Subject:Wine
Entries
Entry 6523
Wash de feet well an' scrape dat dead skin. Fo' instance, if a man is accustomed tuh drinkin' wine, when he drink, yo' see, take dat dead skin tied up in a piece, put it down in dat bottle, an' full dat bottle full of wine. Leave it stay in dere three days. Restrain it an' give him dat tuh drink. Dat's caused aplenty ulcahs in de stomach an' things, but it gen'ly [generally] makes de man, yo' undahstan', he have a certain amount of de woman's blood [essence that comes from the skin of her feet] it seens lak, an it make him [his] whole ambition an' mind be directed on 'er.
(I see.)
Entry 7056
Yo' have tuh git a young chile's urine. See, an' git some, lak if he loves tuh drink wine. Well, yo' know he loves tuh drink dat wine. When he comes home tuh dinnah - but it has tuh be a woman chile. See, a kid nine, six or seven yeahs ole. An' yo' make her urine in a bottle an' yo' take... [author interrupts].
(Must it be a girl?)
It must be a girl, an' yo' make her urine [urinate], yo' know, in a cup or somepin; but chew mustn't let yer fingahs touch nowhere. Yo' know whut ah mean, jis' [no] mo' den tuh po' it out in de bottle, yo' see. An' yo' give him some. Po' dat urine in dere an' den yo' git some likkah, wine, an' mix dat tuhgethah. See, an' when he drink dat, dat jis' make his stomic upset. An' evah time he go tuh drink dat, give him dat. Well finely it weahs off an' he cain't stan' it. See, it makes 'im sick. [Algiers, La., (1590), 2989:3.] [Informants call these rites tricks (Nos.7081, 7086, 7091). They are one of many methods for capturing a person's spirit, the very essence of hoodoo, always dangerous for the believer. Nowhere has a time limit been set to the spell, ex- cept the return of the spellcaster (almost all rites). Thus the sleeping victim could burn up, if the house caught fire (No.7086). Similar keeping-asleep rites scattered through the interviews of Hoodoo will add greater variety to the mate- rial presented here.]
Entry 8484
Ah say yo' could take him an' write him [his name on a piece of paper] an' put 'im in one of these black wine bottles; his name and some steel dust an' some golden powder, washing powder. Take an' throw him [bottled] in de rivah. (Any kind of washing powder in black bottle?) An' that makes 'im go on a drag. [Black bottle in New Or- leans before Prohibition] and World War I was always the French dark-green-glass wine bottle. These bot- tles, become scarce after Prohibition, introduced the dark bottle, usually a brown beer bottle. Though informant does not name the golden washing powder, I am sure the formerly well-known Gold Dust Twins was meant.]
Entry 9302
Jes' lak anybody went away, yore husban' or anything, an' yo' wanta bring 'em back home. Yo' know, dey gone away a long time. Yo' gits a yolk of a aig, let it be jes' laid if yo' could, an' some white wine, an' Some quicksilvah, an' yo' mix it good tuhgethah. An' den yo' git chew a pencil an' a papah an' yo' start writin'. An' yo' write a lettah an' say anything in dat lettah dat chew Want him tuh know - or she. AN' YO' WON' SEE WHAT YO' WRITIN' WHILST YO' WRITING IT, YO' CAN'T SEE IT. An' de time yo' fold it up tuh put it in de lettahs [in the envelope] [the writing] will appeah an' den yo' kin put it in dis envelope an' send it anywhere yo' wanta, an' dey'll have tuh come to yo'...
[I stopped recording too soon but my comment explains.]
(You say you won't see it because you are using this other stuff [I did not care to say invisible ink], but it comes out [appears] after awhile and you can see it?) Yeah, yo' kin see. Dat'll bring anyone back. [My preceding comment in the original parenthesis, made during the recording, shows my understanding at the time. Invisible ink had been used. For several of my experiences with invisible ink, see Doctor Cunningham, Little Rock, Ark., introduction to his interview, p.1315, v.2; and Nos.791-792, Pp.264-266, v.1. Surely the 3 ingredients and invisible ink were not mixed; pretending to use the 3 merely being a part of the trick.]
