Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1888-09-07
ghe aha naily gagIe ridau g1ouim September = 1883
NEGRO SUPERSTITION.
AFRICAN FETIcHlsM SoFTENEp By
CONTACT WITH CIVILIZATION.

SONtSSi Will CIVILIZATION.
Charms Worn for Protection Against the
Evil One-The Belief in Witches and
"Cunjuf NixEers" Signs Portending
Desth-various Ludierous Notions
The contact Of the African with a mighty
civilization modified and softened his fetch
ism, and today his superstition is OF differ
ent fiber. BE Is 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
thus awful one the negro wors 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 ct De big house,
were often presented With one Of these witch
detiers, 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 taugles 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 of the approach of any Of tho
foul sisterhood silver dimes and five cent
pieces with hole In them, strung on cord
and suspended from the neck, are unrivaled.
Odds and ends of bones strung together. and
blessed by a Voudoo priestesS. constitute a
Grigri, which is a marvellous foil against the
Evil One. In southern Louisiana there are
large numbers of negroes who believe that
certain other negroes have commenced 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 viii ''set ut
de same table ez de white folks" it is not
strange that he revels in signs portending
death. His heaven, like the Mussulrnan's. is
one OF sensual delights, and corpses and fun
erals are TO him great JOY. To put black
pin into child's dress, to try on any ones
mourning garments, to open an umbrella in
the house, to break a looking glass TO carry
q spade through the house, are all signs OF
death To drive 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 neon, 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 a knife or scissors to a
friend is to sever friendship, except, indeed,
bent pin be given in return, which averts the
impending rupture. The Roman Catholic
negroes Of southern Louisiana VIII not cut a
banana crosswise, because through its center
-unS dark streak, which if cut transversely
presents the appearance of a cross. To avoid
his sacrllege the fruit must be broken.
They accept the Bible literally, and as they
receive it in most grotesque form from their
preachers" it is little wonder that their con-
,eption of things spiritual is distorted. With
but pang of conscience they will eat the
chickens from neighbours hen roost, the pigs
from his pen, the melons from his patch"
put cannot be induced to commit the unpar-
ionable sin Of eating dove.
If black cat enters your house you will
receive money; an itching palm denotes the
same thing, while itching sole signifies
that you viii travel Should your right ear
burn, then some one is talking III your favor;
out if it be the left the tongue is evilly en-
reatlnG you, and you must Immediately
wish that its owner may bite it Should you
succeed in splitting in your right ear, you
ilence your enemy. If a knife, fork or
cissors in failing sticks up in the floor, pre-
pare for visitors; also il a black cock crows
I,
The possession Of a frizzly hen means good
uck to the owner, while two frizzIy hens do
tote a measure of prosperity which roUses
be jealousy of ''ole Satan"
There is iudicrous belief that to step over
he outstretched legs of any one will stop bis
urther growth But the evil spell will work
for by stepping back over the
egs they resume their suspended work Of de-
elopment
No work in garden or field can be done with
ut regard to lunar phases. An old auntie in
ny family would never make soap except in
he full Of the moon, and then the soap must
e stirred only one way. Her soap stick, Of
are virtues and great age, WIS believed TO
ave certain occult powers, which made 1t
opular among the soap making sisters.
Ask a negro man why he wears brass
ing in one ear, and he tells you it will cure
ore eyes Chills and fever are cured by
wallowins cobweb pills, and the pain from
ny insect bite is instantly removed by rub
ing the puncture with three kinds ot grass.
hat folly 10 endure warts when by rubbing
1ern with piece of stolen fat bacon, and
hen burying 1t secretly, the warts viii dis
ppear il a few days So, too, why weary
40 flesh with looking for a lost article when
on need only TO thr ow something away -
nd the thing mislaidf Your mind, however,
lust be fixed upon the thing lost 10 succeed,
that here one of the elements OF the faith
ere seems TO como in. Any lady who throws
way the conblAgs after Gressing her hair
i'll suffer with headache, for toe birds veays
lis hair into tceir nests
TIE young generation OF negroes, vino ara
ow Swimming over the contents Of q multi
lde Of text books with high sounding names,
Re in bond to the same superEtitions which
lchain their fathers. Net all OF the mental
I'd moral philosophy set down in the bo-0l,
it'll which they are buriened can break ths
rail- cast by the witch AID the ''cuntur
an while the study OF tie higher r-.athe-
atics has not jet developed that reasoning
Guilty which exercises the incsrpats devD
ith all his galhrnsufry Of evil spiriss INTO
70 limbo Of uuseLsf -EArp-r's Bar