Subject:Nickel
Entries
Entry 7601
[Among the many graveyard-dirt rites in Hoodoo, here we have a rare and unusual one, my only example of it - see my comment at the end of rite.] When yuh go tuh de graveyard in de aftahnoon tuh git dis dirt, yuh have tuh go at sundown, see. An' when yuh go at sundown, yuh have tuh git middleways of dis person. Middleways is the center or fifth point of the four-pointed or four- cornered grave, which makes a quincunx.] Git dis dirt an' yuh put a nickel [or] dime down. An' when yuh put de nickel down dere yuh git de dirt, yuh payin"en fo' de dirt. An' if yuh vanta run anybody away, yuh git dis dirt an' walk on back tuh dere house. Sprinkle dis dirt all de way roum' dere house [the rite of circumambulation]. An' aftah yuh sprinkle dis dirt all de way roun' dere house, yuh turn off an' walk sideways an' walk on back tuh de street. [Somewhere in Hoodoo I have explained why a person walks sideways, if he has en- closed himself within a circle.] An' aftah yuh git tuh de street yuh go hone. An' den aftah yuh go home, den yuh throw some of dis dirt roun' yore do' an' dey'll leave. Dey can't stay roun'.
[Our informant says sprinkle dis dirt all de way roun' dere [[victim's]]
house. This means the graveyard-dirt sprinkler goes completely round the house. Here we have a rite of circumambulation, also a circle of graveyard dirt about the house. As soon as the dweller within passes over the graveyard dirt, he will be driven permanently from house and perhaps town. But the sprinkler himself has trouble. He is inside the graveyard-dirt circle! If he walks out of the circle, crossing the dirt, he breaks his spell against the dweller; moreover, the spell automatically turms back upon the sprinkler, who now will be chased by the spirit! Our sprinkler solves his problem with a magic rite I have never recorded or met before. He proceeds neither forwards nor backwards; he sidles sideways. If sprinkler moves forwards or backwards across the dirt, at some point of each step his legs and feet pass and are at the moment of passing in a straight line. In an instant the spirit pounces upon him! But if sprinkler slides his right foot sideways to the right, then his left foot sideways to the right, not letting left foot touch right, then legs and feet are never in a straight line. He always presents to the waiting spirit only one half of his body at each step. The spirit is tricked! Why does sprinkler on reaching home sprinkle some of the same graveyard dirt at his own door? Graveyard dirt is a protective device against a possible call from departing victim and chasing spirit.]
Entry 7620
Dey - yuh take graveyard dirt, it will run anybody. Dey goes out an gits some graveyard dirt out of a grave an' put a nickel in dere where dey done got de dirt from, dat whut dey call payin' fo' it. An' dey go back an' go tuh dis person's house, an' take a little pepper, an' mix wit it, an' go dere an' make lak yuh talkin' tuh 'em, yuh know, an' sprinkle it roun' in dere house. Three days aftah dat, dem folks is ready tuh leave dere.
Entry 840
Durin' dis same last war [World War I] - ah wus in dis last war fo'teen months, an' me an' a fellah went tuh Camp Wheeler together, an' he said to me, he said, "Ah think ah wanta go home tuh see mah family - ah want chew tuh walk down heah tuh de woods wit me. Yo' see, ah didn't know whut he wus goin' do. He walked tuh de fo'ks of de road, crossin' of de road, an' he take three nickels an' bury it right in de fo'k of de road, an' he leaved me an' went home an' stayed home thirty days out de camp befo' dey pertake - he come up heah tuh Savannah an' stay heah thirty days an' went back befo' dey know dat he wus home.
(They didn't know he was gone at all?)
Didn't know he wus gone at all. He wus in mah company, Company 15. (They didn't know he was gone at all. What did they do to him after he got back?) Dey didn't done nuthin to 'im yo' see, because we didn't get de reg'lar soldier clothes yes - we wus wearin' dis overalls yo' know, we didn't draw no service clothes yet.
