Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-12-16
VOODOO CHARMS.
Strang SuperstitiOns of the I'm
educated Negroes.

A vOodoo bag is an amulet which
calls up and impresses in its deep sig
nificance the superstitious fears, breads
and hopes of the Southern negro. 1t is
his guard against all ills of flesh and
fortune. In appearance a voodoo bag
is fiat, roughly made pouch of cotton
cloth. Stitched by unskilled hands, its
edges are raw and uneven. From being
worn suspended around the neck, in its
contact with the skin for 365 days of the
year, and, in the case of the one which
was seen by Dispatch reporter, for
twenty eight years, the surfaces had
become begrimed and greasy. A cord
of cotton, rudely knotted. held the
charm in position, and was like it soiIed
from age.
1t was with some feeling, and only in
response TO repeated and eager inquiry,
that the lucky possessor of the charm, a
negro roustabout, who for many years,
.'Sence befo' de Wah," had been work.
ing on the river, consented to allow its
examination. He would not part with
it under any consideration.
Without any difficulty the pouch was
opened at the top and an inventory of
the contents made. A wisp OF hair,
much resembling that used by plas ierers,
which. it was finally decided. was from
a dogs back, came first, closely followed
by lock which had seen service as the
covering of cat before it became part
of the protector. A little deeper and
chickens feather, rumpled by contac.
with piece of rusty nail and a long,
sharp tooth, which had a place in the
amulet, was pulled out. A small piece
of paper, such as one would get by tear
ing off one corner of a newspaper, devoid
of marks by pen or pencil, concluded the
inventory, and when each was replaced
on the breast of the owner, each string
readjusted and reswuug to its place on
the breast of the owner, the charm was
to all appearances as good as if it had
just left the hands of its maker. Simply
these and nothing more could be found
in the bag.
Nor were there any evident signs of
arrangement. Rather it seemed the
whole had been jumbled together with
out thought, the doctor being out of
supply of the other ingredients some
times found in the amulets.
1t is growing to be wonder to hear
of colored man who practices or
breaches the Voodoo belief. With the
education of the masses it has died out
or been consigned to the darkest corners
of the colonies, where its believers are
ever in fear of detection. To the negro
whose lineage goes back to an ancestor
who came from Africa the idolatrous
is more predominant. as he
can see and believe more fully that by
the Voodoo rites the gods may be
placated.
The powers of the doctor are inherited
from father or mother who was so
gifted, and in the earlier days only rested
with the defendants of one tribe of
Africans. Since they have been free
these gifted mortals dwelt apart from
their brethren and practiced the black
art in solitude or in the presence only of
the applicant for the exercise of such
power. Into the practice emerged all
the favorite and regulation tools of the
magician. Tho caldron boiling and
seething, the mystic wand and the mys.
terious ingredienes were then in abun-
dance. The concoctions were not cure.
alls, but made for o specific purpose,
which the doctors modesty claimed was
always accomplished.
BY the death few years ago of the
Queen of the Voodoos. who made her
home on the borders of Lake Pontchar.
train, La, the most notable figure passed
away, and with her many Of the rites
and observances, such ~ dances, In