Browse:To Roll Candle in Whiskey (Volume 1, entries 2841–2843)
To Roll Candle in Whiskey
Volume 1, entries 2841–2843. 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 2841
Then ah have seen a candle burning. Ah went to a girl's house and she was showing me. She took pins - she took nine pins and stuck 'em in dis candle slant down and rolled it in sugar. (How do you mean slant down?) Jes' - and dey stuck dose pins all around de candles - slant. (Oh, stuck them down into the candle but the head part was up and the pin went down into the candle.) Then she rolled it in sugar, the whole candle in sugar, and every night at a certain time she say she burnt this candle.
(What color was that candle?)
It was a white candle. It was for peace in de home and to bring her husband with her and make them get along.
(How long would she burn that candle?)
Until he came home. An' it wasn't long..
Entry 2842
If a person is gone and yo' want 'em tuh come back at once and yo' don't care to burn it in de bottle, yo' git chew a blue candle and write de name seven times on dat blue candle and take it an' git chew a dime's worth of whiskey and roll dat candle into de whiskey. An' if dey drunk, dey'll come back dere drunk - dey'll come in twelve hours.
[Two cylinders later informant adds details.]
An' yo' wanta bring 'em back, yo' gits a - yo' go to de drug store. Under- stand me good. Yo' go to de drug store and yo' git chew a package of this - git chew a package of brown sugah [at hoodoo drug store] and den yo' go and git chew a blue candle and a dime worth of whiskey [at same store] an' yo' roll dat candle in dat whiskey together - roll it dere. An' light dat candle - burn it fifteen minutes. Yo' set it at seven 'clock in de morning and burn to quarter past seven yo' see, and at twelve yo' see. An' six 'clock dat evenin' dey be dere. Dis is a blue candle now.
(What do you do with that brown sugar?)
De brown loaf sugar it be's in a package, not dis white sugah. Dat sugah - dey take dat sugah an' jes' tole yo', take dat sugah and git chew some whiskey and roll dat candle.
(The sugar goes into the whiskey?)
Yeah, yo' rolls it dere. See [demonstrates], yo' sets de candle up lak dat after yo' done roll it in dere, sets it up lak dat, see, and let dat whiskey and sugah be's in a little saucer. Set dat candle up jes' lak mah finger an' light it. Burn it fifteen minutes. See, dat'll draw dose party to come - can't stay
[away].
Entry 2843
Ef dey gone away - tuh keep 'em home, tuh keep him there if he is a whiskey drinker, take it [candle] an' roll it in whiskey and stick it in - write dere name on de candle and burn it in de same corner where de black ones is and call dere name nine times. He can't leave and he's coming back an' beg yore pardons for what they did.
(Are these black candles?)
Red. [My penciled note, made when I broke up this person's interview reads,"2 red candle in opposite corners of the house - northwest, northeast - see 920:1." For another example, see later margin-title CATER-CORNERED: MAGIC OF THE DIAGONAL.1