Entry 11340
Dere's a love powder yo' kin make, too. It's made from a dove, a turtledove. Yo' git dis turtledove an' put him in de oven an' jes' bake him dere until he dry. An' yo' make a powder an' sprinkle dis powder, a teaspoonful of powder into a cup of wine, an' dat will draw de love.
(Of the person that drinks it?)
Yes.
Entry 12699
And then this 109th Psalms. Jest like you know if someone has mis- treated you, and you didn't want to go right to their face to settle it. Well, you pray dis 109th Psalm for 3 days. Then you go and you get you a pint of new wine and put some mustard in there - new mustard - have a new jar - everything new and put it in there. And go to that person's door the fourth night, after you pray the third - the fourth night. Den you go there and put it right cross- Ways of that door, but don't ever let a drap get on you. And so he'll go to the God that gives it [this rite is evidently pow- ered by God!]. [The horizontal bottle, at the foot of the door or steps, does not coml pletely cross vertical door, only symbolically. Moreover the "T" cross is upside down
Entry 12932
Ah knows dat's all right about de shoes. Jes' say if yo' an' a woman wus in love tuhgether, an' by some means dat chew think dat dis woman is not de right woman fo' yo', an' yo' wants tuh git loose from her, yo' put on yore shoes an' jes' git out an' valk. Walk fast. Yo' know dat chure feet will perspire but not smelly. Pull den shoe off an' po' some wine in 'em an' drink dat wine. Dat'll separate yo' an' her. [For another drinking-out-of-shoe rite, see 12896, p.4412.
Entry 13453
If yo' wanta make 'em move out? Ah tell yo' zactly whut ah do. Ah git some new sparklin' wine an' put it in one dese little toy jugs yo' git out de ten-cent sto', an' go right dah [there] befo' day in de mawnin' an' where he have tuh come out de gate, an' po' it down an' call on de: Three Names, de Fathah, Son an' de Holy Ghost. Vanished! It won' be long 'fo' de're [they are] gone.
(You - all you do is pour some new wine down?)
Git some new wine an' put it in one dem new toy jugs yo' see dere. An' den go dere 'fo' day in de mawnin' - don't let daylight ketch yo', an' dey'll go on.
Entry 13454
An' if yo' wants tuh git rid of him an' don' want him nowhere aroun', go git chew a bottle of wine, black wine, an' git chew a little jar of mustard - git chew half a jar of mustard. Take half a jar of mus- tard into de wine, a quart of wine or half a gallon of wine 'cordin' tuh how yo' wanta use it. Take dat mustard an' beat it into dat wine lak dat, jes' continually beat it, until it all go tuhgether an' yo' cain't see it - de mustard. Take an' sprinkle dat when he leaves outa yore house, if he's stayin' dere yo' know. An' when he leave out, jes' sprinkle dat behin' him an' let him go. He ain't comin' back. He cain't come back. [The wine leads him out, the mustard keeps him away, and informant is marked excellent.]
Entry 13455
An' if ah have a enemy that's botherin' me, ah supposed tuh git - yo' know somebody coml' tuh me an' jis' botherin' me all de time an' ah wanted tuh run 'em away. Ah kin run 'em at twelve a'clock in de night. Ah'd buy me a jug of wine an' put a dime jar of mustard in a jug of vine, an' po' that jug of wine right at de hour of twelve a'clock right at de do'step, but be sho' [sure] not tuh let de wine, tetch me. [There are numberous varnings in HOODOO by professional workers not to let any of the in- gredients used touch you.]
Entry 13456
I'll go get me a pint of this here sour wine, the Italian wine. You go there to the gate and break it right at their gate. They come out there and fuss. Nobody kin go in there without there be a fuss, fuss. What I'd do... [turn off machine too quickly and must repeat.]
