper around there on the mantelpiece or wher- ever you got it, or in the corner - you might have a curtain or something like that - well, there's some kind of way it going to blow into that and ketch on fire - burn down - and after that you have worse luck than you ever had.
Entry 3035
(How do you do that in trying to rent them?)
Well, the onliest way you could do, you could take - just like if you knew anything, you go to the Crackerjack Drug Store and you use you some lights. You get you a green light and you burn in - like a altar - you know, like a little altar in your home? Well, you burn that [candle] and you make your wish, you understand, for to rent the house and you'll rent ev'ry one of your rooms. Your customers will pay you ev'ry day, like if they [rent-collector] come ev'ry week. (I see. You just burn that candle. You don't burn anything to a saint's picture or anything of that sort?) Yes, you burn it right to a saint - you burn it to St. Peter.
(You burn it to St. Peter.)
That's what those ladies burn to - to St. Peter.
(What do men burn it to?)
And men burns to the Virgin Mary. Understand?
(Well, why do the men burn to the Virgin Mary?)
Because she's a lady, you see. Well, she's the one helps the men; but St. Peter, he's don't help the men at all. See, St. Peter - just like if you have St. Peter in your home - St. Peter, if you try to light a light to St. Peter, he liable to set your house afire before he do a favor for you [a man], but a woman, he would do a favor for her.
Entry 3036
Well, St. Peter, he's good and he's bad, but you gotta handle St. Peter so rough.
(You got to do what with him? Handle him rough?)
Yes, you gotta treat him dirty, whatever words I mean. If you drink, you gotta wet him with liquor. [See BEER FOR ST. PETER], and if you curse and live a bad life, you gotta be cursing. You gotta git up and pull your clothes up and pat yourself down there and all that. Then, if you promise him something and don't give it to him, he'll set your house afire. He won't burn up the whole house but he'll burn everything you got in the house and then the fire'll go out.
(How do you mean you pull your clothes up and pat yourself?)
Your backside to him.
(You show him your backside?)
Yes. You have to treat him dirty, treat him mean, on account of he was so mean. He wasn't what he professed to be. He was a follower of Christ and when Christ got into the judgment hall he didn't know nuthin about him. He got outside and go to fightin'. He cut the man's ear off. He was just a bad man, don't you see. And so you gotta handle him just like now as when he was on earth. Then [after you "treat him dirty"], you gotta handle him nice or he won't be bothered with you. You gotta give him keys too, because if you don't give him a key he'll keep every door shut and he'll not open the door for you.
Entry 3037
There's St. Peter. St. Peter is a saint they use with a black candle.
(A black candle? What dc they do with St. Peter?)
You see, you set that candle to St. Peter and you light this candle to St. Peter and you say to St. Peter - and you make a prayer - make a prayer, but have these people - their name. When you are prayin', you call these people name, and you set this black candle there, and this black candle has got so many days to burn. And you begin to suffer with a headache or dizziness in the head - well, this black candle then is burnin' on you. After this candle is burned out, then you begin to feel droopy - feel like you don't care about gettin' up in the mornin'. Then, fin'lly, in the longer run you begin to get weak. The first thing, you'll take to your bed; but that can be stopped, if a person know how to stop it.
Entry 3038
Well, it's according - you can burn a pink one, you can burn a yellow one, you can burn a white one, for luck.
(Well, how do you burn those various candles?)
Now, you take - say for 'n'instance like when I was on my truck. I had a truck. I used to get me those yellow candles, you see. Either yellow or white will do. I get my candle and I'd light my candle in the mornings 'fore seven o'clock. I used to go to church for them. And 'fore seven o'clock I'm got my candle, I'd light my candle on my truck. I wouldn't got out of my truck. I'd burn the candle and whilst burning my candle, I'd use cinnamon and sugar. I'd burn that in my truck. I'd put that in the candle and I'd burn that in mv truck. I had St. Peter and I had St. Joseph. I'd light my candles to them and I'd pray to them.
