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.]