I want to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread so far and to encourage
anyone who wants to speak up to please do so. The original query was posted by Neil
Larson, on behalf of Ron May, to a small group of people belonging to the Vernacular
Architecture Forum. I have been forwarding responses to Ron and Neil as well as the
VAFers. If I receive comments from any of these people (other than the 'thanks' that
several have expressed) I will be sure to post them here as well.
Myth and ritual associated with building is one of those topics that I have on my long
list of 'things I'd like to investigate further when (and if) I finish my
dissertation.' :) I was considering a distinction between blessings (cornerstones,
bldg. dedication ceremonies, consecrations) and protection from evil (witch balls,
spirit wards around thresholds, etc.) but I suppose that a ritual asking for good
things necessarily implies protection from and avoidance of bad things. Anyway . . .
On witch balls -- a timely topic, since we'll all need one for this Sunday. :) I
have a simple guide book for glass which illustrates a clear, free-blown globe, 8 5/8"
in diameter, with a small opening at one end, c. 1840-1900. The text notes that they
are also found in "aquamarine, blue, green, amber, . . . colorless with stripes of 2
colors, including opaque white and red stripes or opaque white and blue stripes."
They further add that:
"The origin of the term 'witch ball' and its use are somewhat obscure. An English
theory suggests that superstitious people filled the balls with string and then hung
them up by their doors. The visiting spirit was supposed to get so involved in
pulling out the string that the people inside the house would be safe. But this story
sounds unlikely. Many witch balls matched vases and pitchers; by placing the balls on
top of these vessels, they were transformed into parlor ornaments."
Jane Shadel Spillman, _Glass Bottles, Lamps & Other Objects_, The Knopf Collectors'
Guides to American Antiques (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1983) 240.
I don't know why this story was considered 'unlikely' by the author (perhaps modern
ethnocentrism). Though, it was my understanding that the string was supposed to be
thoroughly knotted and tangled thus increasing the difficulty of the puzzle. It was
thought that witches were fascinated with bright shiny objects (much like magpies) and
had a compulsion to count things; hence the 'bottle filled with ferous needles'
mentioned earlier served a double purpose. I have also heard of keeping a bottle
filled with sand, or other 'countless' tiny objects, by one's bedside to ward off
witches of the nightmare variety. The object was that any witch, upon entering the
room, would be compelled to count the individual grains and would never finish before
daylight and thus would be thwarted from his or her mischief. (As an aside, this
belief probably did not bode well for obsessive compulsives in the not-so-distant
past.)
[a lengthy digression] I heard folklorist, David Hufford, give a talk on nightmares
at the 1976 AFS (Am. Folklore Soc.) meeting. He described a physiological phenomenon
which occurs during sleep and is experienced by about one in every four people. I'm
not sure how to describe it other than to say that one part of the brain seems to wake
up while your body is still deep in sleep. When this happens you feel paralyzed and
can only move your eyes. This is often accompanied by a sense of dread and a feeling
that there is a foreign presence in the room. Apparently the subconcious is still
working and fills in the details as to what is going on. There used to be a long
tradition of folk lore explaining this phenomenon as being ridden by witches. I know
an older African American gentleman, friend of the family, who swears that one night a
small man, in a pointy cap, came into his room through the keyhole and beat him
soundly with a stick. Typically once you can move any part of your body, a finger or
toe, you're fully awake and the event is over.
The tradition of witch riding offered at least one explanation for a frightening and
unusual experience. It is believed by some that, in the absence of such a tradition,
stories of alien abduction have taken the place of witch riding. In any event, given
that this occurs at least once in the lifetime of one fourth of the population, it
would seem reasonable to expect that there were once quite a few people who took
protection from 'witches' very seriously.
Though, as I understand it, to be effective witch balls/wards had to be located in
plain sight near one's bed or by 'liminal' parts of the house: doors, windows,
chimneys, or anyplace offering potential ingress. I wonder then, why they were
sometimes buried? Was this more of a symbolic act to accompany the literal belief?
It does seem significant, however, that they often show up under thresholds and
hearths.
And, why wards under corners? Is there any correspondence between corner wards and
African American occupation, where (a big 'perhaps') there may have been an older
tradition of living in houses with no corners?
Marty Perdue
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