Subject:Headache
Entries
Entry 935
Yo' git a thresher bird [a brown thrasher], yo' know. Yo' git to a thresher's nest an' yo' git nine straws out of his nest an' if yo' git to dis man hat, yo' kin put jes' nine straws in his hat, jes if he went to be - yo' understand whut ah mean, Doc - i an' when he put on his hat he'll have a severe headache an' he won't come back to yore house any mo'. An' ev'ry summer dat headache will worry him till it kill him - he die, he die wit de headache.
(Why will the headache worry him in the summer?)
"Cause it in de summer - in de spring of de year when de birds are makin' dere nests, dat's de time his head will ache him.
Entry 2896
If you wanta do some dirty work with a black candle, you do the same as you would the green candle - cut the top of it off. And always turn it bottom up - don't take the little tail [wick] that lights and set it straight, but cut that off and turn it bottom up with that name on it. And they'll always suffer with a pain in the head at certain times - like you light it fer six, that misery'll start at six; if you light it at nine, that misery'll start at nine; if you light it at twelve or three in the evening, [that misery'll start at twelve or three]. That misery will last at least a hour.
Entry 2898
Now, you take that [hat] bow and you puts it in a enve- lope, you see. And after you puts it in an envelope, you takes a black candle and you light that candle and you write your name, you see, and lay your name in there, you see, with that bow, and you burn that candle on it, you see. When you burn the candle on it, well, that'll get you - it don't do you no harm, but it get you the headache. You always suffering with the headache all the time - misery of the head.
(Do you mean if I were burning it to someone I would write my name on it?)
No, nol What the person name.
(Oh, that person you are trying to harm?)
Yeah, the one you going to harm, you see. Not your name, the one you are going to harm, you see.
Entry 4673
(How do you do that?)
About de hatban' dat yuh use. Yuh ast [asked] me 'bout de hatban' a minute ago. Yuh take de person dat yuh have de name out of de hat - dat little bow-like in de hat? An' yuh gO tuh de bird's nes'. LET IT BE DE SPARRAH'S NES', WHICH IF IT'S A SPARRAH'S NES', DE SPARRAHS USE DE SAME NEST ALL DE YEAH ROUN'. BUT A BLUEBIRD CHANGES "IS NES', AN' ALSO A PIGEON. Aftah a pigeon has used 'is nest, de pigeon tears de nes' up an' makes a fresh nest, but a sparrah use de same nes'. As long as de sparrah use de same nest, de person will con- tinue tuh have de headache, if yuh put dis bow of de hat intuh de sparrah's nes'.
(Just go to the sparrow's nest and put the bow into the nest?)
Jis' put de bow intuh de nes'. Dat's all. An' yuh could constantly happen tuh have a headache. But if - YUH KIN TRY IT YUHSELF SOMETIME OR EITHAH HAVE SOMEBODY EXPERIMENT IT FO' YUH. AN' WHENEVAH YUH REMOVE DAT OUT OF DERE, DE HEADACHE WILL BE BROKEN. BUT YUH KINNOT BREAK DAT HEADACHE BY BURNIN' CANDLES OR ANYTHING. DAT NES HAS TUH BE TORN UP, EITHAH DE BOW TAKEN OUTA DE NES'. Eithah one of de two will stop de headache, but nuthin else. An' ah betcha, becuz mah grandmothah tried it on 'er own daughter, mah sistah. [The latter relationship frequently happened, the sister being the mother whose child
(informant's) was brought up as the grandmother's.]
Entry 4709
She likes yuh very much an' she wants tuh keep yuh. Well, she takes dat bow out see, an' she puts dat in a rag. She puts it in 'er mattress an' keeps it. She do dat in ordah tuh keep yuh. An' if yuh go away from 'er, evah time yuh go tuh go across watah, why it will cuz yore head tuh have an ache in yore head all de time. [That hat bow contains a part of the man's spirit and therefore his whole spirit (see HooDOO p.21). A spirit cannot cross water (see FACI, 2nd ed., p.754, and several places in HOODOO).l (If you go across water, you will get a headache; then, while she has this bow tied up in the mattress, you will come back to her.)