(Nobody can rent that house?)
Nobody rent it.
(Because there'd be a fuss in there.)
Be a fuss all the time.
(Do you sprinkle this bottle of sour kind of wine?)
No, just break it, don't sprinkle it. Just throw this bottle on the floor, say a bad word: "God damn, you go." So there'll be a fuss all the whole time. [Not on their floor but at their gate as at the beginning of rite.]
Entry 11476
"I [you] wash my [your] feet and take a knife and scrape the bottom of your feet, and you scrape from your heel up to the toes, then scrape from the toes back up to the heel. Then they say you put that in whiskey or wine and give that to a person and make 'em love yeh." [Elizabeth City 556:5.]
Entry 2860
From my understanding, like if a man's wife is gone, or a woman's hus- band gone, she takes a blue and a pink candle. She writes his name upon there three times or seven times or nine times - always got to be odd, you understand. They writes it upon this candle and anything that they likes to drink, such as whiskey, wine - whiskey or wine or anything to drink thataway - well, they sets this candle in there. You understand, after writing the name upon there. But they don't light the end what supposed to be burned; they change ends with it and they sharpen the other end, and after [that] they write the name, see. They write the name like this [demonstrates] - to 'em, not from 'em. They writes it to 'em thataway, see. Then they sets it in this. And even if they drink coffee, well, they make that coffee sweet, sweet, sweet, see, just the same as syrup, and they puts it in there and they burns that [candle in it]. Then they write the name upon this Vinrick [or Venrick] parchment and put it underneath this cup or glass what they have it in. But it's got to be a new cup or either a new glass, and they sets it right in there and they burn it for nine days.
[Is this Vinrick (= virgin or genuine parchment?) or is Venrick a trade name?]
(Do they do that with just one candle or two?)
Use two.
(Use two? How do they put them?)
Just sets 'em up in the tin cup or glass, whatever you have.
(I see, you put them [I demonstrate] like this?)
Yes, sir - straight up.
(You put two candles [I demonstrate again] - one here and one there?)
Yes sir, fust like that.
(Now where do you put these candles?)
You takes 'em and you hides 'em.
(Where?)
Just hides 'em. Stick 'em underneath of your bed or have a place, a secret place to put 'em in.
Entry 3324
I know a lady dat wus livin' wit 'er husban', dey were livin' very comfortable. An' he came in contact wit anothah lady, an' on evah Sundah aftah- noon he would go an' meet dis lady, an' tell 'is wife he wus goin' prob'bly tuh de show or goin' tuh see diff'ren' fren's of 'is. Well, fin'lly dis came tuh such an extent till he couldn't stay home at all, at night an' at certain times. So fin'lly he left. He jes' left home wit'out lettin' 'is wife know - all of a sudden. An' he left 'er in a bad state. An' when he left, he left tuh git rid of dis lady becuz she wus beginnin' tuh break 'is home up: No, he didn't leave tuh git rid of 'is wife, he still takes care of 'is wife. Dis is real. He still supports 'is wife an' wants tuh live wit 'er, but it was said dat he wus run away. Somepin in connection wit 'im an' dis lady put 'im - she throwed it in a stream of watah an' put 'im on de wandah [wander], aftah she couldn't git 'im. (Well, now just what did she do to make him leave that way? [Informant was evidently taken aback by my question and I surely turned off the recording ma- chine for a moment before beginning to talk again.] Why it's quite all right. You can say anything you want to. I've heard of ways that they do that, but you might know a different way.) Well, de way she got 'im wit 'er, she gave him a drink of wine. She'd pull 'im tuh 'er house dat way. An' den she gave him - while dey had connection wit each othah, she kept dat so many times.
(How many times?)
