Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-07-02
NEGRO SUPERSTITIONS.
INFLUENCE OF BLACK CATS AND
BLUE JAYS ON THE AFRICAN.
Frogs in a Spring Not to be Tolerated
How SambO is Harnessed and Ridden
by Witches-The Voudou Priestess.
From The Neso York Sun.

Ny
From the NesO York Sun.
EUsTIs, FLA, June ia great deal of
superstition is mingled with the mental
gradients of Sambo. He is a firm believer
in spooks, voudouism, signs for good or
evil, and the efficacy of charms and anu
let's. He can shake of everything else
but the fetish business of his ancestors.
That is flesh OF his flesh and bone of his
bone, and will endure forever. 1t
leads him into much trouble and mental
and physical perturbation. 1t not only
obtains among the Ignorant and benighted
| OF his race, but is often found in those
who have drank from the fountains of
| learning and sat down at the feet of the
wise. 1t expresses Itself in the strangest
and most ludicrous manner. 1t eXcites
our sympathy necessarily. for we, too,
| though much whiter-especially when
washed-we, too, have our signs, our
talismans, and our ghosts.
| Did you ever see black cat in South
ern negroes household? 1 never did. One
would think that the sympathy OF color
would create natural attachment, but
1t is right the other way. With all his
| faults, and exc his virtues, Sambo IS not
| color blind, and his superstition in regard
| to the felineibus blackibus comes into di-
| rect conflict with one of the most vivid OF
the Biblical theories. l had often noticed
this strange antipathy, more pronounced in
| some than in others, and was at loss to
account for it. Ihave seen negroes hesitate
to enter yard where the black cat held
forth, and when they did go in, every
movement was garnished with an acute
perturbation caused either by fear or eX-
cess Of poetic feeling. doubt if it could
have been the latter, Even the female por-
ton of the Southern community enjoyed
the same aversion, and were 10th to enter
the employ of the white person who kept
a black cat. Some there were, though, of
the world worldly, and they ignored
all the fascinating conditions of their
race. They cared not how many cats
| were kept, nor what their color, so
long as they (the negroes, Of course
got plenty to eat and freedom to roam at
night. The curious feeling of repulsion
possessed by many annoyed me greatly
until obtained its solution. This cost
me drink of alleged rum, and a cigar
doubly valuable tor it's marked innocence
of tobacco. Uncle Pinky was the veneTa-
BILE darkey who possessed the key to the
riddle. l corralled him on Saturday al
! ternOOn as he was hmplng hOmeward, a
good bit the worse for wear. After ne
had partaken Of the dubious hospitality
aforesaid, he lifted up his voice, after the
manner Of one crying aloud in the wilder
ness, and spake as follows:
"BOss, you done heerd erbout de Good
Man dribin' de debbil outen de white
buckra inter dem shOats, isn't yo?'
Yes, | had a faint impression OF having
seen an account of 1T omewhere.
CAN desc we're shoats was driv' down
inter de sea, an all got got drOwndedW
Yes, that reason was correct.
"Well, | wants to tell yO'. Dey didn't
all git drownded. One right peert shOat
he say ter hisself as dey was gwine down
de slope: Boss devil, big man Ober all,
dom let me git drownded. Sabe me, an
l hope to die eff l oon' sarb you all de
resten OBJ my daysp So de boss devil he
! turn dat shOat inter a black cat, am he
elm tree am stay dar ontu de sun go
down, den he come down, swum ershore
| an went prolectin' all ODER de kentry.
| You white folkes kin baD all de black
cats yo' wanter, but yo' can't fool dis yer
niger; he knows, he does, de debil in de
black cat sho', an hit will crop out"
Another superstition of our brother in
black is closely connected with that pride
| of American forests, the blue jay. One
l day In the week is held sacred on its &C.
| count Six days shalt thou kill and eat
| him, but on Friday not even a stone must be
| SHE'D al this pert and saucy fellow. Now,
the blue jay has handsome, well-clothed
| person. Ills voice might not tickle the
ears of the groundlings or the upperlings,
| but ornithologists will tell you that he is
| very useful in his own domain. He de-
YOURS myriads of insects, he drives away
hawks, and if he does steal a grape or
| cherry it is only by way of dessert to mis-
| otherwise monotOnous bill of fare. As
an eatable bird he IS not very tempt
ing, being somewhat sinewy and
not overladen with meat. Yet Sambo
will kill HIM JOyOusly every day save
| Friday and serve him up in various cpl
| curean WAYS. On Friday our crested
friend can waltz around all he wants to.
Nor love nor money will tempt the aver
age negro to modest him. Why! Because
ON Friday the blue jay belongs to the
devil. This rather otfcious gentleman
takes charge on that day, and sends him
down TO the earth to pick out victims.
! Woe to Sambo if the bird of omen lights
near him on that day. Salt won't save
him. He had better have his name
stricken off the registration book at once.
There is no more voting for him to do.
L was trapping quails, and one day
| found one of my traps tCnanted by a soil
tary male blue jay, who pecked at me
yiciously as took him out. | carried
him to the house and, calling TO the little
black girl who pretended to work for us,
said: "Here, Topsy, here's a bird for you"
She.lOoked at il a moment, and then re-
piled: Don't brung hit here. Turn 1t
/ lOOsel To-day's Friday. l mustn't totch
dat bird for money"
Her distress was actual, and she gave a
| long sigh of relief when | tossed the bird
into the air. She watched Its swaying
/ course, and re-echoed its triumphant
chuckle as it regained It's side partner on
an adjacent tree.
A frog in the household well or cistern
is always an object of hatred and disgust
to the negro. and awakeus in him or her
| the murderOus instinct at once. | have
an idea that good, healthy, moral, we'll
/ behaved frog was rather TO be desired in
a cistern. 1t would be very apt to keep
! the bone watering places free from bugs
and other insects nOXous to health and
comfort. Sambo thinks differently. My
| particular Sambo was always on the
lookout for them. and took particular de-
! light in depriving them OF breath through
the medium of the hoe. One day expos
tulated with him. Don't kill him, Jo-
slah," | said. LET him go"
"Huhr' he replied, with vicious
whack Of the hoe. "Ef | lets him 20, he
gwineter bring oyer his irien's to dis yere
| cigtaru,v