Subject:Bread
Entries
Entry 1907
Dey kin take dis ole dust, frog dust [toadfrog-bread dust], dat in de Woods an' git it an' sprinkle it in a person hat an' dat will run 'em blind. It's little ole stuff dat come up in de groun' - yo' know, We call it toadfrog bread. It's a little white thing [mushroom] dat grows up an' after which it die an' it goes to a dust. [This is the devil's-snuffbox or puffball - various fungi which discharge ripe spores in smokelike cloud when pressed.] Git dat an' put in yore hat dey say - sprinkle it in a person hat an' dey say dey will go blind, or in dey han'cheff er somepin. [For frog bread, see No. 250, p.72.]
Entry 3913
On de changes of de moon, her sick time, she'll ketch dat. She'll git dat out de cloth an' she put dat into sompin, into anythin' yo' know. Some time she makes bread, sweetbread, she'll pour dis in dere. Dat'll run 'im crazy about 'er. As long as she keeps dat up, he'll be crazy about 'er.
(But it has to be done on the change of the moon?)
Oh, yes.
(Why the change of the moon?)
Well, yo' see dat's de time women wanta be roun' like dat, yo' know.
Entry 3922
Yo' kin take a chicken gizzard an' take it an' let it dry up, jis' let it dry up an' make a powdah outa it. An' jis' lak if yo' wanta make yore husban' crazy about chew, well yo' take dat chicken gizzard an' git some of yore mon'ses [= month- ses = months] an' mix it wit dat chicken giz- zard an' - see, yo' put chure monthlies on dat chicken gizzard whilst it's green an' let it dry up. An' den jis' lak yo' make a pie or sompin else, yo' pound dat up into a powdah an' sprinkle it in 'is coffee or bread or anything, an' he'll jis' be crazy about chew an' follah yo' evahwhere yo' go. AN' EVAH TIME HE SEE A MAN WIT CHEW HE JUMP ON YO' AN' BEAT CHEW.
(Whowill?)
Yore husban' or any man yo' goin' wit.
Entry 4089
Take chamber lye, jis' a little of it, an' mix it up wit flour [usually in bread]. Women did dat in ordah tuh give tuh dere husban's. An' dey say dat dat will make dem care fo' dem an' hold 'em. In othah words it gives dem powah ovah dem an' dey kin deman' any- thin' outa dem dat dey want.
Entry 4120
Jis' lak, now, yuh run aroun' a whole lot. Yuh know, jis' lak yuh an ah, yuh wife, wan' chew tuh stay home. Well, all she have tuh do is tuh jis' make yuh some bread up sep'rate, an put a little of 'er watah in it, about nine mawnin's, an' yuh'll stay home. Yuh won' go nowhere. Dat break yuh.
Entry 5881
Why now, anyone's hair, why yo' kin take dere hair, about fo' or five stran's of dere hair, an' wrap it aroun' yore fo'fingahs [see later] yo' see [demonstrates].
(Just one hair.)
[But I also saw something else during demonstration - see later.]
Jis' one hair, jis' wrap it roun' yore fo'fingahs, see. An' aftah yo' doin' dat, well den yo' kin take a piece of bread or somepin othah an' wrap dose stran's of hair in dat bread an' swallah it. Yo'll eat dat, yo' know, in a way of speakin. An' den dose people will be wit yo' long as yo' in de worl'. Dey'll care fo' yo'.
[I now summarize the rite.]
(You just take these strands of hair and wrap them around your index finger, your forefinger [about forefingers, not 4 fingers], and then you put this hair in the bread and swallow it. That controls these people?) Yes.
Entry 6053
An' ag'in dey could do dis, dey could take yore [hair] out from undah yore arms an' down in de love hole.
(Below?)
Yes sir, an' dey would take dat an' squeeze in bread. An' make up bread an' give it to a man an' dat will run 'im crazy [about you].
Entry 6525
Dey take - womens take cut of all yore toenails an' yore fingernails an' take de dirt from underneath 'em an' dey could cook 'em in de bread an' make a man love 'em. Dey could WITCHCRAFT dem dataway.
[St. Petersburg, Fla., (1022), 1653:5.]
