Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-09-04
NEGRO SUPERSTITION.
AFRICAN FeTIcHlsM soFTENED BY
CONTACT WITH CIVILIZATION.
Charms Worn for Protection Against ths
Evil One-The Belief in Witches and
"Cunjur Niggers"-s Signs Portending
Death-various Ludicrous Notions

The contact Of the African with a mighty
civilization modified and softened his fetich-
ism, and today his superstition Is Of differ
ent fiber. He is q firm believer in personal
devil, and accepts him with all time honored
stage properties-horns, tail, cloven foot and
red hot pitchfork. For protection against
this awful one the negro wore the greatest |
number of charms. To ward off his famiIiars |
the witches, every negro nailed to his cabin |
door horseshoe. This charm, however, had |
no power unless it had been accidentally |
found. The ''white folks at de big house"
were often presented with one Of these witch
defiers and if they failed to use it, the giver.
pityingly and surreptitiously, nailed it some
where on ''marster'sn premises.
Old negro nurses teach their charges that
the tangles which after a nights sleep are
apt to appear in the hair are knots tied by
witches, and everybody in the southern
states is familiar with the darkies' belief
that witches ride horses and mules in the
| dead of night, exhausting their strength
To ward off the approach of any of the
foul sisterhood silver dimes and five cent
| pieces with hole in them. strung on cord
| and suspended from the neck, are unsivaled-
| Odds and ends of bones strung together, and
| blessed by Voudoo priestess, constitute a
| Grigri, which is a marvellous foil against the
| Evil One In southern Louisiana there arc
large numbers of negroes who believe that
certain other negroes have commerced with
Satan, receiving from him liberal endow-
ment of his diabolic powers. These are
known as ''cunjur niggers," who can "hou-
doc" you To incur the i'll will of one of
them is a grievous misfortune.
As every negro, even the most debased, is
sure of salvation, and speaks with confidence
| of his place in heaven where he will ''set at
de same table ez de white foiks,n it is not
strange that he revels in signs portending
death His heaven, like the Mussulman's, is
one of sensual delights, and corpses and fun
erals are to him great joy. To put black
pin into a child's dress, to try on any ones
mourning garments, to open an umbrella in
the house, to break looking glass, to carry
spade through the house. are all signs of
death. To drive a nail after dark, except in
making coffin, will bring death; and any
man so unfortunate as to bury three wives
will bury six. A spider seen in the morning
brings good luck; at noon, disappointment;
and in the evening, bad luck
If accidentally garment be put on wrong
side out and if it be worn that way until
noon, and then turned, the wearer will have
: good luck. To give knife or scissors to a
friend is to sever friendship, except, indeed, q
bent pin be given in return, which averts the
impending rupture. The Roman Catholic
negroes of southern Louisiana will not cut 6
banana crosswise, because through its center
runs a dark streak, which if cut transversely
presents the appearance of cross To svoit
| this fhsaf fy-y;it INNS hs h1-ntap
They accept the Bible literally, and as they
receive it in most grotesque form from thei
preachers" it is little wonder that their con
ception of things spiritual is distorted. With
out pang of conscience they will eat tn
chickens from neighbor's hen roost, the pig
from his pen, the melons from his patch,
but cannot be induced to commit the unpar
donable sin of eating dove
!, If black cat enters your house you vii
receive money; an itching palm denotes tn
same thing, while an itching sole signifie
that you will travel Should your right ca
4 burn, then some one is talking in your favor
/ but if it be the left, the tongue is evilly er
treating you, and you must immediatel
wish that its owner may bite it. Should 20
succeed in splitting in your right ear, yo
silence your enemy. If knife, fork c
scissors in failing sticks up in the floor, pr,
pare for visitors; also if black cock crow
three times in succession at the back doc
S The possession of frizzly hen means goo
luck to the owner, while two frizzly hens d
note measure of prosperity which rous
i the jealousy of ''ole Satan"
no There is a ludicrous belief that to step ov,
n the outstretched legs of any one will stop b
"R further growth. But the evil spell will wol
backward, for by stepping back over Il
legs they resume their suspended work of d
velopment.
No work in garden or field can be done wit
H. out regard to lunar phases. An old auntie
ie my family would never make soap except
es- the full of the moon, and then the soap mu
OF be stirred only one way. Her soap stick,
vi rare virtues and great age, was believed
have certain occult powers, which made
popular among the soap making sisters.
re Ask a negro man why he wears a brs
ring in one ear, and he tells you it will Gu
sore eyes. ChilIs and fever are cured
m swallowing cobweb pills, and the pain fre
is any insect bite is instantly removed by IT.
her bing the puncture with three kinds of gra
All What folly to endure warts when by rubbi
them with piece of stolen fat bacon, a
re then burying it secretly, the warts will d
appear in few days. So, too, why wea
rye the flesh with looking for lost article WI
nn M, you need only to throw something away
'est find the thing mislaida Your mind, howev
ing must be fixed upon the thing lost to succe
so that here one of the elements of the fa
cure seems to come in. Any lady who thro
away the combings after dressing her h
will suffer with headache, for the birds ives
in this hair into their nests.
, ns ~ The young generation of negroes, who
ety now skimming over the contents of mu
us tude of text books with high sounding nam
ON ON are in bond to the same superstitions VIII
t." enchain their fathers Not all of the men
and moral philosophy set down in the bo
/, with which they are burdened can break
thrall cast by the witch and t.e ''cun
lees lias man." while the study of the higher mat
matics has not yet developed that reason
ed faculty which exercises the incarnate d.
so OF with all his gallimaufry Of evil spirits
the limbo of unbelief, f,-Harper,s Bazaar.