Subject:Teeth
Entries
Entry 823
I know a lady whose husband would fight her quite often and he was noted for biting her when he fought her. And she was told, when he bit her severely, to go to the cemetery and get some of the dirt from the graveyard, and put on this where he bit her, and it would cause all of his teeth to drop out. (Did she do it?) Well, she went out there and put it on, but whether his teeth dropped out or not I don't know.
Entry 3992
If.anybody bites chew, makes a bruise on yuh, all yuh gotta do is git some of dere own urine an' rub it on de place, an' den yo' kin wipe it off. [This is the hair of the dog that bit you!] Co'se ah'd hate tuh put mah han's in somebody else's an' rub it on dat place. Said evah tooth in dere head will fall out in de long run. (In other words, if I bit you, you'd have to get my urine and wipe it on the bite. My teeth will come out?) Rub it on. Yuh teeth will shed - rot out by degrees.
Entry 6737
If a black-gummed person bites you, put black hen manure on the bite and the biter's teeth will decay and drop out.
Entry 6790
If a person bites yo' wit blue gums, yo' kin take a li'le of yore action, yore action an' put it on dere an' rub it in dere roun' good. (Rub it into the bite?) Yeah, an' go git chew some sulphuh an' burn it an' put it on dere, an' slip tuh 'is house. When yo' git dere, an' jis' lak yo' wanta a drink of watah, say, "Git me a glass of watah - git me some watah." An' carry a li'le dat burnt sulphuh wit chew an' - now, lak yo' wan' some watah. Rub it roun' intuh dat glass an' blow yore breath in it three times an' set it down nice, an' tell 'em tuh 'ave a drink of watah. He'll take a drink of watah an' he'll start tuh sufferin' wit de pyorrhea, los' [lostl de teeth outa his haid. (That burnt sulphur that you use in putting on your arm, that is out of the same batch of stuff?) Yes.
Entry 7190
Now, ah'll tell yuh tuh show yuh dat ah kin know somepin. Ah were born in dis world feet foremost. Ah wuz wrapped in a veil three times. [This means] yuh talk tuh anyone in three tongues an' yuh kin sing ole-time songs, mah mothah said. Mah parents an' both mah gran'parents said ah had plenty hair on me befo' dey had dern [theirs]. Well, ah wuz born between de legs [of my mother] as a woman. Yes sir, ah wuz born wit mah teeth. Ah'd [I had] it [them] pulled an' nevah shed a tooth in mah life. Ah wuz de seventh chile outa seven daughtahs, born on de third day of de new moon. An' yuh know, mahself as a virgin should be wise [a woman of 55-60 years old]. Ah kin rub [you] if anybody did anythin' tuh yuh an' it'll all go away. Ah know ah wuz born tuh work [hoodoo]. No one taught me. Ah wuz born in North Carolina, in Salts- ville [lake?] where's dere nuthin but Geechees [gē'chē, singular]. Mah fathah wuz a full- blooded Geechee, mah mothah wuz a Amasha woman, black Creek Indian, etc., etc. [This woman, quite eccentric, was a professional worker and excellent. Unfortunately, except for the preceding account and No.2328, p.652, I lost all of her material. She claimed to be a Gee- chee (ge'chē), word from Ogeechee, a dialect originally of Negro slaves on the Ogeechee River, Georgia, formed of English and native African words. I found it difficult to understand either the Geechee or the Gullah, the latter along the lowlands and off-shore islands of South Carolina, Georgia and the northern coastal tip of Florida. A black man I interviewed at Ocean City, Md., in 1926, he working for his M. A. at Howard University, had spent several weeks in Charleston, S. Car. His opinion to me was: Those people down there are not Americans, they are Africans. I could scarcely understand a word they said.]
