Subject:Fast
Entries
Entry 2899
Now, a black candle is fer enemies, a white candle is fo' luck. Yo' kin buy a 25c candle. Anything yo' want, yo' kin git down on yo' knees and pray and ask de Lord fo' it. Ah be's in de habit fo' sometime to fast and pray, an' you'll really git it. An' if you have enemies removed, you could get a black candle and put it in a dark place and burn it. Burn it fo' nine nights and ask de Lord to move them, and he'll move them.
Entry 8545
Like if I love anybody, I'd take his name and write it and put it in a glass of clear watah. Well ah don't eat anything all day long, just fastin' an' just prayin'. Pray to de Lord that he'll come back tuh me. (That's all you have to do?) That's all I ever heard them doin'. An' I've known girls that do so an' I knowed de boy come back. (Just his name on this piece of paper in a glass of water and then you fast and pray all day long.
Entry 10971
(What would you use that egg for?) Yo' fast all day on Thursday to turn [improve] yore mem- ory, dat chew will git de right understanding. You fast de entire day. And den you boil dat aig and remove de shell. After you remove de shell, den you write de 4th and 8th verse, I think it is, [of Psalm lO4] on dis aig. Anyhow you write as much as about ten or twelve verses on dis aig, and put de egg in yo' mouth whole, and dat will turn yore mem- ory, will help you to keep your memory and get some [knowledge] of things which you wanta do. Dat's one thing egg will do. Dat's de only thing I know about de egg, but chew must put de whole egg in de mouth, when you have wrote dis on dis egg: Remove de shell and write dis on dere. De egg must not be broken.
(What do you write that with?)
Ink. Dere's nothing else will write on it but ink, on a boiled egg.
(And what verses of what?)
De 104th Psalm.
Entry 11259
What happened to me, what I did is true. God in heaven.... [is my wit- ness]. So a fellow came to me one day and he said, "Bo" - his name was Willy Webb, Worked at de Wharf Hotel, chief engineer over there. He said, "Bo," said, "my wife is gone." He said, "We never had a cross word." I said, "What?" He say, "Yeah." He say, "They tells me you know so much." Ah don't know nothing [says Bowes]. "Course I'm 71 all right, but I don't know nothing.
(You're 71?) [Author's comment.]
Yeah, I'm 70 something....
(Oh, you are 75!) [Author's comment.]
And I said, "Ah don't know nothing. He says, "Yes, and I dreamed it - some- thing, someone told me to go to you." I said, "Now, what you. want?" He said, "Ah wants you to do something for me." I said, "Ah don't know what to do for you." He say, "Do something." I said, "Well, all right, give me until tomor- row and I'll do something for you." He said, "What you goin' do?" I said, "I'm goin' t' [going to] fast." He said, "Fast for what?" Ah said, "Don't eat no meat and don't eat nothing. I said, "Tomorrow I'll tell you." [Bowes] said, "I'm going to have a dream. So, de next day morning I got up out of de bed and someone knocked at the door; knocked at the door and was crying just like they was crazy. It was Webb. So Webb told me to do something for him, say, "Lord have mercy, I'm near crazy." I said, "What's all de trouble." He say, "Well, a lady and her daughter used to stay at my house 'fore I was married. And I went to work and married another girl up de country. And then we were on vacation, but I had confidence and let them stay at the house till we come back. So when I come back, in two or three weeks the trouble started." I said, "Oh, I see, now." I SAID, "DO YOU BELIEVE IN WITCHCRAFT AND CONJURATION AND SUCH?" HE SAID, "SURE.″ I SAID, "WELL, DE BIBLE SPEAKS OF IT." He said, "All right, what's does that mean?" I said, "I SEE A COUPLE OF BOTTLES." 'God in heaven, '' he said, "there's a couple of bot- tles!" I said, "There's a couple of bottles buried at your back steps and," I said, "the way you gotta do now to get - is to get them bottles. If you kin get dem bottles, you kin solve your trouble." You understand me [addressed to author]? So I went dere - [I'll] never forget. Dey was knee-high bottles and we dug at de back steps and dug 'em up.
(Well, how did they get there?)