(In your house?)
No sir, on my truck.
(Oh, you did this in the truck?)
In the street, no house at all - in the street, anywheres in the street, when the time comes. I would burn that. That was for my luck. All right. Twelve O'clock, I'd burn it - burn my candle again at three o'clock and during that day I never had a misfortune at all. During that day I made - if it wasn't but five or six dollars, I made that.
Entry 3039
(What about St. Peter?)
He is - he totes the key. He unlocks the door to yuh, but if you don't give him what you promise, he'll burn you out. He burnt me out once, that's how I know.
(How did he burn you out?)
Well, you see, I had promised him a quarter. Well, I wasn't able to give him that quarter that certain day, and I left a little bit of fire in my furnace in my room, locked up, and goes out. When I comes back - I didn't see no way in the world that that fire could pop out and set nothing afire. All my clothes and one side of the house was in a light blaze. You gotta give him what you promise him.
Entry 3040
(What about St. Peter?)
He'll do evil for anything you want done. He'll do it for you.
(St. Peter will?)
Yeah, St. Peter will do that. Well how, for example? Well now, if I wanted St. Peter to do something for me, I would take a pin and I will scratch my finger, or either my own self, and let it bleed, bleed, bleed, and I'll take a pen and write. And I'll write a letter with my own blood and I'll take it to the crossroads and I'll leave it there, and I'll get him fin'lly to do anything I ask him to do. He'll do it and then after that I kin do anything, too. See.
(You write a letter in your own blood and go to the crossroads and leave it.)
Yes, I'll leave it right there, I'll leave it.
(Then what? Then, what about it?)
He'll find it. St. Peter, he'll find that.
(Then what will he do?)
Anything that I ask for I'll get - see, don't care what it is.
[While my machine was turned off, informant began a candle rite.]
(Burn a candle to him and ask for that from St. Peter?)
Yes, after you - take a frog, get aholt of 'im - ev'ry mornin' take a broom and whup 'im, call 'im all kind of name an' whup 'im out the world till he [St. Peter? come up?] an' he'll [St. Peter will] answer you an' ask whut you want 'im to do. [Here, a well-known rite of whipping a frog is confusing - I return to the letter.] (Now, wait a minute - about this crossroad business. What would you say in that letter you would write?) Well, you would say, "Well, St. Peter, I want this woman do such and so. I want you to give me this and I want this done, and harm this certain fellow and move that man out of my way, ' or something like that. "I want you to do it." (And after you write this letter, do you have to go before St. Peter's picture to do anything?) No, you have to have him on your wall - have him on your wall to do that [letter at crossroad]. Keep him on your wall. Just keep him on your wall or highboy or bureau, or over in front of your door.
(Do you have to talk to St. Peter or anything before you write that letter?)
' Well, if you talk to him once, he tell you what to do. Then, get your blood and write him [a] letter with your blood. Put it up on the wall of - up over the door and he'll answer. He'll do anything you say. (I see. Well now, how do you work this up on the wall - in putting this picture on the wall what do you do to it?) Well, you get you a broom and just wham him out, just call him all kinds of names. "I asked you to do something and you didn't do it." Just whup him with that broom and he'll do it.
Entry 3041
(For St. Peter. Tell me how you do that.)
Well, ah gives him a light. Ah gives him a light an' pray to him an' makes an offer tuh him an' takes him down [from the mantelpiece or wall] an' turn him upside down an' give him a red candle. Put it up 'side de wall anywhere or down on de flo'. Turn him upside down, an' give him a red candle an' throw a glass of watah in his face, an' go 'head on to co't. Dat's de co't case now, if it ain't serious. But if it's serious, yo' gotta work harder yo' know - yo' gotta start in time. But ah kin take St. Peter down dis mawnin' an' yo' goin' tuh co't an' ah kin make it easy.