Nine times. An' den she would throw it in a stream of runnin' watah, an' of course he begin to worry, an' worry, worry more about leavin', leavin', aftah he wouldn't give her all 'is time. An' den he worried so much about leavin' until he jes' - it jes' looked like all 'is works an' evahthin' began tuh be a strain wit 'u. An' he left.
(Did he ever try to do anything to get rid of that spell?)
He didn't know fo' sure it was a spell. He didn't know what it wus. Dis wus unknown tuh 'im even till now. (Well what did she put that stuff in? Did she do anything special? Just take that stuff and throw it in running water, that all?) She wus supposed tuh have put dis in runnin' watah an' dey say dat would give him dat goin' mind; if he couldn't stay wit 'er, he couldn't stay wit 'is wife.
Entry 495
I did hear the old people say at one time that a witch came in the house and got in a wine bottle and drank too much and couldn't get out. Ev'ry once in awhile she would holler about the keyhole, trying to go through it to escape, and fall back on the floor. There where the witch was caught. The olden people use to make the wine and set it under the bed or table and the witch got in one of these bottles.
Entry 890
Well, there was a girl who had been born and raised in the country [King George County, Virginia]. She decided to go to the city [Washington, D. C.] to work. She made her home with some relatives. The girl, being very fair, through her personality she seemed to take this woman's husband from her entirely. After years and years of intimacy they had some family trouble. She tried to fix the girl so her husband would have no other care for her. Her husband had gotten so bold with her that he took her out to open places - off on long trips where he couldn't take his wife and children. After awhile this girl was taken down seriously ill. After a thorough examination the doctor decided that the girl should go to a tuberculosis sanitarium. Her mother of course had her sent there. After several weeks stay the doctors there finally couldn't do anything for her so she returned to her home. And after being put under her former doctor's care he give her up saying there was nothing he could do. The girl of course being very fair turned very dark during her sickness. When the doctor said he couldn't do anything, her mother came under the conclusion that some form of cunjuration had been performed. She brought the girl to her former country home and had a cunjuration doctor visit her, I don't know who she was, to work upon her. The doctor told her, yes, she had been tricked, who had tricked her, and how it had been done. The woman [wife] had someone perform the act. She took some fluid from her [girl's] body yes, her monthly fluid, put it in a bottle and put it in a corner of the closet in Washington. She tole her to take this bottle and throw it over in the river. She told her she should stay on this side over the river [the Potomac] and not go back to her city home and she would get well. The girl stayed home for several months. After getting well, as she thought, she decided there Was nothing anyone on that end could do to her if she would be careful, so she returned back to the city. She one night was invited to this same home and she insisted upon drinking wine and eating cake. Well, on that night on returning home from the party she was taken desperately ill again. The doctor said it was the same thing as before. There was nothing for her to do but to go back to the country air. So her mother several days after that took her back home to the cunjuration doctor again. The doctor told her that she had disobeyed her orders. She said she had been tricked by these same people, taking wine, that she had a double dose in her system and she wasn't able to do anything for her. Several days after that the girl died very quickly. They buried her privately. Her mother knew and other friends knew. Because she turned so black they didn't want her to be seen. [Fredericksburg, Va., (75), Ed.; King George Co.,1933.]
Entry 2363
Well suh, yo' kin git chamber lye an' yo kin quick witchcraft a person in dat, so as to even quit dere home an' take tuh yo'. Dat is, jes' lak a woman, if yo' want de re'lly fac' 'bout it, sur. Dey take chamber lye an' take a eye- dropper - a woman kin take a eye-dropper an' take her chamber lye an' take nine drops of chamber lye 'sposed to be, an' she kin drop it into wine or in anything drinkin' kind, or anything of de edible kind, an' gives tuh a man. An' it will make him quit home and take up with her.
Entry 6583
Take a scorpion ag'in an' take some of dat same scorpion an' put it in whiskey or wine or sompin an' drink it. It will have scorpions runnin' all about in yore skin.
(Is there any way of getting those things out of you?)
