American Folk Rituals/Folk Beliefs in the 19th century

[todeskun]

Writing a story set in America in the 1870s and I need some examples of folk rituals/folk beliefs for cures of spiritual/supernatural ailments. I have vague recollections of things like leaving a silver coin in the hollow of an old tree from Mark Twain's works, but my cursory research (Googling using "folk rituals" "folk beliefs" "cure for curses

Comments

Mod Note

[orange_fell]

I approved this post because it technically contains everything needed, but you will get better responses if you can get more specific. The United States is a huge and very diverse country, and it will help enormously if you can narrow down the region of your story's setting, and the background of the characters. For example, a family of Pennsylvania Dutch farmers (descendents of Protestant Germans who immigrated in the 17th and 18th centuries) and a family of recent German Jewish immigrants in New York City, would have very different beliefs, customs, and folk traditions.

Re: Mod Note

[wendelah1]

I also think that knowing what type of curse would be helpful: who did the curse if known, who was cursed, what makes them suspect they're cursed, when did the curse begin, why were they cursed, where did it happen.

Re: Mod Note

[todeskun]

The character that's been cursed has been turned into a cat. The other characters have no concrete knowledge of why, how, or when this happened, although the POV character has some theories (a witch and a cursed item). This is the first experience with actual magic that the two characters who are providing the folk knowledge have and so they're very much out of their depth and are providing whatever knowledge they have about superstition and folk belief about warding off the evil eye or getting rid of bad luck that they can think of.

[hhimring]

Katharine Briggs, An Encyclopedia of Fairies, might be a good source for superstitions from the UK (mainly on how to counteract fairy magic, that is).
Lady Gregory (Augusta Gregory) has written about Irish traditions.

[todeskun]

Thanks for the book recs! It appears the Katherine Briggs book is out of print (or being sold for a lot more than I'm willing to pay) but Lady Gregory looks like a great resource.

[laurose8]

It's probably too much the wrong era and area, but perhaps Manley Wade Wellman could give you an idea?

[todeskun]

I think Manley Wade Wellman is probably too far outside the era I need, but I'll definitely take a look!

[cattraine]

If its set in New Mexico I suggest you research Mexican brujas (witches) or even Navajo yeenadlooshi, or skinwalkers, who are Navajo witches who have turned to the dark side (via family murder, rape, etc.) to gain the power to shapeshift.

[todeskun]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll look into brujas to see if I can find any sort of ritualistic superstitions for warding off evil. I don't think skinwalkers are what I'm looking for though, as there isn't nearly enough information out there for me to feel comfortable using it for a couple of paragraphs of failed attempts to break the curse.

[full_metal_ox]

Yeah, it might be a good idea to give skinwalkers a miss--particularly given the uproar surrounding J.K. Rowling's handling of the subject in A History of Magic in North America.

[wulfila]

Since you mentioned Germany: If you can read German, the Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens by Hanns Bächtold-Stäubli and Eduard Hoffmann-Krayer offers a veritable wealth of information about superstitions and folk beliefs. The German Wikipedia has links to a digitized version of several volumes, and while they are a bit unwieldy to work with, you might find interesting stuff in there.

[full_metal_ox]

As for German-American occult practices, Pow Wows, or the Long-Lost Friend is probably the go-to compendium of Pennsylvania Deutsch folk magic (not Native American, the title notwithstanding):

http://www.sacred-texts.com/ame/pow/index.htm

(Note the modern disclaimer: This little book includes healing spells, binding spells, protective spells, talismans, wards and benedictions. As for the home remedies, we don't recommend you try any of them (e.g., if you have scurvy we suggest that you get some limes. And if your livestock are sick, please have a veterinarian look at them.))