Sender: |
|
X-To: |
|
Date: |
Thu, 24 Aug 2006 20:02:39 -0400 |
MIME-version: |
1.0 (Apple Message framework v752.2) |
Reply-To: |
|
Content-type: |
text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed |
Subject: |
|
From: |
|
In-Reply-To: |
|
Content-transfer-encoding: |
7bit |
Parts/Attachments: |
|
|
On Aug 24, 2006, at 3:23 AM, Ian Evans wrote:
> Dear HistArchers,
>
> I'm curious to know if you're aware of finds of concealed objects (ie
> charms) in houses and other buildings in North America.
> The custom is widespread in England and also occurred in Australia.
> The most common items are shoes which are general found in sealed
> voids,
> either in the subfloor area or associated with the hearth and the
> chimney.
> These were thought to act as lures, decoying evil spirits and
> witches away
> from the people who lived in or used the building.
Responding utterly from personal experience, the practice is not
limited to African-Americans. My Great-Grandfather bought a small
house in James City County, VA in 1926 from a lady whose descendants
had built it in 1803. The original builders were small land-owners,
and never owned slaves.
After I acquired the house, the roof needed replacement. In doing so,
the hunt club (another good Southern tradition) found under the roof
and above the never opened lath and plaster walls, a very worn brogue
type shoe, part of a woman's lace-up semi-dress boot and a brown felt
hat. All of this material dated to the very late 19th to first
quarter 20th century. My GGrandfather was of the poor as a church
mouse persuasion and may have re-roofed the house, but more like it
was the family he acquired it from. So either the original non-slave
owning VA family or the immigrant Wisconsin to VA family put the
stuff there. Nobody in my family remembered the house being re-roofed
and the objects were a mystery to them as to who did it and what the
reasons were.
Again from personal understanding, hoodoo is a Southern vernacular
phrase used by both poor whites and blacks. Creedence Clearwater
Revival had the phrase in one of their songs (Born on a Bayou?).
Notions of whether it was derogatory are probably more a reflection
of perceived class than race in origin and use.
Lyle Browning
>
|
|
|