(5). A FEW MORE DOCTORS {Folk medicine in hoodoo or witchcraft has a wider field of involvement than the isolated cures given in books of general folklore. This is true because hoo- doo or witchcraft supplies causes for all ailments and diseases as well as cures, and also tells how to protect oneself in the future. Such protective rites, actu- ally preventive medicine, as well as other cures unlisted here, will be found throughout the total text. For the latter, consult especially: FOLK MEDICINE pp.361-519; SEXUAL IMPoTENCE Pp.2341-2509; and 'HER PRIVATE TIME' Pp.2513-2540.] [A considerable number of live things in you will be found on pages 227-239, well as elsewhere in the complete text. May I call your attention to the first two rites in margin title SNAKES.]
Entry 8937
To keep a dog from interfering with you, take a piece of biscuit or a piece of bread and wear it under your arm, then take that to any man's house, no matter how bad his dog is, give him that piece of bread, any hour of the night, and he will eat it, and you can go there and he won't do anything.
Entry 9657
Well, if you bothered by the law, you take - even for the law, any- body - you get you some parchment [paper]. Here's your door here. [Informant begins to demonstrate.] You hang you some parchment up by your door. [Imitation parchment was sold as genuine and often considered holy.] You hang that parchment up by your door, on this side, and hang you a box of salt on the other. Don't let the salt be - get you a fresh box of salt. Just like that nail is there [informant points to nail]. See that nail? Well you put you a nail up right there [demonstrates].
(On one side of the door.)
On one side of the door. And you hang that salt up there. And over that, between that parchment and that salt, you put you up a loaf of bread.
(You have the parchment on one side and the salt on the other.)
You see, you've got the parchment here and you got the salt here.
(The parchment on the right hand side and the salt on the left.)
And the salt on the left. Now, right in the center, you put you a loaf of bread [demonstrates].
(Above the door.)
Above the door. See. you put you up a loaf of bread. He can come in: the captain, the sergeant, the lieutenant - all of them can come in there when you do that. They ain't going to bother you. Now, when they come in, if they come in, but they might not get no further than right to the door. They might just look in, they ain't going to bother nobody. They going to go away. You see. And when they go away, you sprinkle sugar behind them, after they gone. When they turn their face to go, you sprinkle sugar behind them, you see. You sprin- kle sugar and that'll keep 'em going all the time. They'll never come back. If they come back, they won't bother you. You understand what I mean? They won't bother you. Just sprinkle that sugar behind 'em and they won't bother you at all.
Entry 10200
St. Raymond, he's fo' tuh git chew jobs an' keep yo' in work. St. Michael is fo' peace. De Virgin Mary is tuh put bread in yore house, keep bread in yore house all de time. An' yo' use St. Michael ag'in fo' furniture dealers an' all. Lak ah owe yo' fo' furniture an' all lak dat an' yo' 'bout to take mah furniture 'way from me. Yo' see yo' set a light to St. Michael, an' yo' give him a green light, one right behin' one 'nothah fo' 'bout eight days or nine days. See. An' that'll cause yo' tuh have - yo' know whut ah mean - give me a chance tuh bring yo' some [green] money.
Entry 10655
Mah paw [father] said you could go to a hot [busy] red ants' bed an' get dem red antses an' bake it in some bread an' give it to a houn' dwag an' make im tree possum. [This is general folklore, not hoo- doo, but it was too good to omit! Besides maybe the hound was hoodooed! For another rite to make dog hunt better by feeding him ants, see the following rite, No.
(Your father told you that.)
Entry 10816
Yo' take a new broom, yo' see. Yo' take a new broom, if yo' go move in a house, an' always have a new broom an' have a loaf of bread an' a box of salt. An' it's lucky, a new broom, if yo' sweep yore house. An' nevah tuh go, tuh go [to] work an' leave it [when you move]. Nobody will have it, because it will bring evil into de house. A new broom.
Entry 11329
Git chew three dollars.
(What kind of dollars, silver dollars or paper dollars?)
Paper dollars. An' dress dem wit some salt and some bread, an' wear it fo' three days on yo' left side, an' fo' three days yo' take an' go to three stores an' spend each one of them dollars - a dollar to each store yo' go to. An' dat'll bring yo' luck. (What kind of luck?) Well it bring yo' luck in making - gittin' holda money every day yore life.
Entry 13240
Take a little bit of sugar and a little bit of coffee and tie it up in your handkerchief - or bread, either one, it's very good. It's luck, if you put it inside of your handkerchief and carry it around on you. It's very good.
(That's for good luck?)
Sugar is drawing you know - they all is drawing you see, because the spirits 11kes those things.