Tag Archives: American

Love Potion

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2001
Primary Language: English

On the plantations of North Carolina, slaves were used to do the hard labor in the fields and tend to the crops.  According to my informant, my friend’s grandfather, they were treated poorly and lived very hard lives.  He told us the tale of a particular slave that got revenge on his master.  As my informant relayed the story, the master killed the slave’s wife.  The husband, knowing he couldn’t seek outright revenge on his master, decided to go to a conjure woman who cooked up a spell for him.  The spell was put on the grapevine so that when the master drank the wine, he became very ill.

The master suffered greatly and eventually died from the illness.  Unlike Tom Dooley, for example, the slave was patient and got his vengeance.  He knew that he couldn’t be blamed for his master taking ill, but if he killed his master, he would be hunted and hung for the murder.  This piece of folklore goes hand in hand with the old saying, “revenge is a dish best served cold.”  There is no historical reference or facts to bolster this story, but it could have been created to serve as a tale of justice for the slaves–a tale they told for hope or motivation to continue enduring such hardships.

Pirate Bay

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2000
Primary Language: English

The informant for this piece of folklore was my friend’s grandfather.  As a boy, he would tell me stories and I would listen intently as they were like adventures I could later relive as I played with my friends in the backyard.  One story I remember in particular was how a North Carolina beach came to be called Nag’s Head.  My friend’s grandfather would go into great detail about how pirates would tie a lantern to a horse’s neck and walk it up and down the beach.  Boats and ships out at sea would think there was a harbor there because of the light.  Ships would then try to dock, only to find that it was a trick and the pirates would rob them clean.

When I asked my informant about the story, he said that the town was named Nag’s Head because “Nag” was a name for a horse.  It could also be that wild horses still roam the beaches of the Outer Banks of North Carolina so they were probably there when the town was founded as well.  My informant also said that the term “Nag” could have to do with how the pirates tricked the people at sea to come to them and then they snagged their goods and gold.  As I child, I appreciated the fun story and enjoyed hearing it over and over again.  As an adult, I’m intrigued in the piece of local history and folklore.

Collards & Cabbage

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2000
Primary Language: English

My friend’s grandfather would come over to our house every New Year’s Day for a celebration dinner.  Every year, he would always bring collards and cabbage to dinner and everyone would eat more than their fair share.  I remember thinking this was strange because I wasn’t the only one who didn’t particularly care for them, yet everyone ate a large helping at dinner.  I finally asked my friend’s grandfather why he only brought collards and cabbage to dinner on New Years Day and he explained to me that if you eat collards and cabbage on New Years Day, it would bring you money throughout the year.

Of course, I was skeptical at first.  However, one year I decided to give it a try and eat some collards and cabbage at New Years dinner.  I didn’t come into a large sum of money, but I did have fairly good financial success throughout the year.  I’ve eaten them every New Years Day since then and I haven’t had any dire financial trouble yet.  I never asked my informant where she heard this piece of folklore from, but my entire family still makes collards and cabbage on New Years Day in hopes of good fortune in the upcoming year.

Be Careful How You Garden

Nationality: American
Age: 70s
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2000
Primary Language: English

My informant for this story was my friend’s grandfather.  My friend’s grandfather grew up in a rural area where they did a lot of farming.  He continued to have a large garden into her later years and always helped my mother plant and tend to ours every year.  My friend’s grandfather always insisted that you could not plant potatoes and okra together.  Again, as with most pieces of folklore, their importance and weight is from the traditions and history that they represent rather than a scientific reasoning to explain their existence.

Later in my life, I heard that there actually may be a reason for not planting potatoes and okra near each other.  The reason had something to do with  how legumes give off nitrogen in the ground and other plants take up.  This could possibly result in too much nitrogen for either the potatoes or the okra.   I don’t recall the details of the explanation, but my mother still doesn’t plant potatoes and okra next to each other.  I think it is a way she pays homage to her father and grandfather.

 

Sunday Sewing

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Residence: NC
Performance Date: 2002
Primary Language: English

The informant for this folklore was my friend’s mother.  She was close to her mother and her grandmother as she grew up.  As the informant relayed this story, she mentioned how her mother and grandmother would teach her how to cook and sew.  This is how she heard the tale of if you sew something on a Sunday, you will have to pull out the stitches with your teeth if you miss a stitch.  This is why the informant never sewed on a Sunday.  Even as a child, when my friend needed a shirt mended or a boy scout patch sewed on, if he asked for it on a Sunday, it had to wait.  Of course, as a boy, he thought that it was certainly strange that his mother refused to sew a little patch on a Sunday.  She would usually rest on Sundays and wasn’t busy with her usual errands or housework, so he was confused as to why she didn’t want to spend a few minutes sewing a button or a patch.

When I asked my informant to explain why she doesn’t sew anything on Sundays, she said it was because that was what her mother and her grandmother had always done.  She did mention that she remembered her grandmother saying something about how if you did sew something on a Sunday, that it would break a commandment.  My informant said that she had never really questioned her grandmother or wondered exactly which commandment one would be breaking by sewing on a Sunday.  It is clear that my informant put her trust in this piece of folklore because it came from a trusted relative that she was very close to.  The reasoning behind the folklore didn’t matter as much as respecting her grandmother’s wishes and continuing the tradition she had learned as a girl.