Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-11-02
A NEGRO PROPHECIES.
Tena and Her Heather Followers In
North Carolina,

Tena and Her Heatben Followers In
North Carolina,
From the Wilmington IN. CO. Evening Post.
About mile above Brown Marsh
station on the Carolina Central rail
way about 40 miles from this city, and
about two hundred yards to the left of
this railroad track-can be seen the
Sanctuary of Tena." just here we
think it would not be out of place to
give as much of a description of the
strange beings history as our inquiries
could elicit. Tena the "God'' is ne
gress, apparently about fifty years of
age, with head of perfectly white hair.
There is nothing about her person or
features, with the exception of her hair,
that would particularly strike one, and
she does not differ from most colored
people in appearance. Tena, we learn,
was originally from Wilmington, and
member of the Front Street Methodist
Church, of this city, while under the
pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr.. Bob
bit. She was very demonstrative and
noisy during the services in the church,
and very often would run out and climb
upa tree in front of the edifce, and there
make the most horrible noise Magma
bic. Finally, ON account Of her noisy
manner and repeatedly annoying the
congregation, she was accommodated,
and this closed her connection with the
Methodists. We failed to learn of her
whereabouts from that time until the
fall of 1868, when she located at Brown
Marsh, where she has resided ever since.
Upon her arrival there she Immediately
commenced to establish ''church" of
her own among the colored people, but
did not succeed very well until the close
of the war, when she pushed her work
with renewed vigor, until she has now
about sixty persons in her band.
The prophecies" declares herself
God" and asserts that she can fore
see and foretel any and everything
that is to be, and makes the band wor
ship and respect her as such. "The
is a rude log cabin contain
ing one room, built in the commonest
way imaginable, and in very many pla-
ces the clay which is used to stop the
space. between the logs has fallen out,
and by that means only can circula-
of air be obtained, as there are no win
dows in the room, Nearing the ''sanc-
tuary'' in front, from the railroad track
the first thing that strikes the eye of
an observer is a couple of poles, about
forty feet high and about eight feet
apart, each with a mans shirt hanging
on it; the shirts are made of common,
homespun. On entering
the Enclosure one would be struck with
the cleanliness of the yard; not stick
nor even a pine straw is allowed to re-
main in the yard, as it would be consid-
cred an i'll omen if perchance it should
remain in the inclosure a half hour I'M
observed. Immediately In front of the
gate, and about half way between the
fence and the sanctuary" is small
pen about ten feet square, and in the
middle of the pen is block, the seat
of the God" This pen is termed by
them the ''singing-house." Here they
all huddle up together and dance and
sing something that would remind one
of an Indian war-song. Proceeding
around the left corner of the "sanctua-
ry," the next thing to observe will be a
peculiarly-shaped clay-hole, about
nineteen feet long and two and half
feetdeep, half full ofmuddy clay-water.
Our searching inquiries failed to elicit
the techanical name for the clay-hole.
In this clay-hole each one of the band
goes, makes clay ball about two
inches in diameter, and places it on the
edge of the bank to dry and become
hard. Following our guide around
the house to the back door, we
noticed four poles placed in the
ground, forming square, about three
feet from the door. On each one of
these poles there is a covering for the
head, two bonnets and two hats.
Around these poles the band dances on
certain days supposed to be holy days
of the band ''Tena, the God" has
two seats of honor during prayers
one in the fireplace and the other in
the bed. She invariably sits Ia
Turque during the services, and her
followers kneel PROSTATE on the floor.
They are known throughout the cOun-
try as the ''Tena Band" They have
their day of atonement, and on this
occasion the God" offers up himself
as a sacrifice for the sins Of the follow
ers. During this portion of the cere-
monies for the day she sits in the fire.
place and throws ashes over herself
then walks over, stepping on every one
of her followers, who are lying on the
ground, face down, to ''mash out their
sins" The band obey her, and per-
form every one of the dogmas of Tena
scrupulously, as it is part of their re-
hgion and faith. The band is some
times on the railroad, sweeping the
track and ties, and on every Wednes-
day each and every one is re-
quired to visit and carry the "God"
small basket of provisions. Any who
fail to comply with the requirements
are punished. The "God" is very pro-
fame, and is held in fear and trembling
by the colored people of the neighbor-
hood, though, however, they do not
fear that she will hurt them by doing
them any injury by physical strength,
but by 'conjuring, putting mouth on
them, or guffering Them The band
has been in operation for the past
eight years, and by it's earnings sue
ceeded in building a shed in which to
worship" The authorities refused to
let them use the shed for that purpose
some twelve or eighteen months ago, on
account of the bad effect it had on the
colored people, who were disposed to
credit Tena's assertions.