Love and Magic in the Appalachian Mountains

Today is Valentine's Day, and what better day to discuss love and magic in the Appalachian mountains.The Appalachian people being settlers from many parts of western europe brought their old folk-ballads with them, and created many new folk-ballads. A lot of these ballads were love and murder ballads; some just covered dying of a broken heart like Barbry Ellen. The closing few verses describe Barbry Ellen realizing that her love William has died of a broken heart because Barbry Ellen is too proud to accept his apology. 
(link: Jean Ritchie - - Barbry Allen )

As she was goin' across the fields

She heard those death bells a' knellin'

And ev'ry stroke the death bell give
Hard-hearted Barbry Ellen
Oh Mother, oh Mother, go make my bed

Go make it both long and narrow
Young William's died for me today
And I'll die for him tomorrow
Oh she was buried 'neath the old church tower

And he was buried all nigh her
And out of his bosom grew a red, red rose
Out of Barbry's grew a green briar
hey grew and they grew up the old church tower

Until they could grow no higher
They locked in tight in a true lover's knot
Red rose around the green briar

There are plenty of murder ballads to fill in the spaces of jilted lovers as well. The songs Omie Wise, Down on the Banks of the Ohio, Poor Ellen Smith, and many more tell similar stories of lovers who feel wronged in some way, and kill their lovers in a fit of rage. A common phrase in Appalachia is "mad in love", which means the same thing that Beyonce sang about years ago in a song titled "Crazy in Love." Being in the state of love can make you commit acts you wouldn't normally do in other circumstances. 

A simple charm that was commonly done with couple that were courtin' is mentioned in the song Barbry Ellen. William Green and Barbry Ellen end up having the briar and rose grow and tie in a true lover's knot. The Lover's Knot is a common practice for the courtin' couple to find a young sapling, and taking a small branch of the tree and tying it into a knot so that as the tree grows the knot gets tighter and permanent thus resulting in a  permanent love. However, if the knot would not hold or would come untied later then the love would ultimately fail. 

However, before you can get to the state of having a love/murder ballad written for you there needs to be a relationship. There are many ways to divine (or psychically see) who is to be your Ain True Love.  One way to do this is described in Gerald Milnes' book " Signs, Cures, and Witchery: German Appalachian Folklore:

"Walk to the garden in the light of the first quarter of the new moon. Take a white cotton handkerchief or a piece of cloth with you. Spread it out on the ground and squat down, positioning yourself so that the new moon is visible over your left shoulder and say:

New Moon, True Moon

Pray tell unto me, 

Who it is my true love shall be.

The color of his eyes and hair, 

Show me in my sleep tonight.

As you say this chant, scoop three handfuls of dirt and place them in your handkerchief. Tie the handkerchief int o a bundle and walk backwards to the house without speaking. Put the bundle under your pillow and go directly to sleep. That night you will dream of your true love. The next morning untie the bundle and sift through the dirt with your fingers. there you will find a hair from the head of the man you will marry."(p.115-116)

Magic in Appalachia does not follow any law/rule/rede such as you would find in the religion go Wicca. In Wicca they follow a rede (which really means a "suggestion", and not law) that states "An' it harm none do what ye will." Manipulative magics are sometimes used, especially in the arena of love. One such magic is used to make a man fall in love with a woman. Gerald Milnes recounts a spell he was told: "There is a love charm in West Virginia whereby a witch instructs girls to get a piece of hair, a piece of fingernail, and a piece of shirt the one she loves wears, then to sew this in a heart-shaped bag and wear it under their clothes. This will charm the boy, but he must never discover it was done or the resulting marriage will fail." (p. 119)

There are a few traditions associated with getting married. One of the traditions is called 'Shivareering'. Either on the night before wedding night (if only the groom was to be involved) or the wedding night (if both bride and groom were to be involved) a group of friends and family would stand out in the yard making a ruckus. There would be singing, pots and pans a clanging, dancing, and general revelry being abundant to celebrate the marriage. 

If the 'Shivaree' only involved the groom to be he would usually be abducted from his home, and then  left somewhere in the middle of nowhere and have to find his way back home. It was common for the groom to be dumped into a creek after a night of heavy drinking and partying during this event. It was all intended to be done in fun though sometimes the groom was handled very roughly. 