Ah don't - after I looked, I figured they [mother and daughter] put 'em there. And there was some things working up in 'em like maggots - working stuff in 'em just like maggots. So he said, "What you goin' do?" I said, "Take 'em out in the back yard." So after We dug 'em uP, WE TOOK THEM OUT IN THE BACK YARD AND A BLACK CAT WAS JUMPING ALL OVER DE FENCE AT TWO O'CLOCK IN DE DAY! A BLACK CAT WAS FOLLOWING US DERE! AND WE FOUND SOMETHING SHINING! That black cat Was jumping all over de fence. So I looked and I said, "What is dis here, Webb?" He said, "When will my wife be back?" I said, "The third day. She'll be back the third day." I said, "Now you take that and carry it over town to the Warwick Hotel and throw them things in the furnace and you enemies, they will feel it and come over there." LOOK LIKE SOMETHING WAS DEALING IT TO ME WHAT TO TELL HIM. And SO then, I went and carried it over there and there was a big stout woman came over dere hunting for a job; claimed she was hungry, didn't have nothing to eat and asking for a job. So, I told him, be careful now. Well. [Here is the historic witchcraft theme, burn the witchcraft and the witch will appear usually to bor- row something, medicine for her pains, etc.: but here the theme is almost con- cealed, unrecognizable.] So that night, his wife hadn't come back. So then he went home. That lady and her daughter come there that night and when they come there that night, they took a fountain pen and put poison [hoodoo rather than actual] in it and opened it like that I reckon [he evidently demonstrates how. the pen was prepared], and stuck it in the door. After while - it was eleven o'clock in the night and he went to open the door and from the door rising -he struck a match and opened the door and that fountain pen was in there [door ris- ing or saddle of door] with them little prongs [divided pen points] like that. And there was snake blood [the poison] in there: snake blood and acid and some- thing else [3 ingredients!]. I reckon that acid was there so that [snake] blood would go in quick, you know. And so then on the third day, his wife come back as I done said. So, from this story, sometime I says I believe it and sometime I says [end of comment]. So Webb's wife died. Just like I told him, I said, "If you all letting people coming in your house eating and drinking" - and after while she swole up. No- body, the doctors [M.D.'s] didn't know what de trouble was. And they sent her everywhere.
(Something killed her.)
Entry 2778
Well, you burn a blue candle for success. You burn a white candle for prosperity and purity. You burn a green candle - it's de spiritual [spirituals or spiritual people] suppose to burn these green candles. You burn 'em three days and pray and fast. Dat's to go and heal de sick. Then the red candle is fo' victory - jes' lak ef yo' wanta overcome somethin', yo' burn dat so many days, see, nine days. And yo' put chure wishes up under dat candle, yo' know.
(How do you put them under the candle?)
Yo' write chure name, whatever yo' want done - yo' write it on a piece of paper, parchment paper and set it up under dere while it burns.
(What do you do about black candles?)
De black candles yo' burn 'em fo' death. Yo' burn 'em nine minutes. If yo' burn 'em fo' evil, yo' burn 'em nine minutes, so they say. Yo' burn fo' nine minutes at nine 'clock.
(Nine o'clock in the morning?)
Nine 'clock in de morning or nine 'clock at night.
(Do you have to do anything else with these besides burning them?)
They say they generally roll 'em in some kind of cayenne pepper or something.
[See later, Rolling Candles.]
Entry 11254
[Part 1:] Dere's a rule dat dey work best - if yo' take de young Doon - dere's a time when we say de [new] moon's in de bed [there is another example of this in HOODOO] a growing moon, dat's is yo' work dese different arts to grow stronger as de moon [grows]. [While machine is stopped I ask how he learned this work.] Well, yo' learn lots of it from master craftsmen - people, older time people who have been following it fo' years, done made experiment on dose things an' know de ones which will work.
(Are you from Georgia or South Carolina?)
Mah home in Georgia. (Well, were you initiated into the work or did you learn it? Is there some sort of an initiation?) Well, dere's some certain rules that yo' should follow an' shouldn't follow, some certain things that, as they say: if you play with fire, yo' git burned. That is, after yo' go so far it's some things that chew wouldn't wanta do fo' da reason dat dere certain things dat worry yo'. Yo' would have to carry a cer- tain burden dat chew wouldn't wanta carry; more so a burden den yo' would like tuh carry.
(I mean there is no initiation ceremony?)