Entry 2548
Yo' take sulphah an' sugah tuh draw luck to yo'. Yo' take sulphah an' sugah an' burn it on de stove, see, or somethin' hot. Jis' sulphah an' sugah an' mix it up an' burn it an' it will draw luck to yo'. An' when yo' wants a quick way tuh git a small piece of money, yo' lights yo' a - ah cain't think of the name of it. Anything will do jis' since it's incense. Light de incense an' put it on yore bed - place it on yore bed, "In de Name of de Father, Son an' Holy Ghost," an' put it in a white saucer. An' in less time den three hours somebody will give yo' a piece of money if it's nuthin but a nickel or somepin othah lak dat - a nickel or a dime.
Entry 2755
(Do the people over there have altars?)
Yes, they still got altars over there, yes sir. (How do they handle that? Supposing I'd go over to see one, what would they have me do? I wonder what would be the ceremony they'd go through?) Well now, you see, as you go in, the altar is setting just like this here [points] vanity [bureau] there - yes, sir. The altar is setting there. Well, it's always, the candles are always lit, you see, with saints all around it. It always stays lit night and day. See, you go in there, probably you put a nickel in the box and you light you a candle, if it's a penny even, you can put that in there and you light a candle. You get down on your knees and you prays. And whatsoever prayer you want and whatsomever you pray for or want done, you pray to the saint that you know would help you, understand. You get there and you pray to that saint. Now and then the mother of that church, she would come to you - see, she would talk to you and she would give you information. She would pray for you, and probably she may give you a medal. She'd bless the medal and everything - well, pray over it rather and give it to you. Then, she would tell you just what to do and how to do it. See, she liable to tell you, say, "Well, when you go back over to the New Orleans side," say, "you go to the Crackerjack Drug Store," and she say, "you go and get you some goat- weed." She say, "You get some goatweed and you go out in the woods - if you can get to the woods, if you know how. You go out in the woods and you get some banana leaves." You see. "But get the root of the banana tree, rather - get the root of that," she says, "and you come back and you bring it chere to me, but bring it back in nine days." She say, "Let it be dry when you bring it back." Well, you bring it back to her and she will fix that for you. Well now, when she fix it, she liable to tell you, she say, "I want $100 for it." You pay it to her because you wants something done for yourself. She going to use sugar with it, she is going to use cinnamon with that stuff. She gotta take and sprinkle vine- gar onto it and all that - cook all that together - take a red onion and cook all that together. Make one thing out of it. When she get through with it - it will be just about that much stuff when she finish. She tell you, now, put it in a sack or anything and put that in your pocket and go ahead on. And you have the luck and success in anything you undertake to do. (What do they call these people that do that sort of thing? What would you call her?) Well, we call 'em just by name - some people call 'em the hoodoos - some call 'em spirituals - some call 'em - ah forget the other name they call 'em - but we call 'em all kind of names - fortunetellers and all such things as that, you see.
(Well, does she wear a robe or dress up in any particular way?)
They generally wears a gown, yes sir - you know, a big white gown. Some of 'em be - have a black gown, you know. We call 'em gowns. They look more like gowns than they is robes - and tassel and all around - just in order - just on the order of a priest, you see.
Entry 1741
You have to have black pepper and salt - see, black pepper and salt, and any time a man have a toby or anything of the kind that way he have to be very careful, and if it isn't charged up with the right material, it don't do him any good. For instance, he'll put the fifteen cents, which represent money - silver dime and nickel in the toby. He'll put nine needles and nine pins. He will use some cinnamon powder in there with Cashmere Bouquet perfume to 'noint it with. See, writing his name and diff'rent names, the players' names that he plays with, on parchment paper - the sure enough one. They have the imitation and they have the sure enough parchment paper - it's kind of imitate [imitation] of sheepskin - having the name on the parchment paper, putting it in the toby and wearing it in their right pocket. Now, you got steel dust in there, you have a certain amount of lodestone. Now, whensomever anything going to happen in there - like a fight or any killing thataway, you will take a fearful feeling: That's time for you to leave. If any cutting or anything, any blood is drawn around in there near that it don't work any more.
(It kills the toby?)
Yeah, if any blood is drawn, you see. Any blood is drawn, you understand, it will have to be renewed again.
(I understand.)
So that's why any time anything is happening around thataway, you always have a fear feeling, you leaves out. See. And the same as a battery or anything of the kind, after a certain amount of time, you have to recharge it again, because it don't holds up - it goes away the same as a battery on a automobile. [The preceding fifteen cents is the magic of odd number - see margin-title Money - Uneven.]