Entry 10091
That fer stealin' also. Yo' take a black cat with notta white spot on it. Yo' understand what I mean. Yo' take this black cat an' yo' have a hot boilin' pot of water. Yo' put this black cat in there. Cover him up, and let him cook all to pieces. After he cooks all to pieces, then you take him out and pour that water off of it. Dash them bones in some cold water and take a looking glass, and put that stuff before this looking glass. And take ev'y bone and pass it between yore teeth and look in this glass. An' the bone that yo' pass between your teeth and yo' can't see yourself in this glass, that's the right bone. Yo' can tote that bone and do anything you wanta.
Entry 10721
Ah got in a fight with a boy, an' mah grandmother - yo' know, ole fo folks dey are very active - she say, "Come here, boy, yo' got in a fight?" Say, "Yes mam." She say, "Whut chew do?" Ah say, "Ah bit dat boy plenty a place." She say, "Looky heah, come heah an'( Grandmah fix yo' up." She got a little sulphur an' a little kerosene, yo' know, an' she fixed a little bag, yo' know, an' she put it down dere undah mah bed; yo' know, up in de mattress - whut chew call a moss mat- tress [Spanish moss mattress]. Ah say, "Whut chew do dat fo'?" She say, "Don't chew know if yo' bit somebody an' yo' don't take care of yo'- self; don't chew know, dat dey will take bird manure [usually chicken manure] or some kinda manure lak dat, an' 'noint dis place lak yo' would [use] some grease on mah [your] bare face; yo' know, keep dat place [bite] 'nointed dere well, ' she say, "an' yore teeth will drop out." She tole me dat several time. Dey [person bitten] keep dat place 'nointed wit dat manure some kind. She say, every tooth in yore [biter's] head will drop out. (But she would prevent that by doing this.... [sulphur-kerosene hand in the mattress].) Put dis stuff undah mah bed an' dat will keep de othah stuff from coming back at me. [For the treatment of human bite with chicken manure, see Nos.
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 10763
Ef they git hold of somepin that yo' was eatin' off [on] see, an' tbey place it with bluestone - they have it mixed with bluestone and that [piece yoo were eating on and the bluestone] they sets up ovah yo' [so that you valk ander it] and then yore teeth miu come out. (They put it over [above] yoa, so you will walk uoder it.)
[octor Johnson in Richmond gave something similar.]
Entry 10844
Wal, dey tell me yo' kin take a feather out of a buzzard, yo' know ane dose ole bone feathers, an' keep dat an' yo' cleans yore teeth. Scrub yore teeth. Dey say dat's a perfect medicine to you. Dat's all ah evah heard. Ah don't know no hoodoo aboat a buzzard feather. (That's to preserve yoer teeth.)
Entry 11049
[All the following chicken-manure rites, not identical ones, will be found somewhere in HOODOO. They appear everywhere out in the field. If there is no preference concerning the type - color and source - of the material used, sup- pose we begin with the chicken-house itself. But sometimes for a human bite bird manure is used - see No.10721, p.4054, v.5.1 Well, if anybody bite chew like dat, yo' take an' place - go to a chicken coop an' place some chicken 'nure [manure] on dere an' make yo' [the biter] lose yore teeth.
Entry 11052
Ah heard dat if somebody bite chew dat yo' gits black chicken manure an' rub it on dere, an' it will rot all dere teeth out.
Entry 11055
They will ketch a black hen - goin' pick 'em out a black ole hen an' git de white offa dat, dey dung, de white. And if dey kin git it - maybe dey wants to do it, dey can't git to 'em. But he'll git somebody else an' put some in yore food. See. An' de minute dat yo' eat it, in nine days yore tooths will come to be slack all over everywhere - in nine days. (And your teeth will eventually drop out.) [Not eventually, but within 9 days!]
Entry 11057
If yo' bit a person, yeah, n' they git chicken manure an' anoint the place with it - if they bit 'en, an then their teeth will begin tuh rot out one by one. Of course, they all won't come out at one time, but one by one they'll eventually [come out].
(Any kind of chicken manure?) Yes, jes' so it's a chicken.
Entry 11058
You kin take manure from a chicken - has to be a black one, though - an' dat place [where you were bitten] put it on there an' tie it up, an keep it tied up for three days. Dat will take all their teeth out.