Why ah don't know how yo' git it out, but dere's a man dat could git it out.
Entry 6632
Ah've heard talk dat chew kin take like a snake or somepin othah like dat. Somebody dat's not 'fraid of a snake. Well, we say - wouldn't say it wus 'is blood, but say dat 'it would be like he's [his] flesh, yo' undahstan', jes' a li'le some of 'im. Jis' like he's killed an' yo' git a chance tuh put dat in 'im [enemy]. Sew dat up an' bake dat in a stove an' den powdah it. Aftah yo' bake it in de stove, powdah it up fine. An' den yo' kin put it in some whiskey or watah or wine.
Entry 6672
De way dat's done in de time dat it's matin'-time wit de terrapins. An' if yo' git it dat pahtic'lah time, yo' git a chance tuh git a terrapin an cook dat terrapin. An' take dat ter- rapin an' wheresomevah, jis' lak a woman, if she wanta hurt somebody - lak she wanta hurt anothah woman, sompin lak dat, see. At dat pahtic'lah time [mating-time] she kin take dat terrapin an' cook 'im, boil 'im good. An' befo' she boil 'im, she kin take 'im an' take some of de blood of dat terrapin, an' mix it wit some wine, some strong wine. An' give it tuh dis othah individual tuh drink in de wine, if she's a drinkah, yo' see. She kin be doped in dat. An' when she drink dat juice out dat terrapin in matin'-time wit dat wine - now when time come de terrapin aigs oughta be hatchin', well dat terrapin goin' from in dat individual. (That will form in them and kill them. That is, if some woman wants to get rid of another woman.) Dat's right.
Entry 10273
He takes and give her his urine to drink unbeknownst to her, like in beer or wine, and she won't even look at another man, won't have any nature to- wards any other man. That urine keeps her mine [mind] on that one man, her husband, when he is gone away from her, on a visit or somepin.
Entry 12004
If you put hair and snake blood in a bottle and add wine, it will poison the person who drinks it. [Baltimore, but information from Charlotte Co., Va., 60:1.]
Entry 13236
That is only used in a drink. Now if you know a person is an ex- cessive drunkard, you know that you can always give them in something to drink- mostly using wine, or where eggnogs or cocktails are concerned. You get a little bag, a little new bag - linen or domestic white cloth, cotton. You put three tablespoons of sugar in this little bag and sew it up. You have seen a sachet bag. You make a sachet bag out of that and wear it under the arms, where you know nearly everyone will perspire under de arms. (Which arm do you wear it under?) Under the left. You wear that for nine days and then you take this and add it to the per- son - well, even if they drink coffee, you mix that in the coffee. But be sure that chew don't drink it, you see. [In hoodoo is is always dangerous to sample any of your own work!] But you'll put that in the sugar dish after you wear it, but if not, if they drink, you put it in their drink. That is the way that is done. [Despite this reference this rite continues as follows: Mobile, Ala.,
(650), 866:3.]
[The preceding account comes from a Mrs. Brady, a woman with great experience in the world I wanted to meet, she having sold curios, given advice to women in trouble, told fortunes, made hands, etc. In fact she became one of my helpers. Unfortunately my first day recordings were so bad I had everyone back for another session. Here is what she said the secone time - substantially the same, but of greater interest.] Git chew a piece of new domestic, any kind of new white cloth, and you make these little bags [as I said, she made hands]. You've seen little sachet bags. Put about three tablespoons of sugar in each one and sew it up, and then you pin it under the pits of the arms.
(Both arms?)
Sure.
(One under each arm.)
There are other people wear 'em other places but it's not so nice. They do that. But ah tell you it really does have a strange effect on people. Ah've seen things carried out like that - it really does. And then after they have worn that nine days, then it will absolutely do the work.
(Then what do they do with that?)
You put it in the coffee or in wine, anything that you have to use anything sweet in.
(And what will that do - hold them?)
It will hold them, influence them towards you.