Entry 5824
[Fortunately the headache said to be caused by human hair in a bird nest does not last indefinitely.] You kin take your hair in the spring of the year and ball it up and put it in a tree, in a bird's nest, or any place obere a bird kin git it, and they claim you'll continue to have a headache until the season is over.
Entry 6000
The following expression was surely devised by someone tired of hearing the well-known expression: You give me a headache! Yo' wuz speakin' of hair. A person kin do yo' a great deal of trouble wit yore hair. Prob'ly git yuh 'sleep or git some of yore hair unbeknown to yo' - git dis hair unbeknown to yo'. Yo' take dis hair an' git yo' a little Hearts Cologne an' put it into a bottle an' yo' git choo a small piece of flannen an' cross yore needles between dat flannen an' put it in dere.
(What do you mean cross your needles?)
Make a kind of a X [a cross] out of it [the 2 needles].
(Two needles?)
Two needles, an' make yo' kind of a X out of it. An' twist dis hair aroun' dese needles an' place it in dat cologne, but don't stop yore bottle stoppah tight - prob'ly fo' nine mawnin's. Yo'll leave dat stoppah in dere fo' nine mawn- in's, if yo' should git a chance to git co mah bed or to mah do'step, an' let dat bottle [stand] straight up so I got to valk ovah it, it will keep me suffahin' wid a headache. I'll lingah aftah yo'. I still suffah wid dat headache, but when I gits where yo' is, look lak it kinda Vanishes away-lak. I'll jis' lust aftah yo'. A man do a woman dat way or awoman dat way or a woman kin do a man dat way.
(You only have the headache when you are away from them?)
When yo' are away from 'em yo' have a dull headache an' yore mind, look lak yo' is worried. An' yo' arn't [are not] - it jes' stays on dem.
(You never put that cork in tight. You never put that in tight?)
Don't put it in tight, jes' leave it so yo' kin go dere an' touch it fo' nine Mvnin's, becuz de ninth mawnin' yo'll push it in tight.
Entry 6720
If yo're hurt from sompin somebody have did yo' lak cunjurin' yo' lak dat, yo' take de dirt from undahneat' of yore toenails. An' take it an' wet it wit dis oil of cedah an' weah it in a piece of cotton in each one of yore ears. Yo' stop yore headache, if yo're hurt in sompin.
(That is if you have a headache from being hurt?)
Dat's whut ah said. Lak if somebody, yo' know, do sompin tuh yo' lak dat cunjure. Not if yo' jis' git hit about de haid [and get a headache]. [Even being hit on the head and getting a headache could be caused by conjuration, evil wishing, etc.]
Entry 10176
A bird's nest - a person can take some of your hair and put it in that bird's nest, you see. And take some of that bird's feathers and put that in there and then take your hair and put it in there. And then every, every morn- ing they take and set a light [candle] right in there [the nest] but not burn the nest. Just take that light and set that light in there [in a drinking glass]. And if they want to do you harm, get you some coarse snuff [often leaf of dried tobacco rubbed in hands] some hot pepper [sauce] and put it in there. And burn a light on it for nine mornings - you see, one hour for [each] nine days.
Entry 10179
Yo' couldn't zakly [exactly] make de candle go out, but chew could fix it so it wouldn't do yo' no harm. (How would you do that?) Git chew some red peppah, saltpeter, tie it up in a rag an' a li'l piece of root dey call John de Conkah root, an' yo' weah dat in yuh pocket. An' dey couldn't hurt yo' no way.
Entry 10726
Boil blacksnake root and lizard [a trouble combination], put under enemry's doorstep; if he walks over them, he'll have a headache and then loose teeth.
Entry 11857
I could take just about three strands of hair of your head and go to a tree. And I would put it on the sunset side of that tree, where the sun goes down on that hair. And just take a long spike nail and bore a hole in that tree. And ball all that hair up on the sunset side of the tree, but it has got to be when the sap is up in the tree. By what I mean by the sap is when the leaves is on the tree. And bore a hole in that tree and stick that hair up in there, and drive that nail in there behind it. And when the sun commence to go down, that cause you to have headache, don't you see. And this headache will get worse every day, and from that it will drive you crazy, and from crazy it will kill you. [you do this] when the sap is up, because when the sap begins to go down you won't live very long.