Well it is a ceremony dat chew kin carry on when yo' fixin' tuh perform yore work; certain classes of work, dat is, whatever yo' goin' in tuh do, dat chew kin carry on a ceremony. Dat's right. (Well, now, the reason I ask is that someone said over in New Orleans, over there, that if you wanted to learn to do this kind of work, they Would go through some sort of a ceremony; initiate you and you, you know, learn your work.) Well, ah don't know anything 'bout de 'nitiation. It isn't anything about dat, but it's jest a ceremony. Yo' go through sompin jest lak yo' consecratin' yo'- self, for say, a certain thing whut chew goin' after. Dere's ways an' things as dat. Now yo' kin - yo' say yo' fast, an' yo' take a glass of water, an'yo lie down or sit up in de room wit chure arm folded to yo'self so many hours or sompin lak dat. Well, yo' kin do dat, jes' consecrate. Dat is if yo' have some particular work dat yo' care to go into.
(But you don't have anyone else working that with you?)
No, not necessariZy so. Yo' kin do de work fo' de person yo'self. (No, I mean, when you consecrate yourself, sometimes over in New Orleans when they do it - sometimes they will have a little ceremony and an altar and burn candles and things.) Well, yo' can do dat, if yo' wish tuh, yo' kin burn candles. [Waycross, Ga.,
(1086), 1756:1.]
[Part 2 of 11254: The following rite in the interview preceded the discussion in. Part 1.] A curse on dat house. Well, now, some of dose things - dis has been true. Ah know dis to be true dat yo' kin do it dis way. Put it in fo' de Lord. Well, yo' say, yo' send out dat. You say, "Well, In de Name of Jesus Christ, dat sech an' sech a thing would be. Well, dey [denl say, "In de Name of Jesus Christ, dis house, dat nobody kin stay in, an' it will not prosper." Well, yo' continue. Yo' concentrate on dat, but choo say dat, In de Name of Jesus Christ dat sech an sech a thing shall not be or shall be. All right. Well in using dat word, den about every three verses yo' use, den yo' say, "Rescue! Rescue! Rescue!" Dat's a shore shot fo' dat. Dat's very easy.
Entry 1763
Dey say yo' take a buzzard an' yo' kill him an' yo' bury him an' yo' let him stay buried three days. Then yo' take him up an' yo'll cook him down to lard. Jes' cook him an' jes' take his own lard, an' then yo' put that in a box. That's fo' gamblin'. That's a gamblin' hand.
(What do you do with that lard?)
Yo' take that lard an' yo' jes' mix it up - see, jes' mix it all up. Yo' don't have tuh put anything in it. Jes' mix it up an' put it in a box an' dat's tuh use fo' gamblin' - fast luck.
(How do you use it?)
Jes' rub it on yore left han' lak dat, an' then from yore left han' go ovah to yore right han' lak that. See [demonstrates], rub up this way - rub up all de time. (Rub up on the hands.) [For upward rite, see No. 1074, p.405.]
reported fast luck for gambling. No demonstrated success These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.
Entry 4919
If a woman's hus- ban' is gone an' she kin git any of 'is socks dat he wore 'fo' he left dere, she jis' go an' git one of 'er own stockin's, an' she bury dem tuh de sunrise side of 'er house. An' three mawnin's aftah she bury dat - don' bury it any deepah den dat [demonstrates].
(About as deep as your hand.)
Fo' three mawnin's take her night pot - don't let nobody use it but her. She pass dat watah [urinates] when she git up in mawnin' 'bore she speak tuh anybody. An' she take dat pot an' she set it aside until she go out [the door], undah- stan', an' empty dat pot on dat place dose mawnin's, an' he go back [returns] in several days. (She takes one of her stockings and one of his socks, either one of them, and just buries them together. That will bring him back?) Yes. She use dat pot three mawnin's 'fore she begin tuh eat.
(She must be fasting?)
Yes. (Then she will take the chamber lye and sprinkle it on this place three morn- ings?) Yes.
before-eating condition explicitly queried as fasting and assented to. Roles remain informant→interviewer→informant; the fasting term itself is the interviewer’s formulation with explicit assent. predicted single departed husband’s return in several days. No observed return These are attributed source occurrences; outcomes remain unverified.