Browse:The Halo Sign (Volume 1, entries 2893)
The Halo Sign
Volume 1, entries 2893. Source context: THE DOCTORS AT WORK: REPORTS FROM LAYMEN → SHRINES: ALTARS - CANDLES - SAINTS; NEW ORLEANS AREA → (2) CANDLES. Entries listed under this heading in the source volume.
Entries
Entry 2893
On de job where ah am now, some of de girls burn candles in de service where dey change dere clothes and they say they do that to hold their jobs - to keep luck with the bossman dat dey working with. (What kind of candles do they burn? Have you seen them burn them? They burn them where they change their clothes on the job. In a factory or something of that sort where they work?) A hotel. (And they burn these in the room where they change their clothing. What kind of candles do they burn?) Ordinary candles. (Do they burn them at any special time? Or say anything while they are doing it like that?) They burn de candle and jes' befo' they begin to burn - jes' befo' they light the candle [demonstrates] they carry they han' ovah their head like this and say, "Lord, help me tuh keep luck," an' then they light the candle.
(They make a circle over their head just like a halo.)
That's right. [For a halo rite three times clockwise and three times anti-clockwise with three waters, see p.16, line 1.]
(How long do they burn that candle? Have you any idea?)
Jest about an hour.
(Do they burn these right in the hotel?)
Right in the hotel.