Subject:Cloth/Private cloth
Entries
Entry 3901
Dey'll take one of de cloths dat she uses. Yo' know, her sickness, yes sir. Dey take dis cloth while she's - it dirty yo' know while she's got dat on 'er. An' den dey'll take dis an' put it in a bottle, in a small bottle. An' take dis cloth - but dis heah cloth will fill it up, make it plumb full. An' den dey'll take dat an' dey'll go tuh her house, wherevah she lives, an' put it up anywhere ovah her haid - up ovah her haid. An' den dey'll put a tight stoppah in dere an' put some watah in dere. An' put some watah in dere wit it, put a tight stoppah in dere wit dis cloth whilst it in dere. An' dey say dat'll stop 'er sickness from coming down on 'er; jes' keep it dere till it kills 'er, if dey don't nevah pull dis stoppah out. [For this folk-medicine condition, see comment in bracket later.] But when dey evah did pull dis stoppah out, if dey gits de evil dat dey got agains' 'er off an' wants tuh let 'er go free, why den dey take dis out an' let dis watah out an' den she'll live; but if dey don't, it'll kill 'er. [The preceding rite illustrates one of the great pairs of complementary rites in hoodoo; here of opposites, above and below - the walking under or over some- thing belonging to your body or having been touched by your body. In either case your spirit is divided. The menstrual blood over your head in the present rite, keeps the menstrual blood still in the body from going down. Is menstrual blood different from other blood in the body? Presumably so in folklore, for: Menstru- al blood is poisonous (FACI, 1st ed., p.248, No.5103). The term going down - coming down used in present rite - belongs to folk medicine: "When my mother was about twelve [1845] [[in or near Quincy, Ill.]], an old Indian doctor told them to wear black beads around their neck to keep the blood from going to the brain. All the girls in that time wore black beads all the time to get their monthly to come when coming into womanhood, for it made the blood come down." (FACI, 2nd ed., P.219, No.4969.] [After writing the preceding bracket, I happened to be watching the University of Michigan television program, which for us appears off and on, and comes just before my 7AM news. This was probably towards the end of 1972. A group of women were talking about the problems confronting the first American college women. One woman spoke of a Harvard professor, M.D., who in 1873 wrote a book condemning brain work for women. He maintained that mental effort by a woman made the blood rush to her head, a condition that could dry up her ovaries!]
Entry 3120
[To] fix a man to stay at home - dere's two or three ways yo' kin fix. I man, see. Well, jes' lak a woman's got a husban' an' he runnin' aroun'. She kin stop 'im from wandahin', yo' undahstan', an' de wimmins do do it, cuz I done seed 'em do it. Dey'li take dat - dey kin cook cake, pies.
(What?)
I say, jes' lak yo' have intahco'se wit yore wife, have connection wit 'er, well de rag what she wipe yo', well she'd put dat in de middle of dat bed where yo' lay at. I'll guarantee dat yo' can't have no othah wimmin.
(I see.)
See, she put dat an' fasten it to de mattress. See, an' keep dat rag where yo' sleep at, right where yo' lays all de time. An' I betcha yo' can't have nuthin to do wit no othah wimmin.
(I see.)
Entry 3118
Take it [bath water] an' put it in a bottle, an' take an' po' [pour] some of dat watah an' stop it up. Put in a bottle an' put in a place where yo' kin - where yo' kin [walk] undah it, an' dat will control yo'. But yo' take dat [bath] watah an' a piece what yo' use wit an intahco'se wit dem. An' yo' rinse dat tuhgethah an' put dat in a bottle tuhgethah, an' have dem so dey kin go backwards an' fo'wards undah dat, an' dey control yo'. Whut dey tell yo' tuh do, well yo' come undah dat, an' do whut dey tell yo' tuh do. (I see. They take this bath water and some of the, piece of that cloth they use for intercourse, put in the bottle and stop it up.)
The interviewer describes a cloth used for intercourse in a closing restatement; the preceding informant wording is less specific. The claimed control remains unverified.