Once the couple was married it was sometimes needed to stop the spouse from carousing around outside of the marriage bed. One such way was cooking a bodily fluid into food that was then fed to the spouse. Women often times would put a drop or two of their menstrual blood into a tomato sauce, and the men would use spit or semen cooked into a sauce or gravy. This form of magic bound the spouse to their spouse and cooled them down when it came to extramarital affairs. Some women also would take the measure of their husband's penis then taking a piece of his clothing cut out a piece of the fabric the length of his member. Then tie three to seven knots into the fabric. Using the husband's semen rub it onto the knots of the fabric, and hide the knotted fabric under his side of the bed. This captures the man's nature and will not allow him to achier an full erection with anyone else besides his spouse. 

But not every relationship is doomed to have a spouse who runs around. Simple charms like singing sweet love songs would invite love into the home. Hanging a hag stone on a braided cord  on the door would help protect the home from harm and evil eye. When the couple moves into a new home the first two things to be moved in were to be bread for health, salt for prosperity. When sweeping the home it was important to never sweep the dirt directly out the front door to do so swept out the luck and love in the house.  These are just a few of the many charms and beliefs related to love in Appalachia. I intend to revisit this topic at a later date. In the comments below let me know of any practices that your family may have used or just passed along in stories.

Appalachian Witchery: A short Introduction

To understand a culture one must first attempt to understand the people that make up the culture. In the current age those that reside in the Appalachian Mountains are not much different from any other American living on either coast, or anywhere in between. Thanks to the current age being the electronic/information age the culture of Appalachia has changed drastically. Of course, the change hasn't always been for the worse. Appalachia has long been in a horrible recession, but recession isn't even the right word. There was no recession or great impact on the people in the mountains when the stock market crashed. The mountain people didn't wake up one day to find they were suddenly broke because they were always broke. The men, women, and children in the central to southern Appalachian mountains have been poverty stricken for most of the time that they have inhabited these mountains.

The Appalachian people, like all poverty stricken peoples, are hard working, loyal people. For many years the men and some women trudged off to the mines where they worked 10 miles underground with no safety precautions being taken to improve their likelihood of avoiding a cave-in or a flood. Many families would be moved out of the farm land they had grown up with into small mining camps which would eventually turn into small towns. 

(Mining has been a family tradition for most every family in the mountains. Mine included, and the following picture is of a coal camp that my great great uncle lived in back in the 1930s)

Work, however, is not the only event in the mountaineer's life. Faith and religion played a large role. Church life is where the community came together;  men, women, and children could meet to talk and share one another's burdens. The Appalachian region is probably one of the most diverse areas for religious freedom under the banner of Christianity. Nowhere in America is there as many different sects of Baptists as there are in the mountains. Just a small example of this...there are The primitive Baptists, The old regular Baptists, Freewill Baptist, missionary Baptist, united Baptist, full gospel Baptist, and then you have the different charismatic Christians that include Pentecostals and holiness faiths.

(Source:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snake-handling-lejunior-pentecostal-ky2.gif)

Looking from the outside an observer might wonder if the entire population is involved in some form of Christianity why are the people so superstitious? It would seem to be a simple explanation of heritage. A large portion of the population in the mountains come from ancestors who were either Scot or Irish. The other major ethnicities that made up the area when it was being settled are Italian, Dutch, German, and of course Cherokee. It becomes apparent looking into some of the old-wives tales and superstitions that the original settlers brought their old country beliefs with them across the great vast ocean. 

However, that still doesn't fully answer the question as to why the people still hold onto these folk beliefs if they are as faithful to a faith that seems to condemn some of the old superstitions. For most people living in a harsh climate and cruel landscape will find and accept solace where it can be found. Many early settlers found that comfort and answers in their old customs, beliefs, and mores. The settlers brought with them the belief in the "little people", and fairies, as well as haints (ghosts), witches, and special home brews to cure illness, and ways to foretell the future. Then as now the people living within the mountains saw both beliefs as complimentary. Heaven is the reward for living the good Christian life, and the old customs made the earthly realm a more tolerable place to live.

       

Within this blog I will post and explain different aspects of Appalachian culture, Appalachian witchcraft, folk lore, herbal remedies, and more.

Please feel free to check out the website:

 www.appalachianwitchery.com

www.facebook.com/appalachianwitchery

or email me at appyfolkmagic@gmail.com