Tag Archives: Southern

Easter in Kentucky

Nationality: American
Age: 58
Occupation: Programmer
Residence: Carlisle, MA
Performance Date: 3/19/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: French

Informant Bio: Informant is my mother.  She was born in West Virginia and spent her childhood moving around the country, eventually settling in Massachusetts.  She was exposed to many different traditions as she moved around the country as a child and still carries some with her to this day.

 

Context: I was interviewing my mother about traditions, stories and rituals she remembers from her childhood.

 

Item: “Growing up in the Kentucky hills, Easter celebration is special.  Everyone dresses up in beautiful new spring clothes; the girls wore hats and white gloves.  First we went to church.  As a child it seemed to take FOREVER.  We had to wait for the service to end, the socializing after the service to end, AND THEN the good stuff started.  We got to go to my grandfather’s house.  He hid Easter eggs all over his yard. He had a HUGE yard and he loved to watch his grandchildren running all over frantically trying to find the most eggs!  We got a new basket to hold our eggs each year.  Also, my grandfather always gave my grandmother a chocolate rabbit as a gift!  Also, she didn’t like chocolate; but, it was his tradition, he always did it, and they laughed about it each year”.

 

Analysis: Easter seemed to be a very religious event for the adults but not for the kids.  Like Christmas, it seemed to bring people together (but to not as great an extent).  Easter also served as a way to usher in the changing of seasons, with the wearing of spring-type clothes, hats (for the sun) and white gloves (a southern tradition, but again showing the coming sun, brightness and purity that spring brings).

 

The grandfather’s house serves as the rendezvous point for the entire family, showing the prominent and important position that elders held in Southern families.  The inclusion of eggs and an egg hunt is prevalent throughout many Christian cultures and seems to define the whole experience for the children.  This may have served as a way to blend tradition and religious context with fun in a way that would reinforce the message about Jesus Christ while helping the children have an enjoyable experience and make memories after sitting through the lengthy Church service earlier in the day.

Folk Medicine: Cobwebs

Nationality: African American
Age: 77
Occupation: Retired, formerly a garderner
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 31 2013
Primary Language: English

Note: My informant was originally born in Mississippi.

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My informant told me a story of his mother healing his injuries. He said that when he was 16 or 17 he was shaving off a corn on my foot and cut to deep. Blood was squirting out and I was mashing it trying to stop the bleeding but it wouldn’t stop bleeding. Then his mother comes. He went to his mother for treatment. He says that his mother took a cobweb, took out a match, singed the web slightly, and then placed the cobweb on the wound. The web stopped the bleeding. He thought there some sort chemical in the web that stopped the bleeding

She only used that remedy once on him. He has never used it on himself because not that severe has happened to him again. He doesn’t know where exactly she learned it. He did mention that she grew up on a property in the country part of Mississppi and they didn’t have access to doctors in those days.

I think this story is kind of interesting. A lot of the time folk beliefs are considered superstitious and inaccurate. This brand of folk medicine was born out of necessity an actually works. It’s a shame I can’t talk to the woman herself. I’d really like to know where she learned this from and what sort of trial and error it took to figure this out.

 

Folk Medicine: Hot Toddy

Nationality: American-black, African-American
Age: 73
Occupation: Retired, former office worker
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: March 31 2013
Primary Language: English

Ingredients:

Lemon juice

Lemon Rinds

Sugar

Water

  1. Mix all ingredients in a saucepan
  2. Bring the mixture to a boil
  3. Cook slowly until it thickens to a syrupy consistency.

After the mixture is finished the sick person is supposed to drink it.  My informant used this as a remedy for colds and congestion. She used learned from her mother. She used it on herself, her children, and her husband. Her children did not use this on their children, well at least her daughter didn’t. She thought it was gross and thought that Vic Vapor rub was a preferable substitute.  The informant says hasn’t used it in years. She says it is because she is lazy, there other things on the market, and no one has the time to do that anymore.

 

This is an example of a tradition falling out of practice due to it being inconvenient. This bit of folk medicine was passed down through the family but feel out of practice because modern medicine is more widely available. It didn’t fall out of practice because it didn’t work or that modern medicine was better. It fell out of practice because it became impractical.   My informant also grew up in the South and mentioned that folk medicine was popular because doctors were scarce. It came into existence out of necessity then fell out use when it became impractical.

“Two shakes of a dead sheep’s tail”

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Attorney
Residence: New York, New York
Performance Date: 3/23/2013
Primary Language: English
Language: French, Korean, German

This proverb is used to mean a short amount of time. Saying “I’ll be there in two shakes of a dead sheep’s tail” means that you will be there quickly. The informant first heard this proverb from his mother when he was five years old. His mother is from Georgia, and the informant always believed that this was a Southern proverb. It was memorable because he could never figure out why it had to be a sheep’s tail, let alone a dead’ sheep’s tail. There is nothing about dead sheep’s tails that lend them to being shaken fast, making this proverb somewhat absurd and silly. The saying seems to have gone out of style, so the people who use it are usually older. It is also a very motherly saying, used to reassure impatient children that dinner will be ready soon, or that they will leave soon, etc.